BWW Reviews: Adam Pascal & Anthony Rapp Live in Irvine, CA

By: Jan. 31, 2011
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RENT-Heads could hardly contain their joy. On the evening of Saturday, January 29, two of the original stars of Jonathan Larsen's Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical RENT, Adam Pascal (Roger) and Anthony Rapp (Mark), shared a double-bill concert at the Barclay Theatre in Irvine, California. The show was part of a concert tour which they launched earlier this month at Town Hall in New York.

Like that show, each artist performed their own separate unique solo set before coming together at the end of the second act to perform several popular tunes from the Tony-winning musical that helped propel their status as bona fide stage stars. Fans were surely not disappointed.

The last time the pair appeared in Orange County together—besides the star-studded "Broadway Memories" concert fundraiser in Westminster back in October 2010—was for the 2009 U.S. National Touring production of RENT, where both stars reprised their original Broadway (and film) roles at the Orange County Performing Arts Center (recently renamed the Segerstrom Center for the Arts). According to Pascal himself during their final bows at Saturday night's concert, Rapp approached him to put together a series of shows with their respective concert sets sandwiched back-to-back. A splendid idea it turned out to be.

Up first was Pascal, armed with a blindingly-shiny acoustic guitar and the same handsome, boyish visage he's sported for the past two decades. (I must say... I don't exactly know what these guys' secret is, but, looks-wise, both Pascal and Rapp seriously haven't aged since their days in the original RENT company). Pascal's usual stage partner and musical collaborator, Larry Edoff, was unfortunately not present behind the piano for the evening's concert (Edoff's wife was due to give birth to their child at any moment now, according to Pascal).

Pascal's concert set was a much looser experience, providing the audience with an unplugged, coffee-house friendly rock set, peppered with plenty of witty barbs and extremely funny in-the-moment interactions with this rabid, fan-filled audience. "I'm in the O.C., right?" he asked the screeching audience. He started his set with a song from what Pascal described as "the worst musical I've ever seen," at which point the audience erupts in laughter as he started the first few words of "Memory" from the musical Cats. His version was certainly tongue-in-cheek, but was still impressive enough to showcase his obvious talents. He followed it with a duet with Rapp on "Solsbury Hill," which marked Rapp's only appearance in the first act.

Though he admitted that he was "fighting a head cold" that evening (he demonstrated by providing some throat hacking), no one could tell he was not performing up to his usual standards. Most of Pascal's roughly 40-minute set was filled with his own original compositions (featured in his solo albums), interspersed with hilarious behind-the-scenes stories from his life both on stage and off. He had the audience in stitches several times during his set: one example involved his wife's detestation of the arrangement he did for a song he wrote as a tribute to her ("See Me Shining"). His response? "Well, f--- her, she's not even here!" he fake-protested, as he began to sing the song. In another anecdote, Pascal recalled an unfortunate gig he played in Del Rey Beach, Florida at a retirement center's theater where an older lady heckled him loudly in the middle of his concert about not singing any expected Broadway showtunes. Learning his lesson from the funny fiasco, he has since felt the need to insert a few Broadway nuggets in his set list. This night's selection: a brilliant, re-imagined "Maybe This Time" from Cabaret.

All throughout his set, Pascal exuded charm, confidence and a winning bravado that had the audience eating it all up.

Rapp's set, on the other hand, was a straight-up rock-tinged concert, complete with his full backing band (guitarist, drummer and keyboards). A mixture of original songs from his own 2000 debut solo album Look Around and a few alternative rock hits, Rapp's set took full of advantage of engaging the audience with his undeniable vocal talents, and with less in-between banter than Pascal's set. Though there were a few moments where the band's volume overwhelmingly took over hearing Rapp's vocals, overall, his way with his chosen selections were really masterful, making each cover his own without sacrificing its true integrity. Though he was less interactive with his audience than Pascal was, Rapp managed to still come off as quite endearing and, dare I say, incredibly "adorkable"—right down to his unique and fascinating performance hand motions.

He began his set with the self-penned "Living Alive" which could be repurposed as a great anthem for the "It Gets Better" campaign, followed by the up-tempo "Then Again." Rapp knows how to select songs that fit his personality and overall musical approach to songs, which explained his incredibly beautiful covers of Radiohead's "Creep," Snow Patrol's moody hit "Chasing Cars," and R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion"—the latter, Rapp divulged, was the song he sang at his RENT audition. A proud child of the 80's, he also treated the audience to a cover of the Buggles' "Video Killed The Radio Star."

More inwardly-reflective and poignant than his more jovial co-headliner, Rapp—though amusing at times—approached his songs more with intelligence and a sincere depth of emotion, most especially in the more personal latter half of his set, where he started recalling the days when he would go from the stage performing RENT to rush home to be with his ailing mother, who at the time was battling cancer. Tears certainly flowed during his original song "Visits To You" which he followed with the song his Mom asked him to sing at her funeral. As the first few chords of "Without You" from RENT began to play, there was an audible gasp that burst from the audience upon learning that this was what his mom had asked him to sing. It was a gorgeous, achingly heartfelt rendition.

To end his set, Rapp invited Pascal back on stage to sing "What You Own" one of the selections their characters sing together in RENT, which earned the pair loud cheers and a deserved standing ovation from the nearly sold-out theater. And, of course, a concert featuring these two stars wouldn't be truly complete without a few more encores from RENT: Pascal on "One Song Glory," followed by Rapp belting out "Another Day." The final selection of the night was a real crowd pleaser: a funki-fied version of the ubiquitous "Seasons of Love."

Long-standing friends for the past 15 years (about the age of RENT itself), the two stars provided West Coast fans a chance to see them in a much more up-close-and-personal concert setting, an amplified version of a typical cabaret showcase featuring Broadway stars singing as themselves without costumes or a script. A smart one-two punch of a concert, this equalized double bill not only allowed each of these two accomplished performers to strut their personal best individually, they also came together in the end to give their fanbase the revered songs they came to hear. The audience at Saturday's one-night-only concert, then, were some of the few lucky ones to catch this amazing show before it relaunches in the fall. But judging from the audience reaction here, this concert tour (which is expected to swing by in many more U.S. cities including Southern California stops at Cerritos and Los Angeles) will meet nothing but more cheers and accolades.

Photo of Anthony Rapp & Adam Pascal from the 2009 U.S. National Tour of RENT by Joan Marcus.

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For more information on upcoming dates for Anthony & Adam's national tour, visit www.rjprod.com.

The Irvine Barclay Theatre is located at 4242 Campus Drive in Irvine. For information about upcoming concerts and shows at The Barclay, visit www.theBarclay.org.



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