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Review

The show’s costumes are unlike any you could imagine for Rent though in the best way possible. In attempting to make this production “not your grandma’s Rent” (which is a very popular trend with mounting musical theatre post-pandemic, across the board) both Malek and Wardrobe Coordinator Amy Haynes Rapnicki have pulled out all the stops when it comes to clever, creative, fantastical costuming. Rent is an iconic show and while some characters are expected to appear in certain togs and threads— like Mark with his sort of disheveled scarf and glasses or Joanne in her posh suits and Doc Martins— Rapnicki and Malek breathe innovative life into retooling some of these costumes. When we first meet Angel, she’s in boring street clothes— but check that Christmas tree painted on the derriere of her jeans! (Gives excellent new meaning to Collins’ line “nice tree.”) Of course Angel gets a total transformation with a fluffy black petticoat, corset and a fabulous faux fur red and green tree-skirt cape! Maureen’s pants are also on point for “Over The Moon” colored in cow print, with MOOOOO printed across the seat of the pants, and spotted with other Elsie references. The detailed work on these costumes are just off the hook. Even the core-six (the non-named characters of the ensemble) get some pretty nifty threads, like that fur-coat seen early in the show on Ayanna Tucker; it looks like somebody swatch-sampled a sasquatch. The show’s costumes well-reflect that gritty, grungy, urban life of the early 90’s, matching the poster-graffiti plastered wall and Jonathan Larson’s reality.

http://www.theatrebloom.com/2022/07/rent-at-the-heritage-players/

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