RENÉE ELISE GOLDSBERRY
Although she had already played Nala in The Lion King and created the role of Nettie in The Color Purple, it wasn't until a televised concert when I really took notice of the talents of singer-actress Renée Elise Goldsberry. Goldsberry — a two-time Daytime Emmy nominee for her work in "One Life to Live" — performed the Stephen Sondheim tongue-twister "The Miller's Son" during the June 2006 Broadway Under the Stars concert in Central Park, a tribute to Tony winner Hal Prince that was subsequently broadcast on local television. What was particularly thrilling about Goldsberry's rendition was her delivery of the song's final lines. In fact, her slight adjustment of the melody was so gorgeous that I've kept the concert on my DVR and whenever I want to hear something beautiful before I fall asleep, I replay that section of the song. Goldsberry is now lending that voice to the role of Mimi in the final cast of Jonathan Larson's Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning musical Rent, which will offer its final performance of a record-breaking 12-year-run Sunday, Sept. 7. I had the pleasure of chatting with Goldsberry this past week; our Rent-themed conversation, including a discussion of the Rent cinecast — a nationwide screening of a composite of the Aug. 20 and Sept. 7 performances — follows.

Question: How did the role of Mimi come about for you?
Renée Elise Goldsberry: I was playing Silvia in Two [Gentlemen of Verona] in Shakespeare in the Park a couple years ago and [Rent director] Michael Greif saw me in the show and felt that Mimi would be a great role for me. I didn't know that at the time, but I found out a while later that he was interested in me playing the role, and, of course, I was honored to play it. Ever since then we have been trying to find the right time.

	Renée Elise Goldsberry with Will Chase in Rent
	photo by Joan Marcus

Question: Had Mimi been a role that you had wanted to play?
Goldsberry: I love Rent in general. I've always loved the musical, and I had supported many friends throughout the years who had joined the cast either on tour or in the Broadway show. I felt connected to the show as an audience member. Mimi was a role I always wanted to play, but I just didn't know if it was something that was ever going to happen. But more than any specific role in Rent, it was more the idea of the importance of the show and being a part of it in some way.

Question: Do you remember when you first saw a production of Rent?
Goldsberry: One of my best friends, Kamilah Martin, joined the tour years and years ago. I flew into some town in the Midwest to see her. I think she was a swing, [and] she was on as the "Seasons of Love" soloist. I just cried through the whole thing. Literally, every time she opened her mouth, I just bawled. I had stopped doing theatre at the time. I was working more on recording and writing music. I was on a bit of a hiatus trying to focus on a different part of my career when I had gone to see the show. That's why I hadn't really become a part of [Rent], I think. That was when … [the Rent] auditions [took place] and people would all be [lined up] around the corner for open calls. I was the only one out of all my friends that didn't really go because I was all about recording and music. When I saw the show, I remember I thought, "Oh, my God, I totally miss the theatre and I have to go back." I remember that, very specifically feeling like, "What am I doing? I've got to go back!"

Question: What are some of the challenges of playing the part?
Goldsberry: I think, in general, [the main challenge is] just doing justice to this character. Especially, at this time, when you're playing [the role] and the stories of all the people who have played it before you are so alive — the myths of what this girl did on "Out Tonight" or how this girl died. The stories are so great, it is kind of daunting to step into it at the last minute and figure out, "Well, who am I, playing this?" . . . It's so rare that you get an opportunity to be so completely challenged creatively. In this business opportunities come across so randomly and so seldomly that when you get, "Here. Go. Mimi. Rent. Broadway. Now…" you feel like, "what an opportunity" and you want to live up to it.

Question: Do you have a favorite moment in the show for the character?
Goldsberry: Well, the joke really is I always look forward to the moment right after "Out Tonight!" [Laughs.] There's a huge stress off of me. I love doing it, but the moment before my heart is still pounding. The funny thing about the show is, you think, "Whew, now that's over!" But there's never a moment in the show for Mimi where there's not still something that's crucial to experience. Even after you say goodbye to Roger in "Goodbye, Love," everybody else is thinking, "Alright, we're done. Where are we gonna go out for a drink?" I still have to come back on and die. To the very last minute she is moving through a journey.

