Rent closed in 2008, but you wouldn’t know it from walking into the Duke on 42nd Street for Label•less, Drew and Lea Lachey’s pop-music Gen Z tribute. Staged on mobile scaffold units, the devised work features hits from Sam Cooke to Lady Gaga, performed by an exuberant cast determined to say something.
While the words often fall flat, the voices soar. And when Lea trusts her dancers with the level of choreography they’re capable of, Label•less strikes a propulsive chord that proves the next generation of musical theater performers is ready for its close-up.
Years in the making, still a work-in-progress
The Laheys have been developing Label•less for several years at their Cincinnati arts nonprofit, with productions in Chicago and a brief Off-Broadway run in 2025. The work has evolved based on the real-life stories of its performers. What follows is an erratic evening buoyed by standout musical performances that could give American Idol finalists a run for their money.
The subject matter—racism, ableism, homophobia, mental health—compels but remains trapped in cringey clichés that beg for a playwright to scrub them off the page. Mexican American Kiwi Villalobos, after arriving in the U.S. on a full scholarship, faces discrimination from fellow students when they learn he works as a night cleaner for food and rent, then proclaims, “My net worth is not my worth.”
But when they sing, the cast blows the roof off. Colle Bustin’s well-mixed sound design brings out the best of stellar voices, including Colton Smith, who tears up “Born This Way”; Paola Marcías and Cayla Nichole Harris’s duet version of “Rise Up”; and several knock-outs by Diana Hutchinson, who should be on casting directors’ radar for the upcoming Broadway Dreamgirls revival.
Drew Lachey, Paul Duncan, and a handful of other songwriters contribute additional original music with the kinds of emotive hooks the monologues lack. By the evening’s end, everyone has had their moment in the spotlight (including a powerhouse dance solo by Dustin Daxt Bobbs).
Forget the monologues. The setlist is where Label•less finds its voice.
Is ‘Label•less’ worth seeing?
The book hasn’t found the specificity its subject matter demands, but the singing (and some of the choreography) is powerful enough to carry Label•less.
- The Duke on 42nd Street, 229 W 42nd Street, New York City
- Notable performers: Dustin Daxt Bobbs, Cayla Nichole Harris, Diana Hutchinson, Paola Marcías, Colton Smith
- Running time: 100 minutes, no intermission
- Performances through August 29, 2026
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