STAGE REVIEW: Rent: The Musical - at the Festival Theatre, Malvern, from Tuesday, November 22 to Saturday, November 26, 2016.

THIS will easily rock your socks! If you like your musicals noisy, a touch rough around the edges and with plenty of raw emotion then Rent certainly fits the bill.

Set in a downtown, rundown area of New York’s East Village it charts the lives, loves and struggles of a group of young artists to survive in the thriving days of the heady and Bohemian excesses that blighted so many lives then and which has continued in the ensuing years.

Inspired by Puccini’s classic opera, La Boheme, Jonathan Larson’s almost epic tale - he wrote the book, music and lyrics - won’t fit the bill for everyone with its take on a hedonistic lifestyle and mix of dysfunctional characters including drug users, pushers, a transexual, gays and lesbians. It’s a difficult and heady mix to warm to but they just about manage it.

Wound up and unleashed, Rent is a cacophony of noise, pace and power and it’s relentless as it rushes headlong towards its anticipated dramatic climax.

It’s a bit of a mish-mash in places but several songs are of anthemic proportion and hugely enjoyable High on energy and tugging at heartstrings, it’s clearly a stamina sapping night for all of its talented cast with a number of stand-out performances.

Layton Williams, who has starred on stage in Billy Elliott and in television’s Beautiful People and others, is a ‘beauty’ to behold as the tragic Angel Schunard. Great athletic versatility and he can sing.

Elsewhere other impressive voices were those of Ross Hunter (Roger Davis), Ryan O’Gorman (Tom Collins) and Joshua Dever, who played several roles, while Philippa Stefani (Mimi Marquez) and Lucie Jones (Maureen Johnson) were without doubt a joy to behold. Superbly seductive yet strong.

Director Bruce Guthrie has them all giving their all, while choreographer Lee Proud must indeed be proud of the perfect spectacle performed by his charges as they fuse as one with the scaffolding surrounding Roger’s run-down apartment.

This new production celebrates Rent’s 20th anniversary - two decades that have produced a variety of awards including four Tonys.

It’s considerably enjoyable as its holds your attention from start to finish. There’s no question it’s sheer vibrancy nearly takes your breath away and would be impossible to ignore.