Flashmob Cast of Rent Sightings All Over Alamogordo, Upcoming Production by AMT Opens March 22, 2024

Anyone out and about around town has probably heard the music of a flash mob at various locations. That sound of music is from the cast of "Rent" the musical soon to be presented at the Flickinger Center in the historic New York Avenue Cultural Arts and History District of Alamogordo. 

The cast has been out and about, already entertaining from the Roadrunner Galleria at 10th and New York to the White Sands Mall and places in between thus, sound of music has been radiating from this talented ensemble cast.

Alamogordo Music Theater is launching one of the most ambitious shows of recent memory for the Alamogordo public with its production of "Rent" coming to the Flickinger Center on March 22, 23, 29th and 30th at 7 pm and on March 24th for a 2 pm showing.

This production by AMT is directed by Rosemary Daffern

The cast includes several local singers and performers well known from past productions and a few newer members joining the ensemble to include Mimi staring Adrianna Sharp, Roger staring Bradley Oliver, Mark staring Tim Wolfson, Collins staring Tyler Hutchens, Angel staring Chris Medina, Maureen staring Jordynn Marelich, Joanne staring Jeanette Borunda and Benny staring Zack Miller.

The ensemble cast includes Marlynn Bardocz, Everette Brown, Clifford Cabos, Jose Delgado Jr., Sabrina Delgado, Azelia Garcia, Tina George, Pat Stone, Mackette Kark, Clarissa Lamer, Bianca Lechuga, Jay Luzano, Gabriel Mauger, Sarah McGavern, Robin Milne, David Prose.

The historical context of the production and trivia to know...

​Rent is a rock musical with music, lyrics, and book by Jonathan Larson is loosely based on the 1896 opera La bohème by Giacomo Puccini, Luigi Illica, and Giuseppe Giacosa, which in turn is based on the 1851 novel Scenes of Bohemian Life by Henri Murger, it tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists struggling to survive and create a life in Lower Manhattan's East Village, in the thriving days of the bohemian culture of Alphabet City, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS.

The musical was first seen in 1993 in a workshop production at New York Theatre Workshop, the off-Broadway theatre which was also where the musical officially premiered on January 26, 1996; the show's creator, Jonathan Larson, died suddenly of an aortic dissection, believed to have been caused by undiagnosed Marfan syndrome, the night before. The musical moved to Broadway's larger Nederlander Theatre on April 29, 1996.

On Broadway, Rent gained critical acclaim and won several awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Musical. The Broadway production closed on September 7, 2008, after 12 years, making it one of the longest-running shows on Broadway. The production grossed over $280 million.

The success of the show led to several national tours and numerous foreign productions. In 2005, it was adapted into a motion picture featuring six of the eight principal cast members from the 1996 stage premiere and has been the subject of progressive community theater groups around the nation.

One of the most famous lines from the production , "I'm more of a man than you'll ever be... and more of a woman than you'll ever get!", was attributed to the legendary, Angel Dumott Schunard at her funeral, and was previously used by the character Hollywood Montrose, who appeared in the films Mannequin (1987) and Mannequin Two: On the Move (1991). Like Angel, Hollywood performs a song and dance number and sometimes wears women's clothing. This line was originally in the film Car Wash (1976), delivered by Antonio Fargas as a flamboyant homosexual cross dresser named Lindy.

"Will I?", a song which takes place during a Life Support meeting and expresses the pain and fear of living a life with AIDS, was inspired by a real event. The plays creator, Larson attended a meeting of Friends in Deed, an organization that helps people deal with illness and grief, much like Life Support. After that first time, Larson attended the meetings regularly. During one meeting, a man stood up and said that he was not afraid of dying. He did say, however, that there was one thing of which he was afraid: Would he lose his dignity? From this question stemmed the first line of this song, "Will I?" The people present at the Life Support meeting in the show, such as Gordon, Ali and Pam, carry the names of Larson's friends who died. In the Broadway show, the names of the characters in that particular scene (they introduce themselves) were changed nightly to honor the friends of the cast members who were living with or had died from AIDS.

The most famous song from the show is the song "Seasons of Love" became a successful pop song and often is performed on its own. Because of its connection to New Years and looking back at times past, it is sometimes performed at graduations or holiday programs.  The song typically starts with an ostinato piano motif, which provides the harmonic framework for the cast to sing "Five hundred twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes" (the number of minutes in a common year). The lyrics ask what the proper way is to quantify the value of a year in human life, concluding in the chorus that the most effective means is to "measure in love". Since four of the lead characters either have HIV or AIDS, the song is often associated with World AIDS Day and AIDS awareness month. The song when released by the original cast peaked on the Billboard charts at #21 but is one of the most recognized Broadway songs of the modern era.

Make sure you check out the local production of Alamogordo Music Theater's "Rent"

For details on AMT visit RENT | AMT (alamogordomusictheatre.org) 

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