More than three years after its 25th Anniversary Farewell Tour landed at San Diego’s Civic Theatre downtown, Jonathan Larson’s rock musical “Rent” is returning for not just one but two regional productions.
First up is “Rent” at New Village Arts Theatre in Carlsbad, where the show will be directed by Kym Pappas, beginning preview performances tonight. Then, next spring in an NVA partnership with Diversionary Theatre, “Rent” will be staged in University Heights under the direction of Diversionary artistic director Sherri Eden Barber.
Kym Pappas is directing New Village Arts’ production of “Rent.” (Kym Pappas)
“The story is so important that if we get to tell it on all sides of San Diego in the same year’s time, that’s fantastic,” said Pappas, who remembers “Rent” as “the first show I fell in love with” and proudly describes herself as an “OG Rent Head,” a name for original fans of the musical that opened on Broadway in 1996.
“Rent” went on to win the Tony Award for Best Musical, a Pulitzer Prize for Drama and become one of the most enduringly popular shows touring and in regional productions since.
Inspired by the Giacomo Puccini opera “La Boheme,” “Rent” tells the story in words and song of young artists in the East Village of New York struggling on fronts societal and personal during the rise of the AIDS epidemic.
It’s friendship and love that hold these young people together.
“At the heart of this story,” said Pappas, “is the community of friends, a chosen family. It’s something we can all relate to.”
The sprawling 42-song musical score written by Larson — who died the day before the off Broadway premiere of “Rent” began preview performances — features beloved numbers such as “Another Day,” “Light My Candle,” “Christmas Bells” and “Seasons of Love.”
“I lived in New York during that time (when ‘Rent’ emerged) when I was going to school there,” said Elena Correia, music director for NVA’s production. “It was an incredible score. Larson was brilliant at adapting the story to the ‘80s and the show was so important in helping so many people at that time in dealing with acceptance and bringing a voice to them.”
Lena Ceja as Mimi, left, and Josh Bradford as Roger in New Village Arts’ “Rent.” (New Village Arts)
Both Correia and Pappas are embracing the goals of not just reflecting a community onstage but fostering one among the audiences at NVA.
“That’s crucial in understanding the whole point of the show,” Correia said. “To create the energy between cast and audience, to create a community and to come together.”
In NVA’s 100-seat theater, there’s the opportunity, as there will be on the 106-seat Diversionary mainstage, to present “Rent” in intimate confines most audiences haven’t experienced before.
“You are so close you can feel the tension,” Pappas said of the intimacy audiences will experience. “You are part of the party. The audience has nowhere to hide and neither do the actors. It helps to develop a real sense of community in the storytelling.”
Pappas acknowledged that with a large cast, spacing will be a challenge on the New Village stage, but she and choreographer Tamara Rodriguez are “trying to make chaos look honest and natural.”
The ensemble in Carlsbad includes Lena Ceja, Josh Bradford and Brennen Winspear in the pivotal roles of Mimi, Roger and Mark. In encouraging them and their cast mates to give the show their all, Pappas said she reminds them that “every time they do this show it will be someone’s first time and it may be someone else’s last.”
Why do people keeping coming to see “Rent,” which made its San Diego premiere in 1997 at La Jolla Playhouse, over and over again?
“How do you describe the feeling?” Pappas asks. “Every single time I watch this show, by the time we reach the end and Mark’s movie starts rolling, I’m weeping, and I don’t ever want it to end. You can’t help but connect to the way these people (in the story) love each other, and it makes you — or at least it makes me – feel like a part of something bigger.”
‘Rent’
When: Previews, today through Nov. 7. Opens Nov. 8 and runs through Dec. 24. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays
Where: New Village Arts, 2787 State St., Carlsbad
Tickets: $35-$80
Phone: 760-433-3245
Online: newvillagearts.org