{"id":245144,"date":"2012-06-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-22T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/rent-on-the-rise-in-north-park\/"},"modified":"2012-06-22T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-06-22T07:00:00","slug":"rent-on-the-rise-in-north-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/rent-on-the-rise-in-north-park\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Rent\u2019 on the rise in North Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

Local actor Tuazon takes on Angel, one of his biggest roles yet in the SD Musical Theatre production at the Birch<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\u2018Rent\u2019
The cast of \u2018Rent\u2019 take a break at the Birch North Park Theatre. (Courtesy San Diego Musical Theatre)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Charlene Baldridge | SDUN Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n

San Diego Musical Theatre stages \u201cRent,\u201d the 1996 Tony Award-winning musical, now through July 8 at the Birch North Park Theatre. In addition to the Best Musical award, the late Jonathan Larson, who died prior to the show\u2019s first performance in New York City, ultimately received three Tony Awards for book and lyrics, plus the Pulitzer Prize for drama.<\/p>\n

The musical\u2019s plot is based on the Puccini opera \u201cLa Boh\u00e8me\u201d in theme, story, character and music, and concerns a group of penniless, bohemian, artist friends struggling to find a slice of meaning in their New York City lives. Some characters are HIV positive, which is an integral aspect to the story.<\/p>\n

To train for his run as the drag queen, street percussionist Angel, San Diego-based singer, dancer and actor Shaun Tuazon said he runs around his College-area home in high heels. For Tuazon, the role is not too huge a stretch \u2013 shoe-wise that is \u2013 from his recent role in circle circle dot dot\u2019s \u201cDeconstruction of a Drag Queen,\u201d but the singing and dancing in \u201cRent\u201d are much more challenging and strenuous.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of the biggest roles and biggest challenges I\u2019ve ever taken on,\u201d Tuazon said in an interview that took place between \u201cRent\u201d rehearsals and his fulltime job at San Diego Hospice.<\/p>\n

\u201cAngel is intrinsic to the story and I think very much the heart of the show. Everyone is pretty much in a relationship and seems pretty much to be fighting, but Angel is that character that, no matter who you are, everybody loves,\u201d he said. \u201cNot just the cast [but] the audience too. That\u2019s a huge challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Angel dances in heels for most of the show, Tuazon said, with his first number, \u201cToday 4 U,\u201d one of the most exciting. \u201cHe is jumping on tables and jumping on tables,\u201d Tuazon said. \u201cIt\u2019s fabulous and fierce. I\u2019m rehearsing that number every day so I can make it very strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tuazon hails from the San Francisco Bay Area and moved to San Diego in 2005 to attend San Diego State University, from which he earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in theater arts. He first drew attention from theatergoers in the title role of the San Diego premiere of \u201cZanna Don\u2019t,\u201d directed by Ira Bauer-Spector. Since then, Tuazon has been seen at Starlight Musical Theatre in Balboa Park, the Lyric Opera, San Diego Asian American Repertory Theatre, Diversionary Theatre in University Heights and ion theatre in Hillcrest.<\/p>\n

Set in the late 1980s when, among other concerns, AIDS was fairly new to national awareness, \u201cRent\u201d is particularly appropriate for current audiences, Tuazon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe show is still relevant today,\u201d he said. \u201cOur generation can see what the generations before us went through. Because AIDS was a death sentence then, some people just shut down [and] gave up on life. That\u2019s why the support group scene in \u2018Rent\u2019 is so beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tuazon said that when he saw the touring production of \u201cRent,\u201d he was not aware how big the epidemic had been in the 1980s. \u201cAIDS is still one of those things that doesn\u2019t get talked about as much as it should,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have World AIDS Day, we have the red ribbons and many charities donating to the AIDS cause, but I feel like my generation assumes that they are immune \u2026 and we don\u2019t have to worry about it,\u201d he said, \u201cbut in fact we are still worrying about it and it\u2019s affecting everybody\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Again referencing the SDMT production, Tuazon said he feels having family and friends as support systems is important. \u201cIn the last line of the show, the full company sings, \u2018I\u2019d die without you.\u2019 In effect, if I didn\u2019t have my friends I wouldn\u2019t be here today,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what makes \u2018Rent\u2019 special, beautiful and important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gwen Stewart reprises the role she originated in the first Broadway production of \u201cRent,\u201d singing the solo vocals for the show\u2019s theme song, \u201cSeasons of Love.\u201d In addition to Tuazon, Smith and Stewart, the show stars Dylan Hunter, Casey O\u2019Farrell, Desmond Newson, Katy Harvey, Nicole Tillman, Ann-Michele Schneider, Marisha Castle, J.D. Driskill, Aaron Meadows, Cordell Mosteller, Leslie Tammone and Tom Vendafreddo.<\/p>\n

Ron Kellum directs the production, with Courtney Corey as choreographer. \u201cRent\u201d plays at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays, now through July 8 at the Birch North Park Theatre, 2891 University Ave. in North Park. Tickets start at $26. For more information and tickets visit sdmt.org or call 858-560-5740.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Local actor Tuazon takes on Angel, one of his biggest roles yet in the SD Musical Theatre production at the Birch Charlene Baldridge | SDUN Reporter San Diego Musical Theatre stages \u201cRent,\u201d the 1996 Tony Award-winning musical, now through July 8 at the Birch North Park Theatre. In addition to the Best Musical award, the […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":245145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"\u2018Rent\u2019 on the rise in North Park","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11550,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-top-stories","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}