‘Rent: The Musical’ comes to Bay audiences
THEATRE fans have much to look forward to next month when Platform Productions and Pemads unite to present Rent: The Musical in a first for Port Elizabeth.
Platform Productions was created by acclaimed Bay director Robin Williams in order to bring exciting and challenging productions that would otherwise not be on the normal theatrical agenda to the Bay.
As musicals are costly to launch, Platform Productions and Pemads have joined forces on Rent: The Musical, to be staged at the Pemads Little Theatre in Athol Fugard Terrace from May 16 to June 2.
Rent is a Tony, Olivier, Pulitzer and Drama Desk award-winning musical created by Jonathan Larson.
It is set in the 1980 in the midst of the Aids crisis at the time when, if you were diagnosed with HIV, there was one conclusion.
It is loosely based on Puccini’s opera, La Boheme (when the fatal illness was tuberculosis) and the score is littered with classical riffs.
The story is similar, following a group of Bohemian young people struggling to survive and succeed in the city, in this case New York.
This riveting ’80s rock musical will have a PG rating for language and themes.
However, the show is uplifting and nothing in it is gratuitous, Williams says.
Williams has achieved great success with many of her previous musical productions – Evita, Cabaret and Chicago among them.
Chireen Perrier is handling vocal coaching and choreography, and Petrus Meyer is the musical director, with David Limbert of Magnetic Storm doing the lighting design and Clear As A Bell’s Steven van der Merwe the sound design.
“This is a huge undertaking – it’s big, rocky, edgy and avant-garde, romantic, heartbreaking and ultimately uplifting,” Williams said.
“Personally I feel I am following the path of my favourite directorial projects – Chicago, Cabaret, Equus, Other Desert Cities, Blood Brothers ... among many. Edgy, deep, emotional yet exciting.”
Bookings for Rent, the Musical will open at Computicket at the end of the month.