It makes sense that, during Greater Palm Springs Pride, one of the most poignant musicals dealing with LGBTQ+ themes is being produced by a Coachella Valley theater company.
Rent is being performed by the Palm Canyon Theatre in Palm Springs, from Oct. 27 until Nov. 12. The musical, which focuses on a group of struggling New York artists, deals with themes of sexuality and the AIDS epidemic. Rent’s popularity has grown tremendously since the inception of the musical (which debuted on Broadway in 1996) and the film adaptation (2005)—and the themes are as potent as ever due to the current political climate.
“I’ve been a fan of Rent for two decades now,” said Christine Michele, who is set to play the role of Maureen Johnson, during a recent phone interview. “I saw it in 2005, for the first time, in the movie theater, and I fell in love with the music, the concept—just everything about it. A year later, when I went to New York, I saw it on Broadway, and a few years ago, it came to the McCallum Theatre, and my mom took me for my birthday. It’s been a dream musical of mine to be in for as long as I’ve loved it, so when Palm Canyon announced that they were doing a production of it, I knew right away that I had to try out. This is actually my first time doing a show with Palm Canyon, and I’ve been doing theater for two decades now, so it’ll be new and exciting.”
Michele is ecstatic to be playing Maureen. “I’m a bisexual woman, and I’m playing a bisexual woman,” she said.
However, she was originally set to play the role of Joanne Jefferson.
“They are two very different characters,” Michele said. “Maureen is very outgoing and wants to be the center of attention and is a bisexual woman, and is kind of insecure, whereas Joanne is a lawyer, and she’s a lesbian, and she knows what she wants and is in love with Maureen. … I’m loving getting to know everybody else in the cast, and just playing with the character and bringing my own spin on the character.”
Michele explained how she handled moving from one role to the other.
“I had just got off-book for Joanne, and I was really excited, too, because playing Joanne was definitely a challenge for me,” Michele said. “It’s a different kind of role for me, and I honestly had to take a different approach. Either way, I was going to be happy with whatever role I was going to play. … This was maybe three days before our first rehearsal, so I’m like, ‘Oh my god, I have to learn a whole new role when I just finished learning a different one,’ but I’ve done this before, so it wasn’t a big deal.”
When we spoke to Michele, she was almost off-book (had her role memorized) with the character of Maureen.
“Once you don’t have a book in your hand, you can really start playing with your character,” she said. “I had known that I was going to be in the show since May, so if I would have known then, I would have been off-book by now. … I’m still trying to learn how to put my personal self in this role as well.”
Michele said she hopes to honor the iconic role.
“My mom, actually, at 5 years old, found me in the closet kissing other 5-year-old girls, so I never had to come out. It was just, ‘Well, that’s Christine, for you,’” Michele said. “I never dated women until a little more than a year ago. I had a really bad experience and didn’t think I could ever trust a woman again, and then another woman came into my life and changed that. I’ve dated men my whole life, but it’s just different with a woman.
“Maureen is bisexual; she likes men, and she likes women—and she also likes to be the center of attention. … I think by the end of the show, it’ll hit differently with me. Right now, I’m still just kind of in shock mode that I’m playing my first dream role, and it’s really exciting and overwhelming. I feel like I have to be absolutely perfect, but I know that there’s no such thing.”
Michele, a frequent Coachella Valley performer as a solo artist and with her cover band Christine and the Lost Keys, said she also relates to other themes from Rent.
“This musical deals with starving artists who are just trying to get by—and that’s pretty much what I am,” Michele said. “I’m literally a starving musician still trying to figure it out. I just got back from New York; I was in a musical-theater workshop for two weeks, and I come back, and I’m like, ‘What am I going to do with my life now?’ I want to teach, because all I know is music and theater, and I just love it.
“(The characters in Rent) are starving artists just trying to get by, and struggling with addiction—I’m also 11 years sober. I just really relate to the addiction and the starving artists and being a performer and just trying to get by.”
During her stay in New York, among performing lessons and workshops, she got some special help for Rent.
“One of the cast members of the 2006 Broadway production of Rent, Telly Leung, was there teaching a masterclass,” Michele said. “At the time I was playing Joanne, and I was like, ‘What advice do you have for someone playing this role?’ He did tell me that you need to bring your personal life into it as well. I remember one of the (teachers), when we were coming up to sing our songs, would say, ‘Never start an audition with a sad song. You don’t want to give your trauma away for free.’ Playing Maureen, some of it is a bit traumatic, stuff that I’ve experienced in lesbian relationships. I was planning to bring what happened to me into the role of Joanne, and now I’m playing a different role, so I’m still taking that advice. Even though you’re not playing yourself, you still have to bring a part of yourself into this character, to make it real, to make it believable.”
Rent will be performed at 7 p.m., Thursday; 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday; and 2 p.m., Sunday, from Friday, Oct. 27, through Sunday, Nov. 12, at the Palm Canyon Theatre, 538 N. Palm Canyon Drive, in Palm Springs. (There is no show Friday, Nov. 3.) Tickets are $38 for adults; $34 for seniors; and $17 for students, plus fees. Group discounts are available. For tickets or more information, visit palmcanyontheatre.net.
