Theatre Review: RENT Remixed, Duke of York's Theatre in London

Revamped RENT Aims to Appeal to a 21st Century Audience

RENT is one of those musicals, like Rocky Horror, that inspires a slavish kind of devotion from its army of die-hard cult fanatics. If you've ever met a so-called 'RENT head' in the flesh, you'll know that they don't tend to take kindly to people messing around with Jonathan Larson's original vision (I ought to know, having been one myself). Every production of RENT to date has followed exactly the same formula, from the costumes and musical arrangements, right down to its 'cheap front row seats' ticket pricing policy. RENT Remixed, then, is a rather risky proposition. It aims to lift the original production out of its New York in the 1990's setting, to make it less time and place specific.

The basic 'loosely based on La Boheme' storyline remains the same, following a group of young fringe artists as they grapple with consumer culture and AIDS. But there are differences. Lead characters now sport English accents. The S&M Cat Scratch Club gives way to a Moulin Rouge cum Dita Von Teese style burlesque house. And the formerly industrial set has been replaced by an oddly sleek, not-at-all-Bohemian but ultra cool Scandinavian design.

So is this reinvention a success, and was it strictly necessary? Not at all. In fact, most of the changes feel decidedly pointless, even random. Some of the supposedly 'modern' arrangements sound distinctly 80's - even more dated than the original. Lyrics have been changed superficially and unconvincingly. And the once exhilarating 'Out Tonight' now falls rather flat.

This new production does have a couple of saving graces. The 'Holiday' style remix of 'Happy New Year' works rather well, as does the revamped 'Today 4 You'. The most successful makeover is arguably 'Contact', which goes from being one of the most irritating tracks of the original production to one of the most powerful moments of the revamped version. And Oliver Thornton does a truly brilliant job of reinventing lead character Mark Cohen as an Englishman, against all the odds.