Rent review – Gaten Matarazzo makes his West End debut in an uplifting revival

More than 30 years (or 30 times 525,600 minutes) have passed since the Tony Award-winning musical Rent opened on Off-Broadway. And the exact amount of time has gone since its composer and creator Jonathan Larsen died.

His tragic death following an undiagnosed but treatable heart condition, on the eve of the first preview of his one show that would ultimately play on Broadway, has meant that the musical has become increasingly shrouded in the story of his lost genius, the sense of promise unfulfilled.

One of the achievements of Luke Sheppard’s vigorous, uplifting revival is to separate the myths from the reality. Whatever Larsen may or may not have gone on to do, this is a thrilling musical, both perfectly of its time and still relevant today.

Its celebration of art, of life, of Bohemia is directly lifted from Puccini’s La bohème on which it is loosely based. But its transmutation of the lives of the group of struggling friends who are musicians and painters into a band of 1990s creatives, filmmakers, musicians and performance artists, living their lives not only in a run-down New York but also in the shadow of the AIDS crisis that is stealing lives and forcing its sufferers onto the streets, is a master stroke of reinvention.

Even though AIDS itself is now a treatable disease, that sense of young people without hope, finding love and consolation in living “no day but today” still resonates loudly. So does the idea of their battle to make their voices heard amidst the pressures of corporate development, rising prices and the incursion of virtual reality.

This production grew from a different pandemic, when it was first staged at Hope Mill Theatre during Covid. The in-the-round staging has been preserved for this larger and more splashy West End revival and it helps to lend great spirit and energy to a piece that is baggy and episodic but always engaging.

Under conductor Katy Richardson, the (extremely loud) live band sit high on a balcony on David Woodhead’s stylised industrial set, with great walls of windows, and candles on ledges giving a suggestion of squatted rooms and dilapidated buildings. Screens at random points keep the suggestion that Mark, the filmmaker at the centre of the group, is recording the action.

He’s played with a winning mixture of wit and intensity by Gaten Matarazzo (of Stranger Things fame), but the entire cast, evocatively costumed by Gabriella Slade in clothes that perfectly conjure the worn aesthetic of 90s grunge, are impressive: strong-voiced singers and actors who can turn this motley group of types into individuals you care about.

They begin the piece sitting in a circle around a revolve, with an on-stage audience surrounding them in turn. Tom Jackson Greaves’ inventive, powerful choreography often uses the chairs, keeping the characters sitting while their arms or legs pulse to the music. When the action spreads across the space, he sculpts tableau beautifully lit by Howard Hudson to highlight specific moments.

Sheppard’s direction is also cleverly paced, letting big scenes – Maureen’s “arty” performance to demand proper housing for the homeless, the meeting at the Life Café – unfold with panache, while keeping the focus on the individual stories that are being told. The actors are all are terrific. Travis Ross constantly suggests the man Roger might have become, if illness hadn’t destroyed his prospects; Alexa Lopez is a brilliantly agonised Mimi while Lazy Violet suggests just the right amount of kookiness for Maureen.

Billy Nevers makes a huge impact as Collins, warm-voiced and lovable, while Jeevan Braich is simply superb as Angel, the most tragic and yet the most inspiring of Rent’s personalities.

All in all, this is a hugely enjoyable revival of a musical that is standing the test of time, even as it conjures stories from the past.