Get ready for big, Durango.
Everything about this show is big. The subject matter is big and heavy – enduring love, heartbreaking loss, sexuality, addiction, poverty and AIDS in 1990s New York City. The production itself: one of the colossal shows of the past 20 years, cherished by audiences and celebrated by critics, if you count the Pulitzer Prize and a handful of Tony awards, including “Best Musical.”
The show is “Rent,” and director Theresa Carson and the Durango Arts Center have gotten ambitious for the play, which kicked off its four-week run Thursday.
Carson and crew have managed to match the bigness that accompanies “Rent.” The 15-member cast is large for a DAC production. So is the set. To achieve the gritty, urban bohemia, the “Rent” stage was built beyond the usually contained DAC stage, side curtains taken down, and an added brick façade, chain-link fence and rough-and-tumble street signs to give the set a warehouse feel.
The play, which must be noted is for mature audiences only, (Carson suggested 16 and up, though viewer/parental discretion is still advised), is loosely based on Puccini’s “La Boheme” and centers on a group of artist friends struggling to exist in the East Village, standing up to a scoundrel landlord, struggling with love, addiction, parents and a frightening, mysterious and ravaging disease.
“Ultimately, we wanted to pick something that was very challenging for the artists, the actors,” Carson said. “We wanted to do something that was more challenging for the audience, more cutting-edge, something with high production value and something with a really beautiful message, an important and relevant message. And ‘Rent’ does all of them.”
As dark as some of the themes of “Rent” are, it’s the more uplifting and positive aspects of the show that make it special and enduring, said Ben Mattson, who plays Tom Collins, an anarchist professor with AIDS.
“I know people think of the show and they think of the heaviness of it,” said Mattson, who teaches drama at Durango High School. “But really at the end of the day, the show’s about releasing all of that, focusing on the moment and never letting a moment go by, not one single minute. Because it can be full of love and understanding and gratitude. It’s about hope.”
Mattson found that hope in the play as a gay teenager growing up in the small town of Bemidji, Minnesota, where he was 16 when “Rent” debuted.
“Being a teenager and being gay and being an artist and trying to understand my place in the world and feeling afraid of who I was – when this show came out, it was just like a beacon for me of understanding who I could be and that I wasn’t alone,” he said. “There was an exciting world out there that I could fit into.”
Joining Mattson in one of the lead roles is local singer-songwriter Dave Mensch, who plays Roger Davis, a struggling musician and ex-junkie. Having participated in theater throughout his childhood, the 37-year-old Mensch is diving back in after a nearly-20-year hiatus, taking a break from his busy touring and performing schedule. He is one of many actors who will be seen for the first time onstage in Durango.
Mensch said he was drawn to the role of Roger because of the commonalities he shares with the character. In addition to the musician connection, Mensch is also in recovery.
“The recovery piece for me was the biggest one, to tap into who that character is, looking at his past and struggling and dealing with it,” said Mensch, who has been performing full-time as a musician since 2006. “And I definitely have been in places like that, so I can really relate.”
The closeness that has formed among the cast during the six weeks of rehearsals leading up to opening night is apparent. With such challenging subject matter, it was vital that the cast bond as it has, Carson said.
“These characters are vulnerable. And they’re dealing with issues that are scary,” she said. “So these actors have to understand, accept and find a place where they can perform them truthfully.”
Mattson said his character, Tom Collins, and his relationship with a drag queen named Angel is the strongest expression of love in the show but also the most tragic, imparting a great deal of emotional gravity. Mattson finds depth in all of it.
“To me, it’s the best release ever,” he said. “It’s digging in there and finding what’s in there and letting it out.”
Emotional requirements aside, the show runs two-and-a-half hours, and its rock-operatic, all-singing dialogue and constant movement are physically challenging for the actors. All of it makes one wonder if it could be done well in Durango. Ask any of the cast or crew, and you’ll get no doubt.
“There might’ve been some skepticism if we could pull this kind of a show off,” Mensch said. “Durango will be super surprised with how this play comes out.”
dholub@durangoherald.com. David Holub is the Arts & Entertainment editor for The Durango Herald.
If you go
“Rent,” book, music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson. Opened Thursday with 7:30 p.m. shows Friday and Saturday, Sept. 11-12, 17-19, 25-26 and 2 p.m. shows Sept. 13 and 27. Tickets $21 DAC members and $24 non-members. For mature audiences only. For tickets and more info, http://durangoarts.org/theatre/the-musical-rent or 259-2606.
