Metropolis Performing Arts Centre‘s new production of the rock opera Rent, whose cast and creative team boasts alumni of the Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department‘s Musical Theatre and Acting programs, received a rave review from the Northwest Herald newspaper, which serves the northwest suburban Arlington Heights community where Metropolis is based.
Dominic Rescigno (center) in “Rent.”
“Metropolis . . . has produced a well cast, well paced, and extremely well directed (Lauren Rawitz) production of Rent,” wrote critic Regina Belt-Daniels, going on to praise lead actor Dominic Rescigno (BA ’13) as “consistent, genuine and superbly talented” as Mark, an aspiring filmmaker who documents the turbulent lives of his friends. Rescigno is a graduate of the Theatre Department’s Acting BA program.
Mollyanne Nunn in “Rent.”
Belt-Daniels also called actress Mollyanne Nunn (BFA ’14) “skilled and beautifully adept” in her role as Mimi, an exotic dancer fighting with AIDS. Nunn is a graduate of the Theatre Department’s Musical Theatre Performance BFA program.
“Rent”
“The supporting ensemble is composed of attractive, strong actors and singers who give their all vibrantly,” added Belt-Daniels. The ensemble includes Columbia College alumni Danielle Jackman (BA ’15), a graduate of the Theatre Department’s Musical Theatre BA program with a minor in Dance from the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, and Mallory Maedke (BFA ’14) and Brittany Wolf (BFA ’15), graduates of the Theatre Department’s Musical Theatre Performance BFA program.
Alex Newkirk
The review also singled out “the vivid music (rock, soul, funk, opera, hiphop) of music director Alex Newkirk, who also doubles as an onstage musician.” Newkirk (BFA ’11) is also a graduate of Columbia College’s Musical Theatre Performance BFA program.
Rent, Jonathan Larson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning rock opera, about young bohemians living and dying on New York City’s Lower East Side in the 1980s, runs through July 3 at Metropolis Performing Arts Centre, 111 W. Campbell in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights. For tickets, call 847-577-2121 or click here.
