Mickey-Jo saw the first preview of RENT... | everything you need to know about the West End musical revival
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Mickey Jo shares her experience attending the first preview of the West End revival of 'Rent' at the Tom Stoppard Theatre. She discusses the
Key takeaways
- The production is directed by Luke Shepard and builds upon the previous Hope Mill Theatre staging.
- Gaten Matelerazzo stars as Mark, bringing significant star power to the West End cast.
Main topics
- West End Rent revival
- On-stage seating experience
Notable quotes
we don't review first previews.
Conclusion
A comprehensive guide for fans looking to attend the 'Rent' revival be
Transcript preview
Speaker 1 (0:00) Now I'll be honest with you, I don't see a lot of first preview performances. I went to the first preview of Paddington of The Greatest Showman. Something has to be incredibly exciting and intriguing to get me to the very first public performance. And as more and more information was being released about this brand new West End revival of Rent, as they were revealing the casting and some of the creative choices, Aaron, my partner and I quickly realised as huge fans of the show, going back into our teenage years, when it came to seeing this production, there really was no day but... the very first day. So yes, I saw the first preview of Rent at the Tom Stoppard Theatre this weekend, and I'm not going to tell you what I thought of it. I am, however, going to tell you everything else. Let me explain what I mean, but just before I do... Oh my god, hey, welcome back to my theatre-themed YouTube channel, or hello to those of you listening to this on podcast platforms. My name is Mickey Joe, and I am obsessed with all things theatre. I am a theatre pundit and content creator here on social media, and ordinarily, I am also a theatre critic. I review hundreds of productions throughout the year, around the world, and in a couple of weeks, when this production of Rent celebrates its official opening night, I will review it then, and I will subsequently share my thoughts on here. You can look forward to that in a couple of Friday's time. However, for now, I am not wearing my critical hat because, and say it with me, we don't review first previews. Sometimes, however, the excitable theatre fan within me re-emerges, and honestly, it doesn't take much, and we find ourselves in a performance not to officially review, but just out of sheer curiosity. And there is, I think, a lot of intrigue around this production of Rent for various reasons, one of which is that it is partially based on a prior regional production that ran at the Hope Mill Theatre. It has, however, evolved from that production with a slightly bigger company on stage and the addition of on-stage seating, which people are particularly curious about. You may also have questions about the casting, about the extent to which the material is being creatively reinterpreted, about the theatre-going experience and the merchandise on sale, whether or not you can meet the cast at the stage door afterwards and I am here today to let you know what this production is like, how similar or different it is to the Hope Mill version that you may have seen, whether or not I think the on-stage seating is a good choice for this production and everything else that I can tell you. I have had some questions sent in online, I'm going to answer those as well as sharing everything else that I can remember about my experience on Saturday night. Of course if anyone else has already seen the first couple of performances of Rent in the West End, by now I think they've played two or three preview performances, depending on when you're seeing this, feel free to share your observations and insights in the comments section as well. And since you aren't necessarily bound by the same critical obligations, feel free to tell us what you thought of the show. Also, if you have any questions about the show that I didn't manage to explain here, feel free to ask those in the comments as well, and I will do my best to answer. In the meantime, if you would like to stay up to date with all things theatre happening worldwide, and want to make sure that you don't miss my upcoming official review of this production of Rent, make sure you're subscribed here on YouTube with the notifications turned on so that you find out as soon as I drop it. Alternatively, you can follow me on podcast platforms or sign up to my weekly sub stack email newsletter. For now though, and as they say in the title song of the musical, rent, rent, rent, rent, rent, there is much for us to talk about. Let's get into it. Speaker 1 (3:22) So let me begin a little by explaining the context in which this production is arriving. It is something of an anniversary for the show. 30 years ago, it opened on Broadway, though this is not a replica staging. This is a revival with a new creative team led by director Luke Shepard, whose work has previously been seen in Paddington the Musical, in Aunt Juliet, The Little Big Things, the new production of Starlight Express, none of which would necessarily prompt you to associate him with a musical like Rent, decidedly more grungy and bohemian. However, he previously directed the show in its earlier incarnation at the Hope Mill Theatre, which if you don't know is an intimate theatrical space in Manchester. When that production was first staged, it arrived amidst a turbulent time for the theatre industry with reopenings and closings as various COVID variants and strains were emerging. It was the time of Omicron, if you remember that. And the production ended up having to close almost immediately after it opened. So they filmed it for a pro shot recording instead, which perhaps you may have seen. It enabled them to reach a much wider audience. They then remounted the production the next year. And it's based on that, that this version has arrived in the West End, making it to some extent the first return of Rent to the West End since the original production transferred from Broadway and played at the Shaftesbury Theatre. Now, we have had Rent in London. We had a... production that also toured around the UK that played at the other palace if you want to call that the West End then you absolutely can but it's not quite the same thing we also had Rent Remixed which you know the less said about that the better as I have cautioned you previously google it at your own risk But this one feels a little different. There are powerhouse producers behind it. There is some American investment in the show. It's probably a little early in this conversation and in the life of this run to be speculating about its potential Broadway transfer trajectory. But I don't think that's beyond the scope of possibility. Essentially, it's worth realizing that Rent is staged here in the UK. with considerably less frequency than it is staged at regional venues in the United States. But also, this has the capacity, as I mentioned in a previous little feature video, to be one of the most significant revivals of Rent since that original production. The likes of which... I think we've been waiting for for a few years now. One of the questions that I was asked was, I want to know what's different since last time it was here as a massive Rent fan. I don't know if that just means Rent in London or this particular production from Manchester, but this is an altogether new staging of the show that feels like a very organically new production while still retaining the same sort of familiar aesthetic identity and vibe of productions of Rent that you might have seen similarly. Sometimes there are shows that can really be re-envisioned and can look and feel quite different from one production to the next. Pippin is a quintessential example of this because it's reconceived in completely different ways. Rent, however, and I was having a conversation with somebody about this this morning. often has something of a similar set and design and has never really departed too far from that with the exception of the aforementioned Rent Remixed. A bunch of people have then asked the pertinent question, how has it evolved from the Hope Mill Theatre production a few years ago? And my answer to this, because that production really lent into the concept of social distancing and then the significance of characters who did then share and embrace finally after a prolonged time of separation. production does not retain that particular creative idea. It has some familiarity of the central staging of the Hope Mill production, but it also spills out beyond it. And I would say the same thing applies to its ethos. You can tell... the ideas present in the Hope Mill production are still being retained but it's also just exploded out from beyond that