5 stars
*****

Anthony Rapp, one of the original cast members of Rent on stage and screen gives us an excellent, poignant and humbly honest account of the early days of his career, of auditioning for Rent, its early success and then tragedy following the sudden death of the creator, Jonathan Larson. Mixed in with this we are treated to very personal stories about Anthony’s relationship with his mother and the end of her life too.

His storytelling is spellbinding and his singing gloriously rocky – there is original material combined of course with snippets from Rent. And it’s really interesting to hear some of the original lyrics from the workshops of Rent.

The five-piece band are immense and are a fantastic backing. The only niggle on the night I saw it was that the drums were far too loud, completely obliterating the keys, the poor cellist and sometime Mr. Rapp himself. I hope that was just a glitch, it was otherwise a superb show to finish off the evening and you don’t have to be a Rent-head to enjoy it!

Review by Alan

Underbelly, Bristo Square
1-26 August (not 13)
22:30-23:45