# Have you ever seen RENT? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 24, 2002, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-rent/129370 "2002-09-24T00:39:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lab2490](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Lab2490](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lab2490)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-rent/129370/1 "2002-09-24T00:39:29Z")
I was just wondering if i’m the only RENThead doper out there. Am I? I pray you at least know what RENT is, If not ,well here goes… Rent Is the broadway musical by jonathan larson (sp?) its the center of my life. I couldnt even wake up in the morning without hearing the soundtrack. If your a young teeny bopper type you might have heard that joey fatone is starting as the role of mark. This I am not happy with because i have a very large crush on they guy whose part joey stole. But either way Have you ever seen it? Didnt you love it? Do you own a bootleg tape of it? (I own 3 of them) 😉 🙂 😃 Lab " la vie bohem" 2490 ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-rent/129370/2 "2002-09-24T01:05:42Z")
No, I’ve never seen the musical, but did you know it was based on Puccini’s olde-tyme opera _La Boheme?_ [Here are some similarities](http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist255/bohem/trent.html) (Warning: contains spoilers for both). It’s sad that John Larson didn’t live to see his work come to the stage. But he’d probably be proud. It’s still running strong after six years at der Nederlander hut. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-rent/129370/3 "2002-09-24T01:06:46Z")
Breaky linky. [Rent a boheme!](http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist255/bohem/trent.html) ---
**Author:** ![Lab2490](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Lab2490](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lab2490)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-rent/129370/4 "2002-09-24T01:09:05Z")
I knew that. really how could i not? I memorized the book. Okay you know those books with the history and liberetto right? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-rent/129370/5 "2002-09-24T01:34:22Z")
I saw Rent a few years ago. Pretty good musical overall, but the ending is absolutely ludicrous and a cheap pandering to the audience. ---
**Author:** ![Lab2490](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Lab2490](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lab2490)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-rent/129370/6 "2002-09-24T01:36:57Z")
The ending aint that bad! I love the ending! Spoilers! They couldnt kill her off just when roger embraced his love and found his song and stuff. I mean come on! ---
**Author:** ![HookerChemical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@HookerChemical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HookerChemical)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-rent/129370/7 "2002-09-24T06:51:03Z")
I saw it a couple years back. I thought it was pretty disapointing. I wouldn’t call it “bad” but it didn’t live up to the hype it had been getting. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-rent/129370/8 "2002-09-24T15:23:27Z")
I saw it a few years ago, and liked it. My wife bought the soundtrack – she adores some of the music. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-rent/129370/9 "2002-09-24T16:06:28Z")
It’s here in my hometown tonight and tomorrow I think. I’m not going, although many people I know are. I feel like it’s an ok, formulaic show with one or two decent songs, but basically is a meidocre piece of trite concepts that paints a warped picture of reality. YMMV, of couse. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-rent/129370/10 "2002-09-24T16:55:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lab2490 \* > \*\*The ending aint that bad! I love the ending! > Spoilers! > They couldnt kill her off just when roger embraced his love and found his song and stuff. I mean come on! \*\* Puccini managed to do it. And they could have, too, if they had the slightest bit of artistic integrity. This was just a tacked-on happy ending to please those who can’t handle tragedy. The ending reminded me clearly of the play-within-a-play in “Nicholas Nickleby.” The actors there performed “Romeo and Juliet” and rewrote it to give it the same sort of ludicrous ending (“No, I didn’t really drink the poison! We can live happily ever after!”). The difference was that in Nickleby, it was played as being silly and pandering, while in Rent, it was played straight, as though that kept it from being silly and pandering. ---
