There must have been threads before but I cannot find them so I am starting anew. I have only the movie version to go by, because I never got the original B’way cast recording but hey, wowie wow.
My favorite numbers are “Seasons of Love” and “No Day but Today”, with “La Vie Boheme” close behind. I also really liked “Today for You”, and that brings me to the Angel death scene. I already loved Jesse L. Martin but the emotion he put in that song was enough to make me cry like a baby. I know I am going to botch the actor’s name but Wilson Heredia was super in his big song and dance number and yet I feel cheated that we didn’t get to see a meaty death scene. I’m not being goulish, I just think it would have been keeping with the drama of the whole AIDS theme of the movie.
“Tango Maureen” and “la Vie Boheme” are fun songs until we get to the overdose of Mimi. Not having seen or heard the OCR I didn’t know if we would have another death. When Mimi came to I cried like a baby. Yay! God, I love this movie. I love all the songs. I love Jesse L. Martin.
Here you go. The general concensus in the Broadway community is that the movie was disappointing, and just doesn’t live up to the stage version. I’m saying this not to rain on your parade (I’m glad you liked it!) but to encourage you to take any chance you may get to catch the tour or the Broadway show.
Thanks, DooWahDiddy
I plan to get the B’way OCR but I have no complaint with the movie as of yet. I enjoy the songs, they are very moving. I love to sing them, except that stupid Maureen performance artist number bullshit routine. If the movie can be improved upon i cannot wait because I had little complaints with the screen gem. Oh, and Jesse Martin, nothing can be wrong if it has Jesse in it. Sorry for that ending in a preposition.
Absolutely catch the stage show when you can. Having age appropriate actors (jaded yet idealistic 20somethings are inspiring, 30somethings are just pathetic) working the energy of a live house with that same fantastic music but the whole script intact is just mindblowing.
I didn’t think the movie was awful, but it cut scenes that I thought were integral to the character development. My husband (never seen the stage show) actually said, “So, uh, why exactly are they so broken up about Angel? I mean, she’s fun and all, but they’re acting like this is the first friend’s death they’ve ever dealt with, which we know isn’t true.” To which I was like, “But it’s ANGEL! Don’t you get it? Angel changed my LIFE when I was 24!” Of course, he didn’t get it. Because it wasn’t there. On stage, not only are there scene which show what an amazing person Angel is, but there are scenes she doesn’t even have lines in which show, just by her presence and small gestures, how wonderful and supporting she is. A movie screen is a more limited space, and you can’t always show the little things that add up to a richer character when you have three other people over there moving the plot along.
Same for other characters, but mostly Angel. Man, did Wilson ever get cheated in that script adaptation. He went from the heart of the show to the entertaining sideshow in stripy tights.
I think the movie is actually better than the stage show. It’s much cleaner and easier to follow, and every time I’ve seen the stage show (4 or so) I’ve been disappointed. Sure it’s cute and artistic than the stage show has all this sung dialog, but when important plot points are conveyed in sung dialog over loud drums and guitars, it can be very confusing. I had the advantage of having already pretty much memorized the OCR before ever seeing the show, but several different people I took to see it were fairly unsatisfied.
Overall, I think the original cast recording is WAY better than the actual live show.
And I don’t think it would fit at all for Angel to have a big death scene of some sort. AIDS (as I understand it) doesn’t really lead to people singing a last dramatic song then keeling over. Rather, people fade away, which I thought was depicted in the movie really really well.
I saw both the on-stage musical and the movie and I enjoyed both. I did think that the actress playing Maureen was a little old/not as sexy as I would have thought for the part, but that’s just my opinion. I love the actor playing Angel and loved him again when I saw him on L&O: SVU, he is both beautiful as a drag-queen and hot as a man.
Yeah, I do get it about Angel. Which is why I said I felt cheated out of an Angel death sequence. Even watching the movie version I felt something was missing. But I still love it. I watch it every damn it is on Starz and I have even taped it.
