MULTI-award winning Broadway musical Rent is bang on course for a sell-out UK tour judging by Blackpool's response to this brand new pulsating production.

Writer and lyricist Jonathan Larson has flattered Puccini with references to La Boheme throughout.

Set in New York rather than Paris, the young lovers Roger (not Rodolfo) and Mimi live in a world under the shadow of AIDS, against a background of crime and degradation in which spiralling increases created the 1980s rent riots.

Narrator and film-maker Mark Cohen was played by an intense Adam Rickitt (formerly Nick Tilsley in Coronation Street) and Tom Kanavan admirably stepped into the role of rock musician Roger. Puccini's Mimi was never as sexy as steamy Debbie Kurup in red leather pants and fabulous voice.

The superb sets provided the backdrop of Alphabet City where young people were making the most of life against all the odds.

The pounding rhythms from Musical Director Karl Pendlebury's excellent band inspired a dynamic young cast to perform a cocktail of rock, rap, pop and blues with gusto. The show was reminiscent of the wild and wonderful Hair with clothes but perhaps lacks a hit song. Watch out for Blackburn girl Jane Doyle in the cameo roles of Mrs Cohen and others.

This emotional tale of love and death reminds you to speak those important words before it is too late. RUTH LOFT