Prize-Winning, Uber-Beloved Musical "Rent" Comes to Walnut Creek

Art entertains.  Art instructs.  And at its best, art blows your socks off and bursts open your understanding of the world.

When the Contra Costa Music Theatre throws open the doors on its 50th Anniversary season this Friday with Rent, the Pulitzer-Prize winning musical about love, loss and so much more, Jasen Jeffrey is aiming for maximum impact.

With Rent (Friday, August 20-Saturday, September 4), Jeffrey is making his directorial debut with CCMT, but this Shellie Award winning actor is no stranger to local theater, acting for CCMT and other companies. Chosen to direct the production of Jonathan Larson's much-awarded show, Jeffrey hasn't just studied the libretto, he's lived it. 

"I don't think you'll find anyone more connected with the work," he says, during a post-rehearsal interview. With Rent, Jeffrey is making his diectorial debut with CCMT but he is.

Funny thing, then, that just more than 10 years ago, when a New York hotel concierge suggested he enjoy it as his first Broadway show experience, Jeffrey had never heard of Rent.  Downright odd, when he admits, "I played in [orchestra] pits, but I never really paid attention to what was on stage." But there he was: "two rows up in the balcony—which in that theater, was almost on stage—and it was loud, it was awesome.  I could see my life on stage.  I realized I needed to do that No Day But Today philosophy."

The song and the show, based on Puccini's La Bohéme, parallels the famous opera: struggling young artists, living in poverty, finding love and facing death.  Bohemian life, cast forward into the late 20th century, adds HIV/AIDS, homosexuality and drug addiction to the list.  Premiering in 1996, the musical ran on Broadway for 12 years and continues to pack houses across the country and in the Bay area.

 "This show, to me, is relevant to any time and day," Jeffrey says.  "Each character is in the show to live the fullest life possible amidst poverty and suffering." 

Suggest to him that AZT and a pricey cocktail of other drugs have stripped the AIDS epidemic of its drama, and the director heats up.  "The point of Rent isn't gay and AIDS, it's a community trying to make it through a hard time," he begins. "Besides, AIDS is still the biggest epidemic we've ever had.  There's still no cure, and in 2006 the infected population actually grew 40 percent because people got careless." 

Jeffrey frequents global websites and researches the disease's trajectory because he's "passionate about things that effect the community of the world."

 His intensity, masked by his unassuming, professorial looks and lifestyle, ("I'm a stay-at-home dad," he says, smiling blissfully,) is both macro, about universal issues like AIDS, and micro, about the production at hand. 

"The Broadway production—and others I've seen—miss the sub-stories," he says.  "They celebrate the book, but they do it with caricatures." 

To avoid that trap, Jeffrey invested considerable energy into the audition process.  "I found people with the musical chops, but then I talked to them, I watched them.  They had to be the character, not just want to act it."

In rehearsal, his careful casting shows. Taylor Jones is a heady blend of sensuality and sweetness. C.R. Lewis' smile fills the room with light; his scowl plunges its temperature. Will Scrip, with gossamer voice, adds a steady undercurrent of brooding intensity to Robert Lopez's quicksilver unpredictability.  There are no "small" parts for the cast of Bay area veterans, according to Jeffrey.  "On any given night, any one actor can take the lead due to his or her energy and honesty," he says.

To put his personal stamp on the production, Jeffrey is not allowing the love relationships to upstage what he believes are over-looked scenes. 

"Other productions miss the most poignant moments," he says, "like when a loved one is suddenly gone."  He poses a question: "If we lose something and are broken, how do we recover?" 

For the first time in the interview, his eyes fill with tears, his voice shakes, he stops speaking.  This then, is the magnetic power the show has on Jeffrey's soul.

Clearing his throat, he answers his own question in precise, directorial fashion.  Death or life are the recovery options.  The first choice, he says, is selfish and scary.  The second, means admitting you need help and seeking family and community to receive it.  "To feel alone is probably the worst thing in the world," he says.  "I've felt that.  Luckily, I had a friend who helped me through that."

 Jeffrey's hope is for the audience to "leave Rent not only feeling good, but feeling a sense of priority and connection."  Scott Strain, the show's producer and long-time board member of the Contra Costa Music Theatre, hopes audiences will leave planning to return. 

"It's our 50th year, and the Lesher Center's 20th anniversary," he says.  To celebrate, the company is running A Chorus LIne in October: exactly the same time of year the show opened at the Lesher 20 years ago.

 Strain, an admitted Renthead, speaks to the actors at the end of the day's rehearsal.  "No karaoke and no yelling during water balloon fights," he warns, sounding paternal.  "How about singing in the shower?" one of the actors calls out. 

"The only place I want you using your voice is here in rehearsal or on stage at the Lesher," he answers to the actors gathered in front of him.  It's a community, and Jeffrey, seated right in the middle of it, smiles and nods in agreement.

Jasen Jeffrey's past acting credits include Cinderella, Guys & Dolls, and Urinetown (CCMT), Anybody Out There?, ART, (Shellie Award Winner, Best Actor), She Loves Me, Seussical The Musical, My Fair Lady, Our Town, and Follies in Concert (Crossroads Theatre); The Scarlet Pimpernel and Honk! (DLOC); 1776 and Mountain Days (Willows Theatre); Lend Me A Tenor (Roll Players Ensemble); Fiddler on the Roof (CCCT); and the original San Francisco cast of Tony 'n' Tina's Wedding.

When RENT originally opened in New York, the producers offered discounted $20 rush tickets to each performance, so that people who would otherwise be unable to afford the ticket prices could enjoy the show. These discounted tickets were for seats in the first two rows of the theater reserved for sale by lottery two hours prior to each show. In true RENT spirit and tradition, CCMT will be offering $20 lottery tickets prior to every show for a limited number of seats in the first two rows.

For ticket lottery details, please visit ccmt.org.

For more tickets and information, call 925-943-7469 or visit www.lesherartscenter.org.