Opera Theatre will perform 'Rent' using three-level set

November 14, 2023 (Volume 47, Number 6)
Article by Thomas Garrett

five students seated at table, one in red Santa outfit sitting on table

The cast of 'Rent' is pictured. Performances will run November 17-December 3 in the Haas Performing Arts Center.

Grand Valley’s Opera Theatre will present the musical "Rent" in performances from November 17-December 3 at the Haas Center for Performing Arts.

Purchase tickets online and view details about show times.

Based on the opera "La bohème," director Diane Machin said this rock musical, “will have characters moving at breakneck speeds.” The show features songs such as "Seasons of Love" and "Tango: Maureen."

Cast members such as Cole Brick, who is majoring in music education with performance honors, said they have a very physical show ready, with a three-level set that will have actors gliding up and down multiple sets of stairs.

“This musical theater experience is unique, it is very open and fluid,” said Brick.

"Rent" takes place in the 1980s, following a group of struggling artists in lower Manhattan's East Village at the start of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. A landlord has forced the group to pay past rent or vacate their apartment.

“The way they carry out their everyday lives was completely flipped on its head with the introduction of this disease,” said Brick.

Brick said although the topics of the musical focus on death and sickness, there are bright lights. “The show should remind us to live in the moment, and not think so heavily about the future,” he said.