The RENT is due next month

Most people would agree that musicals are an important aspect to performance art history. There are countless productions that are forever lost in the musical history vault, never to come back on the contemporary stage. There are, however, a few productions that will always be relevant and able to stand the test of time, and RENT is one of them.

This year Brock Musical Theater (BMT) will be performing RENT as their feature production of the 2012 school year. BMT has had over 100 auditions for cast members and 20 people asked to be involved with the crew. BMT has chosen 19 cast members to fill the roles in the production.

The cast members are a diverse group, being that they are different ages, ethnicities and are studying in different programs at Brock University. There have also been Visual Arts students actively engaged in the production, making art for the set.

BMT has been a ratified club at Brock since 2005, producing shows such as Glee Club, Urinetown and Footloose, among others. BMT has also been accustomed to planning flash mobs, singing at Niagara Ice Dogs games and also performing for organizations such as the United Way and Brock Pride. Along with the many community contributions BMT has participated in, they have also managed to team up with AIDS Niagara for their performance nights this year.

Karyn Lorence, President and Producer of the BMT and third year Dramatic Arts student at Brock, was involved with last year's production and has since taken a big jump to organize the theatre group this year.

"I have always been interested in BMT, since growing up in St. Catharines and knowing about it since high school," said Lorence.

The main differences Lorence notes from last year is that many of the students involved in BMT are first year students and only three members are carry-over cast members. Many of the members are also untrained actors outside of the dramatic arts department, therefore overcoming the balance to help members portray a character has been a rewarding challenge for BMT.

Jessi Robinson, third year Dramatic Arts student and Director of RENT is excited about working with different groups of students and training the cast. The ensemble for RENT has an equal amount of stage time with the main cast, giving all members an equal portion of roles to fill.

"[RENT] has little to no dialogue, it's all vocals and there are a lot of fun dance numbers and different techniques added to the stage. RENT has also never been in the Niagara Region, this is the first time that RENT will be shown at Brock," said Lorence.

The stylization accommodates the performances of the cast as well as Lorence and Robinson's vision. The original script BMT is using cannot be changed, so the stage and character treatment has a large role in making the production unique.

"I think we are different from the famous Broadway version — we are trying to make it more personal and come away from the stereotypes that defined some of the characters," said Robinson.

"With my role it's a lot my body language that I need to use to portray to the audience what I am feeling," said Meghan Connolly, first year Concurrent Education student at Brock.

Practices have been running smoothly for the RENT production since the practices began in October, beginning with staging and vocals and running through numbers. Cast members are now practicing everyday to prepare for the upcoming performance.

"Rehearsals are involved around making you comfortable. Jessi and Karyn take opinions from everybody else and what they want to do. There is a whole cast involvement in rehearsals," said Connolly.

RENT will be running in the David S. Howes Theatre at Brock University from Feb. 2-4. Tickets are available at the box office at Brock for $15. For more information about Brock Musical Theatre, check out brockmusicaltheatre.com. BMT will also be performing at the Improv Summit in March.