Mark lives in New York's Lower East Side, essentially squatting in an industrial loft with other artist types. His girlfriend, Maureen, left for a woman - Joanne. His musician roommate, Roger, has AIDS. His friend, Tom, gets mugged and is rescued by a drag queen, Angel. Roger gets pursued by Mimi. We learn that in addition to Roger, Tom, Angel, and Mimi all suffer from AIDS. After a week where all this is revealed, we are shown bits and pieces of the next year of life for this group as each of the characters struggle with life and this deadly disease.

When Rent was being written in the early '90s and then first performed in 1996, it was an edgy, rock and roll, non-stop musical. Performed at Tacoma Musical Playhouse, where it is currently running through Feb. 14, the play successfully achieves half of those adjectives. One audience member said, "It was what I expected for seeing Rent in Tacoma." Other audience members gave it a standing ovation.

Here are the highlights . . . and the not so highlights.

The cast members are all talented singers. Some, such as Antonía Darlene (Joanne), Alison Monda (Maureen), Kevin L. Douglass (Tom) and Thaddeus Wilson (Angel), were consistently outstanding. Others were good, but lacked as much emotion and consistency.

Unfortunately, the musical ability was marred by the sound system. The principle actors wore head-microphones, which, distractingly, were not mixed correctly. Some actors were distorted from the first song until the last. Others had inconsistent volumes. The ensemble actors did not wear microphones and were heard perfectly. During a couple songs, all mics were turned off and the cast sounded great, as their skills no longer had to compete with ill-used technology. It would have been less frustrating had all the actors gone without mics, or had TMP hired a sound engineer that could have had more success with the available sound gear.

The musical reference to La Boheme was like a delightful inside joke. The theme from "Musetta's Waltz" was beautiful and played several times throughout, as Roger tried to write one good song before he died that, " . . . didn't sound like ‘Musetta's Waltz'."

Angel's costumes were fabulous. They ranged from Mrs. Claus to tutus and black tights with pink polka dots. The only real issue with costuming was when successful businessman Benny (played by Jesse Jonathan Smith) wore a pullover Nike track jacket over his tie and sweater.

In all, the acting was decent. Admittedly, acting while singing and dancing can be extremely challenging, but Alison Monda, who played Maureen, stood out as having a better understanding of how to do it effectively. The only thing that wasn't a joy to watch was her over-the-top grief at the death of Angel.

The main difficulty with the acting was a lack of passion or connection between most of the actors and their songs. Most of the relationships were less than believable, making Rent seem more like an exercise rather than anything provocative or real.

[Tacoma Musical Playhouse, Rent, through Feb. 14, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, $18-$25, 7116 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, 253.565.6867]