Angel’s counterpart in La Boheme is Schunard.
I think Angel is supposed to be Schaunard.
I’ve seen the movie twice now and still can’t decide if I like it. I definitely like elements of it, and I’ve finally figured out what freaks me out about Anthony Rapp (it’s the blonde eyelashes).
Things I Really Liked:
Tracie Thoms as Joanne
The whole Tango Maureen sequence (especially their threesome dance) except for the spoiling of Maureen’s entry (below)
The opening sequence (RENT)
Glory (except for no explanation of April’s death)
Without You
Angel’s incredible dancing (he said he couldnt’ walk for three days after the two days of taping the “Tomorrow for Me” sequence, one reason being that the table he jumped onto and danced on in the play and in rehearsal was half a foot shorter)- I’m glad they didn’t go with Jai Rodriguez as once reported
La Vie Boheme
Things I Really Disliked:
Idina Menzel as Maureen (I know, she was in the Original Cast, played Elfaba, etc., but I thought she looked too old and not sexy enough for the part)
The Commitment Ceremony (anachronistic and totally out of line with the play)
The Buzzline Office scene (just too dated looking, and I never did understand why somebody who’s totally broke would be so picky when the job really is something that would look great on a resume while paying some bills- you just got a year’s free rent in a Manhattan loft, quit your bitching!)
Cutting Benny’s part
The lack of an entrance for Joanne (her “ride” onto the stage is the greatest surprise of the show- you absolutely expect to see the motorcycle)
But I’d call it far from a disaster. Overall I’d give it a C with some A+ and D- moments.
Trivia: According to some sources, the producers of the movie evicted squatters and homeless people from some of the location shooting in San Francisco and NYC in order to replace them with actors playing squatters and homeless people.
I felt that his boyfriend was Schunard. Well really, combined they are Shunard.
His boyfriend, “Tom Collins, philosophy professor”, was, as you could guess from the name, Schunard’s friend, the philosopher Colline, in La Boheme.
As a Rent virgin, and having no idea what the movie was about when I walked into the theatre, I thought it was quite good. The acting was good (theres one part thats nagging at me, where I didnt like the acting, but I can’t remember it off the top of my head), the singing was great, and it was wonderfully choreographed. I caught myself tapping my feet to the music many times, and was completely enthralled most of the movie. All in all, I thought it was quite good. It was more singing than talk, from what I can remember, which is something that put it above Chicago/Moulin Rouge. I enjoyed the songs more too.
Remember, a musical on stage is what? 3 hours long? Most movie’s are not nearly that long, and often movies include more emphasis on what is happening, rather than dialogue. Plays emphasize the dialogue. With Rent’s target audience, having a three hour long film was not really an option, either.
I will say though, I can’t wait until I can see Rent live! I tried to when I was up in New York, but I didn’t know I was going early enough to get tickets.
Already answered by the aptly named Captain Amazing, but just to repeat so I sound smart too, Rent’s Tom Collins is Colline in La Boheme.
Bump.
Has anybody else watched the DVD?
I think the cut musical numbers are among the best in the show. I wish they’d left them in context in the show. Rosario’s Goodbye Love was particularly moving.
okay…
I think a lot of it has been covered, but…
The whole beginning bugged me. First of all, Roger walks out onto his balcony. I thought Roger was never supposed to go outside period. Everyone seems to know Roger just stays in the apartment and they say it about nine billion times. I could forgive the balcony and even thr roof, but he wanders out onto the street to talk to Benny and then like ten minutes later, everyone’s surprised to see him outside his apartment.
second, he SEES Mimi and acknowleges her. She lives directly downstairs and smiles up at him like they know each other and he smiles back at her. two seconds later, he’s all, “wait, where have I seen you before?”
The lack of parents singing on the answering machines bothered me. The lack of some of my favorite songs (Christmas Bells and Contact) bothered me.
I almost wish they had made Rent similar to Cats- set on a stage and performed as such. There’s definitely a lot that was lost simply by trying to make it realistic.
