York Theatre Royal – until 22 April. Reviewed by Marcus Richardson
Oh My God, so Rent is the best thing I have seen in the history of my reviewing. The hit musical known for its song Seasons of Love is having its 20th anniversary tour of the UK and came to York Theatre Royal.
The musical set in New York City in the 1990s explores issues of homelessness and the AIDS epidemic, so you know there’s a lot of emotion involved with the story. The Main Characters are Mark and Roger, two men who live in a rundown flat unable to afford the rent. The whole plot is gripping funny and also devastating. The perfect balance of all 3 is what gives this musical the flare on top of the biggest most delicious cake you will ever see.
As far a acting goes I can’t even comprehend on how good the whole entire cast was from the main actors to the chorus/homeless people. But I must shout out to the solo artist Jenny O’Leary in Seasons of Love who hit those whistle notes with pure force and perfection. One person who stole the show for me was Layton Williams who plays the drag queen Angel. If that name sounds familiar it may be because of his role on Bad Education. Drop all that at the door though, his stage presence and confidence on stage just blew me away, the song Today 4U was both amazing to watch with Williams dancing very well on stage whilst also delivering this amazing song. The dance gave me bad anxiety watching because there were so many moments where one wrong move could mean a serious accident on stage, but he pulled this number off and throughout the rest of the show he just stood out.
I have to say that the person who played Maureen was unable to perform and her Understudy Christina Modestou was absolutely fantastic and if she is the understudy and can perform like that on stage it just blows you away for her dedication and ability to perform. But like I said the whole cast was amazing and everyone. Everyone. Was just perfect.
Another thing that just blew my mind was the stagecraft with the frames of building being moved on stage and the use of levels on the stage. With everything looking urban and run down it took us to New York and set the feeling throughout the whole entire play – one of the best moments on how good the use of the set was just before the interval where they are about to celebrate Christmas and these Christmas lights come out and hang over the actors heads.
I cannot stress this enough, go and see this show, if you’re busy move your plans you don’t want to miss this. If it’s fully booked in York don’t worry it still touring, I would travel the length of the planet to go and see this again. This is one of the best things I have seen in my whole entire life and I’ve seen a lot of shows – this just blew everything out the water. Now go and watch this masterpiece now!