Whether you’re comfortable with it or not, you’d be a fool not to go, as you’d be missing one fantastic production! Withers has assembled some of the Valley’s most talented young actors for this one. Remarkable vocal performances throughout the cast, which is headed by twentysomething roommates Mark and Roger who live in a skid row apartment in 1990s New York City surrounded by junkies, homeless people, Bohemian artists and other such (as Arizona’s own senator labels them) “elitists.”

Mark probably doesn’t think himself better than others, but he does disparage his ex-friend Benny’s idea of cyber-art for not being “real” enough, while Mark himself gets called out for only seeing the real world through a camera in what is a very well done argument with Roger, leaving Mark to do some soul searching. Paul Thomson delivers a strong performance there and in leading a Bohemian revolt in a restaurant and in a hilarious Mutt-and-Jeff version of Tango Maureen in which the young and relatively short Paul dances with his ex-girlfriend’s girlfriend played by the relatively tall Joanne (Caitlin Stegemoller).

Sterling Liska, meanwhile, rocks it as Roger, a songwriter hoping to write one great song to live on after him before he dies of AIDS – a disease he acquired from his girlfriend who let him know about the disease in her suicide note. He’s trying to hole himself up in his apartment and away from life, but the vibrant neighbor/exotic dancer Mimi starts making that difficult. Transforming herself from the ultra-nice, low-key Cinderella in Greasepaint’s recent Into the Woods to the red-hot Mimi in Rent is Sydney Marie Hawes, putting her impressive vocal work and exotic dancer work on display as she makes it difficult for Roger to resist taking her Out Tonight.

And then there are the same-sex couples (and in this production, Greasepaint didn’t shy away from the same-sex kissing). Stefani Wood delivers with great humor and stage presence as the poetry reading Maureen who will always have women in leather flirting with her. She’s dumped Mark for her current partner Joanne, with Caitlin Stegemoller shining both in her song-and-dance with Maureen’s old flame and in her fantastic duet with her girlfriend Maureen in Take Me or Leave Me that has them getting more excited the more they argue with each other.

The male couple features Nick Webb as Tom Collins and Brian Wible as Tom’s new transvestite lover Angel. They do well together as the tenderly and playfully affectionate couple I’ll Cover You and in the painful Without You. And Brian steals it with his Today For You number dressed up as Mrs. Claus and showing off some great drumming skills to boot.

The rest of the cast is full of talent both vocally and comically, including but not limited to Cullen Law as Benjamin Coffin III, Shawn Hathcock as an uneasy restaurant host and gruff homeless man, Raven Woessner as a TV producer who is very thirsty for Mark’s soul, and Kelsey Johnson as Mark’s answering machine messaging mom who is kinda disgusted about Maureen dumping him to become a lesbian. The cast works well both individually and as a group, from their pre-show opening as loitering dwellers of skid row, through their touching Will I, lovely Seasons of Love and fun La Vie Boheme, and to their grand finale. All taking place in their graffiti-filled set that includes such sentiments as “Live,” “Freedom,” “Courage,” and “Help!” And they’re all backed up by a terrific band and fantastic new sound system.

Performs October 3 - 26, 2008.

Rob Hopper
National Youth Theatre

Photos by Christopher Mascarelli