‘Rent,’ Timeless Message Intensely Performed

Intensely focused on its moment in history, the rock musical “Rent” looked at specters casting long shadows across America in the mid-’90s and urged audiences to turn instead toward the light. Embrace life and pursue it to the fullest, the show urged in its oft-repeated lyric, “No day but today.”

Real-life tragedy drove home the message. Jonathan Larson, the show’s 35-year-old creator, had died unexpectedly as the show was about to open off-Broadway in early 1996. The confluence of on- and offstage events captured people’s imaginations, and “Rent” became an instant legend.

So, how is that legend faring half a decade later? Quite well, to judge by the touring edition of the show that plays through Sunday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Performed with all-out intensity by its young cast, this rendition of “Rent” lives its message. What’s more, it arrives at a perfect time. Much of its action takes place between Christmas and New Year’s eves, and one of its most captivating songs speaks of “living in America, at the end of the millennium.”

That lyric, of course, will soon age “Rent,” as certain other of its references--to the once-ubiquitous AIDS drug AZT and to Newt Gingrich, for instance--already have. Yet so much in this story is so truly timeless that the show is sure to captivate viewers for a long time to come.

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Inspired by the Puccini opera “La Boheme,” “Rent” captures the millennial spirit of Generations X and Y. Set in New York’s East Village, the story focuses on a group of bohemians in their late teens and 20s. Aspiring filmmakers, musicians and performers, they live an economically precarious existence that is shadowed by drugs, AIDS and their own personal demons. Yet they’ve made an art of the very act of being. An amalgamation of races and sexual orientations, they live out loud and proud, bonded by friendship and by their shared mistrust of conventionality.

Like its operatic source material, most of “Rent” is sung, its musical styles tending toward power pop, hip-hop and rebel rock. At times, the lyrics fairly shout its messages: “Time flies, time dies,” the would-be rock musician Roger sings as he tries to kick-start his stalled life. “Would you light my candle?” the drug-addicted exotic dancer Mimi asks him, in a siren’s call that is at once dangerous and vital. “Live in my house, I’ll be your shelter,” the HIV-positive, cross-dressing Angel and his boyfriend, Collins, declare to each other.

As Mimi, Dominique Roy is among the most electric members of this company. Whether howling at the moon or turning her voice into the smoothest silk, she thrillingly conveys the life force of a character who blazes so intensely that she threatens to burn herself out.

As Mark, the aspiring filmmaker who is the story’s narrator, Matt Caplan has a nasal voice that helps to suggest his character’s lovable nerdiness and vulnerability--qualities enhanced, as always, by the Charlie Brown-like sweater he wears. As Roger, Cary Shields lays into his songs with hard-driving energy. As lovers Collins and Angel, Mark Richard Ford and Shaun Earl beautifully suggest the deep reserves of both tenderness and strength that their outsider characters need to survive in an often-hostile world.

Making strong impressions in somewhat smaller roles, Maggie Benjamin mixes daffiness with undeniable talent to capture the comic dualities of narcissistic performance artist Maureen, and Brian M. Love, as Benny the landlord, does a believable job of being both menace and friend. Further pumping up the energy, Shelley R. Hanson leads an especially hard-rocking onstage band.

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Most of these performers are new to the area, though “Rent” has visited the Performing Arts Center before and has made several other visits to the Southland. From the cheaper seats in the balconies, the young fans at Tuesday’s opening laughed at each new trait these performers brought to the roles, and roared their approval.

Fresh perspectives come of their own accord, as well. As written by Larson and directed by Michael Greif, the show is so rich in detail that it may take repeated viewings before one focuses in on such small yet wonderfully true-to-life details as the answering-machine chorus of parental voices. “Rent’s” young bohemians envision society frowning upon them and, in response, have copped a me-a gainst-the-world attitude. Yet far from being unwanted or unloved, they come, in several instances, from nurturing households, as evidenced by the parents who beg them to call home.

Here, we see the youthful rebellion that expresses itself in each generation--just one of the universal qualities that ensures this show will live on.

Sometimes, life exacts a high rent; sometimes, people create needless problems for themselves. But just connect, “Rent” urges. Seize opportunity. No day but today.

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* “Rent,” Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Today-Friday, 8 p.m.; Saturday, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Ends Sunday. $22-$53.50. $20 tickets in the front two rows sold at the box office only, two hours before curtain; cash only, limit two tickets. (213) 365-3500, (714) 740-7878. Running time: 2 hours, 41 minutes.