'Rent' role no drag for Las Vegas-based actor
By KEN WHITE
REVIEW-JOURNAL
Before being cast in the role of a drag queen in the touring company of the award-winning musical "Rent," Justin Rodriguez wasn't in the habit of dressing up like a woman.
Now he does it several days a week.
Rodriguez, 20, who was born in the New York City borough of Queens but moved to Las Vegas with his parents eight years ago, will be playing the role before friends and family as "Rent," the Tony Award-winning musical written by Jonathan Larson and directed by Michael Greif, runs today through Sunday at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts.
Asked in a recent phone interview about wearing women's clothes, Rodriguez laughed and said, "nothing really interested me in that category" before doing the show.
It took some getting used to.
"It wasn't until the (cast) photo shoot that I got into a whole outfit. And I was like, 'Oh, wow!'" Rodriguez said.
Despite their divergent proclivities, Rodriguez said he and his character Angel Schunard, a colorful street musician, do have some things in common.
"It's a great show and the message of the show is so wonderful," Rodriguez said. "And Angel, despite what he wears, is a great guy, a really cool guy. I can relate to him on a lot of levels, as far as wanting for all of my friends to be together and for everyone to get along and everybody to be happy and live every day to the fullest. There are a lot of similarities, which I enjoy."
Before auditioning for the role last summer, Rodriguez had not seen the show and knew little about it.
"Rent," inspired by Giacomo Puccini's 1896 opera "La Boheme," follows a community of artists living in New York's East Village. The 1996 musical won the Tony Award for best musical as well as the Pulitzer Prize for drama.
Rodriguez mostly ad-libbed his way through the audition.
"At first I wasn't too sure what Angel was about. I just knew he was a street musician," Rodriguez said. "One of the songs was about him killing someone's dog to get money. Once I saw the show and saw that he was also a drag queen, I was like, 'OK, all right, it makes a little more sense.'"
His parents have been supportive, Rodriguez said, despite the unusual role.
"My mom was like, 'That's awesome!'" when told he had been cast. "They were supportive right away."
But Rodriguez said they have always backed his career choice.
He sang in the choir and performed in the musicals "The Pajama Game" and "The Wizard of Oz" while attending Cimarron-Memorial High School, but even before that he had shown an interest in the arts.
"I always wanted to be in front of the video camera when I was little," Rodriguez said. "And I always wanted to jump around the house and dance and play the piano, that kind of stuff. I was never into the athletics like my brother was. My brother was always out there playing basketball at the park across the street and I would always be in the house playing the piano and making up songs. They always knew I was different and special so they let me pursue what I wanted to."
He credits the help of his high school choir director, Cyndi Lanctot, with giving him encouragement.
"She was the first person who got me to sing. I really feel she made me who I am, in a way. She helped me vocally and gave me the courage to get out there and perform."
Besides dressing in strange clothing, Rodriguez said the whole experience of performing in a Broadway musical also has taken some getting used to.
While on the road, "people call the hotel asking for Angel. They want to hang out. Going from just being an everyday kid trying to make it and people knowing who you are was a little weird at first."