THESE 'RENT'-ERS NOT LOUD ENOUGH.

Byline: - Evan Henerson

OK, RENTHEADS. Got your T-shirts? Programs? Everyone settled into those $20 first-row seats you spent three hours in line to buy? Excellent!

So listen up! Here comes the music. We all know these tunes. Let's sing along! And a one, and a two ...

``525,600 minutes! 525,000 mshhh pshh hm... How do you measure a wrrghbmm mr year?''

Say again? You didn't catch that? Neither did we. And that's got to be a first.

``Rent,'' Jonathan Larson's contemporary nod to Puccini's ``La Boheme'' and New York City's Avenue A bohemia, has been accused of a lot of things during its glorious eight-year history. Volume, however, has never been its problem. If anything, tender-eared audiences have bellyached about the rock concert decibel levels.

Hopefully, by the time you read this, the folks in charge of the Wilshire Theater's sound system - and also those caring for assorted body mics - will have cleaned things up so that you can actually understand what these kids are singing. Granted a certain segment of the ``Rent''-going population already will know the words to ``One Song Glory,'' ``Today 4 U'' and ``La Vie Boheme.'' But that's hardly the point.

This tour of ``Rent,'' which plays the Wilshire through Dec. 21, is at least the show's third visit to L.A. Apart from the crummy sound, this version is solid if unspectacular. The leads are all lookers, athletic of movement, better singers than actors. The original direction by Michael Greif and choreography by Marlies Yearby are intact, so the show should feel familiar to those who know it.

Also present is that blood-pumping spirit of ``Rent.'' AIDS, unfair expectations and extreme poverty may have savaged our group of young artists and dreamers, but Larson's contemporary bohemians intend to suck the marrow out of life while they still can.

Guitarist Roger (played by Constantine Maroulis) figures he's got one great song in him before the AIDS virus takes him. Dancer Mimi (Jamie Lee Kirchner), a junkie, also HIV positive, wants love above all else. Mark (Brian Gligor) has a film to make. Former professor Tom Collins (Marcus Paul James) and drag queen Angel Schunard (Damien DeShaun Smith) hook up on Christmas. Mark's ex-girlfriend Maureen (Leslie Diamond) has a performance to stage and a new lover, Joanne (Rebecca Jones), to appease. And evil ex-bohemian Benny (Daryl C. Brown) wants the rent.

Truth be told, ``Rent'' always has had a few too many central players. The play's conflicts and resolutions are pretty flimsy. But it's not supposed to matter. The decline of Angel and Mimi, the near destruction of the friends, is intended to rip your guts out.

It does here, sporadically. James' Collins delivers a powerful eulogistic reprise of ``I'll Cover You'' in the second act. Director Greif knows the power of a stage maneuver as simple as lining up a group of people and leaving a space vacant.

Maroulis leans too heavily on Roger's anger and self-hatred. Kirchner's Mimi scores with her wild, slinky rendition of ``Out Tonight.'' The ensemble numbers - most notably ``Will I'' and ``La Vie Boheme'' - usually cook.

When you can hear them, that is. Which, at least on opening night, wasn't nearly often enough.

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

RENT - Two and one half stars

Where: Wilshire Theater, 8440 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills.

When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday; through Dec. 21. Also Dec. 22-28 at the Grove of Anaheim

Tickets: $20 to $69.50. Call [phone].

In a nutshell: Mushy sound fouls up an otherwise competent rendition of Jonathan Larson's bohemian crowd pleaser.