Pay the Rent! Wild Musical Opens at the Paper Mill Playhouse

By Bruce Chadwick
originally published: 06/19/2023

Mackenzie Meadows as Maureen in Rent, photo by Evan Zimmerman

You want a show that is wonderful but real crazy, too? Go see Rent, the Jonathan Larson musical, that just opened at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn. It has 4,000 songs, 55,000 actors and scenery that looks half like a Shop Rite supermarket under construction and half like an explosion in downtown Manhattan. It’s got wild costumes, a solid love story, superb choreography, suspense, friction (and it even has a drag queen!).

The musical Rent was a big hit when it opened in 1994 (the playwright died just before the debut). It was, and is, a very different musical than most and shattered the musical image of Broadway. It won a Pulitzer, among other awards. People flocked to see it and loved it, too.

The play at the Paper Mill is a pleasing production, with an electronica supervisor who is the wizard of light and sound. It has music so vibrant it will not only knock your socks off but put them back on again.

Jordan Barrow as Benny, Matt Rodin as Roger, Zachary Noah Piser as Mark, and Leana Rae Concepcion as Joanne in Rent. Photo by Jeremy Daniel

Rent is the story of a large abandoned urban building where dozens of young people live in a sort-of harmony. It is just before Christmas, and they are all wondering what Santa will bring for them.

The play has a solid love story between Roger and Mimi, with all the good goo stuff as well as heart felt passion. Their attachment for each other, amid all the noise and chaos of the building, holds up right until the end of the play. There is the very, soooooooooooooooooo creepy landlord Ben Coffin, who desperately wants to evict everybody and manages to boot several out at the beginning of the second act. You just want to hate him!

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And you do!

Rent is a play about the hopes and dreams of young people (partially chronicled by a film maker who lives with the renters). In the building, the renters thrive amid the chaos of urban life, slowly trying to figure out what to do   with their lives and passions. How will things turn out for them? For all of us?

Alisa Melendez in Rent, photo by Evan Zimmerman

The director of the play, Zi Alikhan, does a fine of sticking to Larson’s original story, which is to tell the tales of nine or ten people within a larger story of urban survival. The director does that and does it as well as one could with a story that goes this way and that, and then gets turned upside down. All of those little stories, together, make up life in the big city.

In fact, the opera La Boheme, about tenants in Paris, is referenced, in honor, in the play, as well as Spiderman (I have no idea what he represents).

The problem with Rent is that while it is sprawling, sometimes it is too sprawling.  You sit there and keep your eyes on all the tiny stories, but you get a little confused with each one. Who is in love with whom? Why is the filmmaker there at all? Who loves him? If he wasn’t there with his ever-present camera, how would the play look? Amid all the confusion, what is the playwright really trying to say about life in the big city?

Now, on the good side, director Alikhan has done a superb job of pasting the little tales together to make a big, even is a bit too sprawling, story. The choreographer Steph Paul has done wonders with non-stop dancing numbers.  Chika Shimizu has created a a wonderful set that moves all over the place is a vivid  part of the story.  The colorful costumes are by Rodrigo  Munoz. Lights are by Cha See and the sound by Matt Kraus.

Matt Rodin as Roger in Rent, photo by Evan Zimmerman

The musical has some good songs, such as the title song Rent and On the Streets. They highlight a good package of tunes, and the cast performs all of them well.

There is some good acting in Rent. All of the actors do fine work and, together, form a nice ensemble. There is even a marvelous series of phone calls from mom-back-home to her daughter in the building (we all remember those, don’t we?)

Rent is a bit busy and confused at times, but the story of strangers shoved together by where they live for a bright future – somehow holds up.

If you are reading this…………… PAY YOUR RENT

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Paper Mill Playhouse presents Rent now through July 2, 2023. The theater is located at 22 Brookside Drive in Millburn, New Jersey.  For tickets or more information, click here.

Olivia Lux as Angel in Rent, photo by Jeremy Daniel

About the author:

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Bruce Chadwick worked for 23 years as an entertainment writer/critic for the New York Daily News. Later, he served as the arts and entertainment critic for the History News Network, a national online weekly magazine. Chadwick holds a Ph. D in History and Cultural Studies from Rutgers University. He has written 31 books on U.S. history and has lectured on history and culture around the world. He is a history professor at New Jersey City University.

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