A talented bunch of Gen Zers make it crystal clear why Jonathan Larson’s Gen X musical Rent is still going strong at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center nearly thirty years after its Broadway debut.

 Taking Puccini’s La Boheme as its inspiration, Rent transports us back in time to Manhattan’s East Village circa 1990 where composer-lyricist-book writer Larson introduces us to a cast of characters who’ve achieved iconic status since the musical debuted off-Broadway in January of 1996 before transferring to Broadway three months later.

 There’s would-be filmmaker Mark (Kyle Critelli), ever the observer, never the participant; his aspiring-songwriter roommate Roger (Blake Rhiner); Mimi (Analisa Idalia), the Cat Scratch Club exotic dancer whom Roger falls for; transgender Angel (Augusto Guardado) and their philosophy prof boyfriend Collins (Lonnie Jones III); Mark’s bisexual performance artist ex-wife Maureen (Cassandra Caruso) and her lawyer girlfriend Joanne (Kiana Hamzehi); and Benny (Kendré Scott), Mark and Roger’s ex-roommate and current nemesis.

The cast is multiracial and multicultural. Roger and Mimi are HIV-positive. Angel and Collins have AIDS. “AZT breaks” punctuate the show at frequent intervals.

 Larson’s still-potent songs (“One Song Glory,” “La Vie Boheme,” “Seasons Of Love,” “Take Me Or Leave Me,” etc.) were unlike any others previously heard on a Broadway stage, with a pulsating rock beat and gritty lyrics, and Rent’s plotlines, then as current “as today’s headlines,” revolved around straight, gay, bisexual, and trans characters.

 That the young people Larson’s music and words brought to life (or at least those lucky enough to live and tell about it in 2025) have now reached their ripe old mid-50s makes it even more remarkable that this 29-year-old musical continues to inspire regional, community, and school productions three decades after its debut, though having survived their own global pandemic, it’s perhaps no wonder that today’s 20somethings continue to find relevance in what even six or seven years ago might have seemed passé.

All of this is to say that Rent is still going strong, and whether you’re somebody who’s been a Renthead for the past 29 years or someone who hadn’t yet seen the light of day “at the end of the millennium,” you’ll likely find yourself gripped and moved and thoroughly entertained by the production which directors Fred Helsel and Brittney Wheeler- Keophan have brought to vivid, vibrant life on the SVCAC stage.

Not only this, but unlike a few recent productions I’ve seen where a number of casting choices were, to put it most kindly, “unconventional,” there’s not a single lead performer who isn’t absolutely right for the role they’ve been entrusted with.

Critelli’s nerdy but charismatic and undeniably likable Mark and Rhiner’s lean-and-lupine looker of a Roger add up to the most dynamic of best-friend duos while singing up a storm.

Guardado makes for the most electrifying and affecting of Angels, Jones’s  powerhouse Tom Collins is as sexy as he is moving, and recent Breakout Performance Scenie winner Idalia sizzles like nobody’s business as Mimi.

 Caruso burns up the stage as Maureen, a role she was clearly born to play, Hamzehi does some stage-igniting herself as Joanne, and Scott is so darn appealing a Benny, you might find yourself forgetting what a jerk he can be.

And it’s not just the leads who deliver.

Ensemble stars Michael Arrieta (Steve, Pastor), Max Chester (Gordon, Squeegie Man), Dallas Dudley (Mark’s Mom, Maureen’s Back-Up Singer), Sianne Enis (Mrs. Jefferson), Georgia Caines (“Seasons Of Love” soloist), Brianne Lopez (Mimi’s Mom, Coat Vendor), Cameron Pench (Mr. Jefferson, Paul), Terrence Robinson (“Seasons Of Love” soloist), vocal captain Alyssa Weir (Roger’s Mom, Maureen’s Back-Up Singer), and Rachel Yoffe (Alexi Darling, “Seasons Of Love” soloist) prove throughout the show that they have what it takes to go far.

In addition to lighting up the stage as Angel, SVCAC favorite Guardado (seen here in Joan Rivers mode) reveals serious choreographic chops in the show-stopping full-cast title song, a rousing “La Vie Boheme,” and the sexy pair of pas-de-deux that are “Tango Maureen” and “Take Me Or Leave Me.”

 Rent looks fabulous on the SVCAC stage thanks to scenic designer Nick Caisse, costume designer Ariella Salinas Fiore, wig master Luis Ramirez, and lighting designer Seth Kamenow, who’ve taken the original Broadway designs as their inspiration and then let their imaginations soar.

And Rent sounds fabulous too thanks to music director Jan Roper, sound designer Ethan Strubbe, and the production’s rocking live band: Roper on keyboards, Gabe Gonzalez on guitar, Kevin Hart on bass, and Dann Gillen on drums.

Rent is produced by Helsel and Philip McBride and features Jessica Mata’s video design. Maddie Wurth is assistant choreographer. Wheeler-Keophan is dramaturg. Fiore is intimacy coordinator. Caitlyn Rose Massey is production stage manager. Eadric Einbinder understudies the role of Angel.

There was a while there back in the early 2010s that Rent seemed to have vanished from our local stages, but a new generation of triple threats appear to have rediscovered it, and this longtime Rent aficionado couldn’t be more delighted.

 Following in the footsteps of such past SVCAC winners as The Prom, Something Rotten, and Elf The Musical, Rent once again provides proof positive that the folks up at Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center have what it takes to give the pros a run for their money…and then some!

Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, 3050 Los Angeles Avenue, Simi Valley.
www.simi-arts.org

–Steven Stanley
August 30, 2025
Photos: Ariella Salinas Fiore

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Tags: Jonathan Larson, Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, Ventura County Theater Review