I don’t know what Chris Columbus was thinking when he cut those scenes out. They would’ve added so much more, and taking out “Goodbye Love” was a HUGE mistake. I also liked the alternate ending better, but that’s just cause you see less of Mark’s film, and I never liked Mark’s film- what kind of a documentary what that anyway? It looked like a bunch of home video clips spliced together.
As a huge RENT fan, I felt the biggest mistake was not really developing the characters any further than the stage production did, and simply not showing enough. April’s suicide, a longer scene with Angel in the hospital room- all of these would’ve helped the movie, but Columbus didn’t seem to want to take any risks. The characters all seemed a lot more shallow too for some reason- my boyfriend said the characters were so repulsive that the movie convinced him to turn Republican. 
Same here to both. In the theater the documentary is cool because it’s understood you’re just seeing a few seconds of it, and that scene where it’s projected onto the globular surface is cool but impossible to replicate on screen. In the movie it appears that this is the whole documentary, which begs the question “It took you a year to do this? I’ve made Power Points that were way more impressive in less than an hour! Son, you might wanna send some flowers and chocolates to Alexi and see if your job’s still open…”. Also, the alternate ending has perfect symmetry with the beginning and I like the fact that Angel reappears as he does on stage.
Christmas Bells is by far my most objected to omission. Angel’s haggling for the coat was great (“merchant: 25 Angel: 15 merchant: 23 Angel: 15 merchant: 20 Angel: 15, etc.”- great character development of Angel- he may dress like Liberace’s daughter but boy’s street smart and stands his ground) but mainly
IT BUILDS UP MAUREEN’S ENTRANCE!
Her entrance on-stage after you hear about her for several scenes is incredible (especially since you’re not expecting it on motorcycle). I loved the choreography of the Tango number but I never would have brought her out that soon. If you want to include her then only show her from the back or at a distance- the elusive quality would help build up her mystique.
BTW, does anybody else think that Wilson J. Heredia is "dam’ saxy!’ whether he’s in quasi drag or boy clothes?
But yeah, I’d have left all the cut musical moments in including the alternate ending and cut out something else. And I’m still having to ask on repeated viewings: is Alexi standing on the street under that balcony or something, because otherwise the “Alexi, call me a hypocrite but I quit” moment just doesn’t work. HOW MORE OBVIOUS COULD IT BE HE’S SUPPOSED TO BE ON THE PHONE!
All in all the movie brings to mind Simon Cowell’s oft heard comment “It was distinctly… average.”
I’ve listened to Rent a zillion times, scene it live on stage 4 or 5 times, consider myself a pretty big fan, and I have no idea why everyone is so upset about Christmas Bells being cut out. It’s always struck me as total filler, and totally forgettable filler at that.
Definitely for both. While I can understand that “Christmas Bells” may be a bit showy for a film, they should’ve kept in at least some of that scene. And you’re also right in saying that somehow Columbus managed to take away so much character development that the musical had, when a movie should be the opposite!
[/UOTE]And I’m still having to ask on repeated viewings: is Alexi standing on the street under that balcony or something, because otherwise the “Alexi, call me a hypocrite but I quit” moment just doesn’t work. HOW MORE OBVIOUS COULD IT BE HE’S SUPPOSED TO BE ON THE PHONE!
[/QUOTE]
Definitely. All of “What You Own” was awful in my opinion, and that part was especially grating (I still can’t watch that song even though I always loved it). Totally lazy filmmaking. I also hated “Another Day” cause it just came across as being so cheesy with Roger singing to her on the balcony and Mimi singing with the rest of the group… I also thought it was ridiculous that Roger would sing, “The door is that way!” when she’s already outside.
Anyway, lots of gripes about this film, partly cause I was hoping for so much more. My biggest problem with it? Adam Pascal’s awful hair! Cut it please, cause you’re so much hotter without a huge mane!
In the GLORY flashbacks when he had the “long lost son of Billy Idol & Chad Lowe” look going on, he was 10x hotter.