RENT-Bromley Players
Bob Hope Threatre, Wythfield road,
Eltham
,
Presented by Bromley Player’s
Director—Ian Chapman
Musical Director—Steve Trill
Assistant Director/Vocal Coach—Georgiana Gillis
Choreographer—TBC
Show week—5th-8th October 2011 @ The Bob Hope Theatre-Eltham
First get together--Tuesday 19th April
Second get together and New Members auditions—Either Tuesday 26th April or Thursday 28th April
Auditions—Sunday 1st May—Dance, Cameo, Ensemble
Auditions—Tuesday 3rd May—Principles
Rehearsals will take place on Tuesdays or Thursdays at St Georges Church Hall on Bickley Road.
This will be the first time Rent has been performed at the Bob hope theatre. Bromley Players has a growing reputation for performing premiers at the Bob Hope Theatre including – ‘Return to The Forbidden Planet,’ ‘ Children of Eden,’ ‘Boogie nights’ and ‘The Wedding Singer.’
Bromley Players welcomes new members and unlike some other local societies you do not have to perform in the chorus before you can be cast as a principal.
Rent is a rock opera with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème. Centering on the lives of a group of 8 friends, Rent tells many different stories at once. The musical focuses on the troubles of gay people in New York. Some of the other major focuses of the musical include drug addiction and the fight against AIDS.
The play is much closer to an opera than a musical in format. Very little non-singing dialogue happens throughout the show, with even trivial pieces of information and exposition being sung. The music ranges from slow ballads to hard-rock influenced conflict songs, yet keeps in mind its operatic roots.
Rent is the Ninth-longest-running Broadway show and has won countless awards including 4 Tony’s.
Main characters
• Mark Cohen---Baritone/Tenor—Playing age 20-30
• A struggling Jewish documentary filmmaker, the narrator of the show. He is Roger's and Collins's roommate until Collins moves out; he is also Maureen's ex-boyfriend.
• Roger Davis--- Tenor—Playing age 20-30
• A once successful, but now, struggling musician who is HIV positive and an "ex-junkie." He hopes to write one last meaningful song before he dies. He is having a hard time coping with the fact that he, along with many others around him, know that they are going to die. His girlfriend, April, killed herself after finding out they had HIV. He is roommates with Mark.
• Mimi Márquez--- Contralto/Belter—Playing age 18-21
• A club dancer and drug addict. She lives downstairs from Mark and Roger, and is Roger's love interest who, like him, has HIV. She is also Benny's ex-girlfriend.
• Tom Collins--- Baritone/Tenor—Playing age 25-35
• a gay anarchist with AIDS. He is described by Mark as a "computer genius; teacher; vagabond anarchist who ran naked through the Parthenon." Collins dreams of opening a restaurant in Santa Fe, where the problems in New York will not affect him and his friends. He was formerly a roommate of Roger, Mark, Benny, and Maureen, then just Roger and Mark, until he moves in with Angel.
• Angel Dumott Schunard--- Tenor (often with falsetto)—Playing age 20-35
• A young drag queen, street percussionist with AIDS. He is Collins's love interest.
• Maureen Johnson--- Mezzo Soprano/Belter—Playing age 20-30
• A bisexual performance artist; Mark's ex-girlfriend and Joanne's current girlfriend. She is very flirtatious and cheated on Mark a lot.
• Joanne Jefferson--- Contralto—Playing age 25-35
• An Ivy League-educated public interest lawyer, and a lesbian. Joanne is the woman for whom Maureen left Mark. Joanne has very important parents (one is undergoing confirmation to be a judge, the other is a government official.)
• Benjamin "Benny" Coffin III--- Baritone—Playing age 25-35
• Landlord of Mark, Roger and Mimi's apartment building and ex-roommate of Mark, Collins, Roger, and Maureen. Now married to Alison Grey of the Westport Greys, a very wealthy family involved in real estate, and is considered a yuppie sell-out by his ex-roommates. He is also Mimi's ex-boyfriend.
Minor characters
* Mrs. Cohen, Mark's stereotypical Jewish mother. Her voicemail messages are the basis for the songs Voicemail #1, Voicemail #3, and Voicemail #5.
* Alexi Darling, the producer of Buzzline who tries to employ Mark after his footage of the riot makes primetime. Sings Voicemail #3 and Voicemail #4.
* Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson, the wealthy parents of Joanne Jefferson, they leave her Voicemail #2. Mr. Jefferson is also one of the a cappella singers in Voicemail #5
* Mrs. Davis, Roger's confused mother who calls in Voicemail #5, asking continuously, "Roger, where are you?"
* Mrs. Marquez, Mimi's Spanish-speaking mother who sings in Voicemail #5, wondering, in Spanish, where she is.
* Mr. Grey, Benny's father-in-law who wants to buy out the lot.
* The Man, the local drug dealer whom Mimi buys from and Roger used to buy from.
* Paul, the man in charge of the Life support group.
* Gordon, one of the Life support members. Usually doubles as "The Man"
* Steve, one of the Life Support members. Usually doubles as "The Waiter"
* Ali, one of the Life Support members
* Pam, one of the Life Support members
* Sue, one of the Life Support members. As notated in the script by Larson, the role of "Sue" is encouraged to take on the name that someone in the cast (or production) knows or has known to have succumbed to AIDS. In the final Broadway performance, Sue is re-named Lisa.
* Squeegee Man, a homeless person who chants "Honest living!" over and over.
There are also many other non-named roles such as The Waiter, The Homeless Woman, The Preacher, Seasons of Love soloists, Cops, Bohemians, Vendors, Homeless People.
Main well known songs from Rent are:
Seasons of love
La Vie Bohème
Take me or leave me
One song Glory
Out tonight
Will I?