RENT

Laurence Gibson says the Aids musical of the early 90s could do with updating.
Jonathan Larson, the lyricist, author and composer of Rent died suddenly on the opening night of the show on Broadway. He had loosely based the plot of Rent on Puccini's La Boheme and it mirrors the world Larson lived in. The two main storylines centre on the impact of Aids and the Rent riots in Alphabet City in the late 80s and every character is based on someone Larson knew. They are all convincing stereotypes from Angel (the cute, generous, fun-loving drag queen who

dies of Aids) to Mark (the rather more geeky filmmaker).
It's a tragic and powerful story, but new director, Paul Kerryson, doesn't seem to realise this. This production of Rent isn't up to West End standard. Not because of the cast, but because of the second-rate workshop feel that pervades throughout.
Overly doomy and sentimental, too, is the discussion about Aids. In the space of two hours, one person slits her wrists because she has HIV, another is forever

contemplating doing the same, a boy dies of Aids and another girl almost