THEATER REVIEW:’Rent’ is still due its praise

The musical theater earthquake that is “Rent,” first unleashed a little over a decade ago, still packs a furious punch.

Currently enjoying a robust week’s return engagement at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, “Rent” carries an ensemble impact offered by few comparable productions. And the show comes with a built-in fan base of “Rentheads” ready to rock ‘n’ roll.

It’s a cruel twist of fate that creator Jonathan Larson, who died of an aortic aneurysm the night before the show’s first off-Broadway performance, never was able to enjoy the astounding appreciation (including the Pulitzer Prize and a smattering of Tony awards) his show inspired. But his characters have been keeping the flame white hot ever since.

The touring production now at the center — directed by Michael Greif with choreography by Marlies Yearby — is a particularly potent version, simmering with dramatic punch and powerful vocalizing. The ensemble is impressive, despite some overanxious work on the part of conductor Jared Stein’s orchestra, which muffles lyrics on several occasions.

“Rent” is, initially, the central issue as a group of homeless young people faces eviction from their makeshift quarters, an abandoned East Village warehouse (by a landlord who formerly was one of their own). The theme swiftly shifts to more personal issues as a central trio of romantic involvements becomes fraught with peril.

There’s Roger (Declan Bennett), who falls reluctantly in love with Mimi (Jennifer Colby Talton) after discovering their common bond — both are HIV positive. There’s Mark (Harley Jay), the embittered narrator and videographer, who once enjoyed a relationship with Maureen (Tracy McDowell), who’s now in a lesbian tryst with Joanne (Chante Carmel Frierson).

Another destitute buddy, Collins (Warren G. Nolan Jr.), finds his soul mate in a peripatetic drag queen, Angel (Melvin Bell III) who’s also battling AIDS and soon will live up to his name. Landlord Ben (Michael Ifill) is a constant presence, insinuating himself into the group’s lives and loves.

The show is so evenly balanced with abundant talent that it’s difficult to pinpoint a standout performer, but Talton’s drug-addicted Mimi comes close with her life-affirming attitude and superb dancing. Bennett, sullen through most of the first act, bursts through in the second to command the stage, while Jay maintains a solid consistency, subduing his character’s heartache and flirting with financial windfall.

Few entrances are as powerful as Maureen’s, on a (simulated) motorcycle, and McDowell makes the most of her goofily passionate performance artist, while Frierson strikes considerable sparks as her lover. The latter teams with Jay for the rousing “Tango Maureen” number that bristles with both adoration and frustration.

Other musical highlights are the defiant “La Vie Boheme,” which closes the first act (the show, after all, is a modern version of the opera “La Boheme”) and the powerful “Seasons of Love,” which launches the second. McDowell and Frierson clash in “Take Me or Leave Me,” a sort of dueling ultimatums that intensify their characters.

“Rent” may be no stranger to the Performing Arts Center, but it continues to rattle cages and gain new followers with each visit. The current incarnation is possibly the most visceral and powerful, both musically and dramatically, of them all.

IF YOU GO“Rent”

WHAT:

WHERE: Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa

WHEN: Closing performances at 7:30 tonight, at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, and at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Sunday.

COST: $20 to $55

INFO: (714) 556-2787 or www.ocpac.org