Photo by Marcin Wichary

GF production of popular musical “Rent” ends Saturday

By Christopher P. Jacobs
Movies Editor

Fargo-Moorhead just saw a two-week local production of the award-winning cult favorite “Rent,” and by coincidence the same show opened last week in Grand Forks for a two-week run. For those who just can’t get enough of “Rent” (and there are numerous devotees of the show), it continues at 7:30 nightly through this Saturday, August 13th at the Empire Arts Center in downtown Grand Forks. Tickets are $20 and $18, with a limited number of “rush seats” available just before showtime at $10 each.

The Crimson Creek Players is a semi-professional troupe specializing in musical theatre and made up of recent area high school graduates, many now attending or recently graduated from UND, NDSU, MSUM, Concordia, and UMD. Founded by Richard and Diane Nelson, the group is now associated with the Greater Grand Forks Community Theatre.

Jonathan Larson’s “Rent” is a show that adapts and updates the romanticized life of starving artists portrayed in Puccini’s “La Boheme” into a decidedly unromanticized depiction of the difficulties facing artistic-minded free-spirits trying to survive in New York’s Greenwich Village. Most of the characters were once roommates together until breaking off into their own pursuits.

Produced by Ben Klipfel and directed by Chris Berg, Crimson Creek’s production of “Rent” is blessed with a uniformly strong cast and musicians. Tyler Rood is effective as Mark Cohen, the conflicted documentary filmmaker who ties most of the various characters and subplots together, as are Steven Douglas as Roger, his HIV-positive best friend and Haley Anne Boyd as Mimi, the heroin-addicted exotic dancer (also HIV-positive) Roger falls for.

Johanna Dittus makes a fine Joanne, a tough lesbian lawyer, but stealing the show is Candice Morgan as Maureen, Joanne’s flamboyant and fiercely individual lover, who also happens to be Mark’s ex-girlfriend. Morgan’s wild performance of “Over the Moon” towards the end of Act I is easily the highlight of the evening, arguably worth the price of admission by itself.

Also notable are Marcus Hamley as young philosophy professor Tom Collins, Matt Hippen as his romantic interest, the drag queen Angel, and Danel Dutot as ex-roommate-turned-landlord Benny. Other characters and ensemble parts are handled well by Frank Sikich, Cody Gerszewski, Eric Morris, Casey Paradies, Emily Walsh, Abby Schoenborn, Sasha Yearwood, and Amelia Schmitz. The excellent stage band consists of Matt Strand, John Nelson, Danny Moffitt, Jake Stoltz, and Mark Lentz.

While due to its mature and controversial subject matter “Rent” is not a show for every taste, the Crimson Creek production is first-rate. It certainly ranks at a comparable level to the touring Broadway production that played several years ago at Chester Fritz Auditorium.

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