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Toby Parker

On the Town with Chip Deffaa: “Rent” at the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts: An Appreciation

April 7, 2022

This production was an ensemble success—which is what Jonathan Larson was hoping to achieve—so I’d like to mention every member of the company.   Not just the leads, whom I very much enjoyed  (Logan Spaleta,  Brendan Dugan,  Lily Resto-Solano as an appealingly amiable “Mimi Marquez,” Justin Nicot as the insouciant “Angel Dumont Schunard,” Monica Malas making the most of  the role of “Maureen Johnson,” Tsehai Marson as her frustrated girlfriend “Joanne Jefferson,”  Luke Studley Roberts as “Tom Collins” (who falls for “Angel”), and Matthew Macneal as landlord “Benjamin Coffin III”), but every member of the ensemble: Olivia Summer, Nicholas Martell, Miekayla Pierre, Ben Gluck, Sophia Longmuir, Gabriel Paredes, Isaac Wilson, Isabella Soleil Smith, Daniel Stowe, Jaiden Torres, Monica Malas, Ellistair Perry, Zune Misrra-Stone. [more]

“RENT” ON FOX TV — An Evaluation by Chip Deffaa

January 28, 2019

Adapting Broadway shows for "live" TV is never easy. And this production was hampered by some extraordinary bad luck. One of the stars, Brennin Hunt, ("Roger") broke his foot at the last minute, and they wound up broadcasting a tape of the dress rehearsal--instead of televising a "live" performance--for much of the night, Only the final portion--which hit home hardest-was actually airing "live." And that may well account for some of the muted energy that bothered me--the fact that we were watching a videotaped dress rehearsal. Some actors may well have been "saving something" for the anticipated live broadcast, It felt like that to me, anyway. [more]