**Author:** ![StephenG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@StephenG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StephenG)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-rent/129370/11 "2002-09-24T17:15:34Z")
I’ve seen _Rent_ three times now… The third time was more out of devotion to my girlfriend, but I still enjoyed it. 🙂 I saw it with Joey Fatone in NYC, and I’ve also seen it Boston and Ottawa. I like the show. I like the music, and I like the story[sup]\*[/sup]. I wouldn’t call myself a devotee, but I am a fan. There’s definitely some hostility towards it here, which I don’t completely understand … but don’t let that bother you, **Lab**. Do a search for “Rent”, and I’m sure you’ll find some more threads. (I can think of at least two; one by me, and one by **Swiddles**. [sub][sup]\*[/sup]I should probably go read _La Bohème_… maybe after I finish _Les Misérables_, which I’ll also be seeing in Ottawa shortly. But I digress…[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-rent/129370/12 "2002-09-24T17:41:56Z")
I have seen Rent twelve times, three with the original Broadway cast - Daphne Rubin-Vega as the totally hot Mimi, _Law and Order_’s Jesse L. Martin as Tom Collins, the gorgeous Idina Menzel as Maureen, and the amazing dancing of Wilson Jermaine Heredia as Angel - how many dancers can leap from floor to tabletop while wearing high heels? I loved the show. There are still days in which I’ll be driving along alone, with the soundtrack blasting away. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-rent/129370/13 "2002-09-24T17:57:24Z")
I thought it was meh in person, but I obtained most of the songs on the soundtrack and it really does grow on you. ---
**Author:** ![LolaCocaCola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@LolaCocaCola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaCocaCola)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-rent/129370/14 "2002-09-24T18:03:28Z")
I think it’s way overrated. ---
**Author:** ![Sgt.J](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sgt.J](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sgt.J)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-rent/129370/15 "2002-09-24T19:38:19Z")
I was well on my way to enjoying the show… right up until the lame-ass “ABC After School Special” ending. What a cop-out. ---
**Author:** ![Lab2490](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Lab2490](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lab2490)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2002, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-rent/129370/16 "2002-09-24T23:13:26Z")
Bricker, You have lived my fantasy. I always wanted to see the original cast but at the time I had yet to embrace RENT. Now i could kick myself. But i have one small problem with your post. You forgot to mention Adam Pascal as the sexiest Roger ever. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-rent/129370/17 "2002-09-25T04:43:14Z")
Well, truth told, Adam Pascal didn’t do much in the way of sex appeal for me, although he had an awesome voice and gave the best _One Song Glory_ of any Roger ever. But I was too busy drooling over Mimi and Maureen to really get charged up over Roger. 🙂 And … oh my goodness… the _Without You_ duet with Adam and Daphne was… shiveringly good. ---
**Author:** ![Lab2490](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Lab2490](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lab2490)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-rent/129370/18 "2002-09-25T04:58:50Z")
I aggree. I can just see you now drooling over daphne Rutabaga (as i call her) in her bright blue skin tight pants. I always wanted those pants. I never like that maureen for some reason. I hate the fact that joey took up space that was saved for the long time swing, Matt caplan. And Jesse L martin was the best Tom collins EVER.😉 🙂 😃 🆒 :smack: ;j ;j 😛 😛 ---
**Author:** ![RexDart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-rent/129370/19 "2002-09-25T06:05:49Z")
I saw it last year, enjoyed the music thoroughly. Unfortunately, I was sitting soooooo far back that I couldn’t tell whether the transgendered person was being played by a man or a woman. Of course, that actually might enhance the viewing in its own way. It’s coming back to town again this year, so I’m told. I would see it again. BTW, couple questions. What role is Joey Fatone playing? I saw that he was involved when NBC did a segment on the Broadway concerts last week, but didn’t catch what role. I don’t know if it deserved the “hype” or not. It is so far the only musical I have ever seen that was written after 1980, and apart from _Sunset Boulevard_ it’s the only one I ever listened to much (RHPS was pre-1980, right?). So I can’t give much comparison. I can say I thought it had great energy, and that’s what I like. ---
**Author:** ![NotWithoutRage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NotWithoutRage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotWithoutRage)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-rent/129370/20 "2002-09-25T13:22:15Z")
I’ve seen RENT eight times. I was, well, you could call it obsessed. I fell in love with the show when I was 18, on my way to college 500 miles from home, and in need of a “comfort fix.” I still think it’s a fun, interesting show. But it’s not the be all/end all anymore. Like Hairspray. And Flower Drum Song 🙂 Hehe. BTW, **RexDart,** Mr. Fatone is playing Mark. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-seen-rent/129370.md?page=2)