Sydney Opera House presents Rent, a musical for our times
A musical about HIV causing death and heartbreak among in 1990s New York has some uncanny parallels with the early 2020s.
A musical about HIV/AIDS causing death and heartbreak among a group of young New Yorkers in the early 1990s has some uncanny parallels with the early 2020s, only this time it’s a different disease causing the destruction.
Jonathan Larson’s rock opera Rent had its premiere in 1996 and was a defining cultural moment of the 90s, winning the Pulitzer prize for drama and the Tony award for best musical.
A 25th anniversary production opens at the Sydney Opera House on Sunday, and as theatregoers enjoy the show while wearing face masks, they may feel that history is repeating with another deadly pandemic, this time COVID-19.
“It’s obviously very different from the AIDS pandemic, but the unknown of what we are dealing with is very similar,” said actor Callum Francis, who plays Collins in the musical. “It kind of goes hand in hand with what we are dealing with in 2020, which is really fascinating to dig into.”
Larson based his musical on Puccini’s opera La Boheme, setting the opening scene in New York’s hip East Village on Christmas Eve, just as Puccini in his opera set the action among bohemian artists in Paris at Christmas.
Larson did not live to see his show’s success: he died suddenly from a heart condition just as the musical was going into previews.
Francis, who is from the UK, starred in the Australian tour of Kinky Boots and has since settled in Sydney. He heads a diverse cast of actors including Seann Miley Moore as Angel, Collins’s partner.
“The story in Rent is about a community, your chosen family,” Francis said.
“And the best part about a chosen family is that it can look however you want it to look. It’s a rainbow, a myriad of brilliant humans — race never really comes into it. The casting of this show is spot on.”
He said the soundtrack may seem at odds with the subject matter — but the show ultimately is a story about love and hope.
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