Review: Lakeside Community Theatre’s RENT blasts onto the scene with a powerful presentation of the beloved rock musical, Aug 2-31

RENT

Book, Music and Lyric Jonathan Larson

Directed by Katlyn Snader

Music Directed by Joey O'Reilly

Produced by Lakeside Community Theatre

Audience Rating: R (Mature themes & language, sexual innuendo, minor violence)
Running Time: 2 hours 30 minutes with 15 minute intermission
Accessible Seating: Available
Hearing Devices: Not Available
Sensory-Friendly Showing: Not Available

ASL Performance: Not Available
Volume Level: Loud Environment
Noises and Visuals to Prepare For: Sexual content and minor violence

Reviewed by Grant Palmore

Did you hear it? It’s difficult to think that the DFW metroplex could not hear the exhilarating rock-rousing anthems bursting from Lakeside Community Theatre’s latest musical escapade, RENT, last Friday night.

As a self-proclaimed RENT-head, I was very excited to see the show, but worried it would not live up to my expectations. I am pleased to tell you: I worried for no reason. Lakeside Community Theatre created a powerful and poignant presentation of the beloved rock musical RENT. 

At the steady hands of director Katlyn Snader, the cast and crew revived the bohemian kismet that endeared audiences to Jonathan Larson’s final work about eight unlikely friends connecting over the course of a year amid the challenges of the A.I.D.S. epidemic of 1980s New York. 

The stage is made into the urban, worn, and sparsely-furnished NYC apartment (Set Design by Sean Willard). But the space easily transformed into the city streets, a strip club or bar with the addition of a prop, piece of furniture, costume suggestion, or change of light (Lighting Design, Prop Design, and Costume Design by Ben Loub, Mandy Rojas, and Tina Christine respectively). 

Timothy Lizarraga and Tucker Souther are well-paired as roommates Mark Cohen and Roger Davis. Lizzarraga delights us in his light-hearted comedy without sacrificing the heart underneath. The perfect foil to Mark, Souther charms and broods convincingly as Roger. Together, they create an easy rapport that welcomes each additional member to join their rag-tag group. 

Among that group is Tom Collins (played smoothly by MD Christian), an unemployed professor and mutual friend of Mark and Roger, Collins’ his new love and savior from the streets — the kind, cross-dressing Angel Dumott Schunard (played sweetly by Michael Valderas), and Benjamin Coffin III (played with snark and fine voice by Dameron Growe) a former artist of the apartment who has turned away from their vagabond lifestyle in favor of wealth. Also, there is Mimi Marquez (played winningly by Breana Deanda), the optimistic stripper from down the street that fancies Roger, Mark’s dramatic performance artist ex-girlfriend Maureen (played eccentrically by Olivia Goodspeed) and the woman Maureen left Mark to date: the practical and lawyerly Joanne Jefferson (played by Noelle Saul with excellent comic timing and excellent voice). 

The entire cast boasts a wealth of talent. Together with their excellent rock band (Keyboard by Joey O-Reilly, Bass by Brooklyn Bier, Guitar by Maristella Feustle, and Drums by Kristyn Norris) they move deftly through the story of RENT and bring the glorious anthems this show to their audiences at full magnitude (Choreography and Music Direction by Daniel Vanegas and Joey O’Reilly, respectively).

There is no day like today to purchase your tickets for this beautiful show! RENT has extended its run August 2, 2024, through August 31, 2024, at Lakeside Community Theatre in The Colony, TX. Grab your tickets for this weekend before they run out!

Check it out!

Grant Palmore