Question: What does it mean to you to be in the final company of the show?
Goldsberry: I'm almost speechless. It's almost difficult to put into words what that feels like. I've already talked about the daunting nature of it, in terms of taking full advantage of [the experience], being worthy of [the role] and also, in a way, experiencing that for all of these people whose lives this show means so much to. One of the major things is feeling like, "How do I do this in a way that does honor to the creator of the show, his family, the family of people that initially did the show, and the director who gave me this honor, and all of the people that have come before?" And not just [honoring] them, but [also] the faces of all of the people who have supported the show so intensely over the years. Coming from a soap opera, there's a very particular kind of fan who supports a show for 30 years — their investment and their involvement in that world and those characters. When you get in those shows, you better come with it, because the standard is high just to do them justice. Rent feels exactly like that. I've never really felt that way in a Broadway show before. Those fans are very serious about the message of the show and the importance of it. You need to take it seriously when you get in the building.

	Renée Elise Goldsberry
	photo by Aubrey Reuben

Question: What has been the feeling backstage with the rest of the cast during this last week of the show?
Goldsberry: We sing it every day, "No day but today!" . . . [We're] trying to grasp each moment of the show and each day of the show, because we know it's ending. That's exactly what the characters in the show are doing with the way they are living their lives. Specifically Mimi, it's all about this moment right now — no day but today. We will forget everything before that we might regret, or we'll miss this.… Towards the second act, you discover that this family that we have created and we need is dying, we think, "How do we hold onto it? And how do we hold onto this moment? And how do we celebrate it and not focus on what we don't know, in terms of what happens next, but really embrace this moment here?" Jonathan Larson did us a huge favor in allowing us to sing exactly what we're feeling every day. It's beautiful, and it's one of those moments that I'll be grateful for the rest of my life.

Question: Have you noticed any difference in audience reaction in the past couple of weeks, now that people know the show is coming to an end?
Goldsberry: Because I have been a part of the show for the last three months, even when I first got here and was watching the show preparing to go in, I could tell the difference being in this show and other shows in the sense that sometimes it feels like a Rocky Horror Picture Show. There are people that have never seen it before and are trying to go along the journey, but most people have. Every time a new song comes on — it's like being at a concert sometimes. They clap before something happens. They're singing along, and God forbid you mess something up, because they all know [the lyrics]! [Laughs.] That was always surprisingly unique to me about the experience of doing Rent and being in that audience. And that feeling is even more intense every show that passes — that feeling that they're trying to embrace it and hold onto it just like we are.

Question: I know they're filming the show the final night, and they also filmed the show Aug. 20. What was that first filming like?
Goldsberry: It was exciting and a bit scary for all the reasons that I've mentioned. Exciting, because it felt like we were doing something that was so important together, but scary because I think the show is brilliantly directed. And I say this knowing Michael Greif wouldn't read this until after [the show ends, so I'm] not kissing up! [Laughs.] But I think it's brilliantly directed, and I think to archive it is so important and different from archiving any other show that you've done because it's not going to be in a library somewhere. There was that pressure, and it was a bit frightening. [There is a] difference between a staged performance and a cinematic performance… and [we had to trust] that the people that we didn't know that were producing and directing it would capture it in a way that did it justice and the characters justice and us justice. You worry about things like, "Will they catch this particular moment? Will my face be huge on a screen while I'm sweating? The one moment that it's recording this, will it be as true as it normally is?" So you think about all of those things, but I felt, on that particular day, … it was kind of like getting married. [Laughs.] There's all this anxiety before and stress and preparation, and everyone's freaking out on some level. And then the day arrives and, all of a sudden, it's the perfect day. Everything falls into place even if you didn't think it was what it was going to be. It just felt like a blessed day.  Continued...