Here is an article about Kevin:
Updating doesn't mean
diluting when Broadway turns 'Boheme' into 'Rent'
Actor grateful for audiences who travel tough road
with him
BY SARAH D'ESTI MILLER
Press & Sun Bulletin
In an age when more erudite fare is reworked for mass consumption -- Othello
becoming the recent teen flick O or Dangerous Liaisons becoming Cruel Intentions -- Rent, which is loosely based on Puccini's
opera La Boheme, is no watered-down, Gen X rip-off.
Rent is hardly the stuff of consumptive sopranos. The show
tackles modern-day woes and challenges, talking openly about sexuality, homosexuality, AIDS and other edgy subjects.
Kevin Spencer, who plays Roger in the Broadway Theatre
League's production of Rent coming to The Forum, says the show is filled with meaning, even if people sometimes find its subject
matter disturbing.
"Rent is all about keeping your ears, your eyes and your
senses open," he said. "It's designed to teach, it's designed to parallel people's lives, it's designed to show love in a
different fashion. It's designed to knock down walls of racism, bigotry and prejudice. But most importantly it's a story about
love -- it all comes down to the simplicity of love."
Spencer freely admits that the show may not be for everyone,
but he takes that in stride.
"Usually by the time we finish the first act, when we come
back for the second act, there's always some seats that are empty," he said. "For me, if someone doesn't want to be there,
then that's OK. There's nothing wrong with that. At least they are strong enough and big enough to admit that they can't handle
it."
In fact, Spencer says, he can barely handle the emotional
drain of his role, which frequently brings him to tears.
"My character is very demanding. The journey Roger has
to go on is to learn to love again and all the other people around him are trying to help him get through a tough time in
his life," he said. "I'm crying over half the show every day whether I want to or not. There's no fake tears.
"The writing by Jonathan Larson is so brilliant, I find
new things every day. That's why the tears are real. Sometimes I come home and I pick up my guitar and I can play and I can
sing, but to write I've got no emotion left."
For Spencer, it is more than just the show itself that
stirs his emotions -- it's the feedback he gets from the audience.
"It's wonderful when the stage door opens and there are
elderly people there and they're saying 'we almost left at the end of the first act and am I ever glad we stayed, because
I learned something,'" he said.
"I like talking to the elderly people that enjoy the show.
When someone tells me they now feel closer to their grandchild -- or they understand things a bit better about what is going
on in our society, that makes me feel great."