I can’t get to NY to see every musical that I like but with OCR’s and movie versions I can deal. I understand theatrical releases can and do suck, believe me, but I do love the movie. I am glad thay got so many of the original cast and I know a lot was lost. But this is better than most of the dreck that comes from Hollywood any day. I know I am in the minority but I do love the movie. Well, sue me
The stage play gets to have it both ways, with “Contact”. I thought the excising of “Contact” for the movie was a mistake, but I can see why Chris Colombus wouldn’t go there. A fantastically sexy, sweaty, frustrating scene which beautifully illustrates the show’s theme of relationships vs. “safety” in isolation. Angel gets a fantastic (or horrid, depending on the singer) orgasmic big solo (“Take me…take me…take me…ohohohohohwooooo!”) Then the barriers between the other lovers become too much - metaphorically latex - and Maureen, Joanne, Roger and Mimi’s angry break-ups: “It’s over!” “It’s OVER!” “It’s OVER!” “IT’S OVER!” and then Collins’ quiet, sad, “It’s over…”
I got goosebumps just typing it.
But yeah, I like having Jesse Martin in my living room to perform at my will.
And it’s nowhere near as bad as some movie versions of musicals, for sure. I just think if you like the movie, you’ll really, really like the stage show, and you have the extra bonus of already knowing the main story. (I do agree with **MaxTheVool **that the narrative can be confusing if you don’t know the story ahead of time. I spent a lot of “Wait, who was that to the whatsit where?” with my Playbill during intermission the first time I saw it.)
The road shows of RENT are looking pretty down market these days, so you may or may not like a live version. I saw one about 5 years ago that was pretty good, and one a couple years ago that was about little theatre standard. Very uneven talent. It’s sort of become to aspiring B’way singers what the road shows of CATS is to aspiring B’way dancers.
Definitely better on stage with the right cast, though.
Never see the movie with people who live in NYC. I went to see it, the day it came out, while visiting my sister in NYC, and my sis and co, were all bashing the geography…“wait the F train goes to Alphabet City now?”
I do know a lot of kids who have become Rentheads b/c of the movie…LOL…I remember feeling so special b/c I knew about Rent before the hype of the movie.
I’ve been meaning to start this thread myself. I’ve been listening to the OST none stop for weeks! I’m quietly singing “Another Day” to myself on the train! There’s nothing more for me to do aside from become an HIV postitive heroine addicted stripper! And actually go see it live of course.
I can’t find the current Rent cast list, but I saw it in May and personally, I didn’t like Roger at all (although none of the Rogers have lived up to Adam Pascal), and from what I remember of it, it was merely good, not fantastic as I expected it to be. Of course, I was horribly sick that day, so my memory is slightly fuzzy.
Given the show as it is today, I think the movie is better. My sister, an original Renthead, assures me that the first and second casts were absolutely fantastic, and judging by the OBR, I can’t disagree.
My favorite songs from the movie are La Vie Boheme and Life Support for various reasons, but all the songs from Rent are so catchy they get stuck in my head.
I went to see the broadway version just before the movie came out and then I went to see the movie. I found the broadway play to be a bit lackluster, especially after the years of hype. There was way too much talk-singing, and the show lacked energy. The set design was a little drab even with the weird christmas tree light sculpture thing. Seasons of Love should have been the opening and final number. There were a bunch of songs I didn’t care for. I wasn’t sure if it was just overhyped or if it was an off day for the cast or maybe they just didn’t live up to the original cast.
Then I went to see the movie. Wow, they opened up with Seasons of Love just like I thought they should. I could actually tell what was going on. They got rid of most of the annoying sing-talk. The songs I didn’t for were gone, the songs I hadn’t felt now had energy and the ones I liked were now really excellent. The cast was vibrant! The sets were really opened up, especially the scene with the riots and the pieces of paper on fire floating down into the street. I finally caught the whole bohemian creative outcast rebel with bittersweet tinge of AIDS crisis thing in full swing. I loved it. Much much better. It’s still possible the original broadway production was great, but the movie was many many times better than the production I saw, and based on the order of songs and the incorporation of talk-singing I think it might even be better than the original production.
Similarly (or is this what you mean), I’ve listened to (and love) the OCR hundreds of times, and pretty much like all the songs, but I never really “got” the song Take me or Leave me, and how it fits into the story, until seeing the movie. I thought setting it at an engagement party was brilliant.
Now, see, I didn’t know the engagement party wasn’t part of the original B’way performance. That’s another bravo to the filmmakers. I know Tracie Thoms wasn’t the original Joanne but she was on the money in my opinion. Hell, I was lusting over her more than Idina and that’s a major accomplishment. I frigging loved Idina in “Wicked”. That is another show I encourage everyone to see.
I saw it in April, and if we saw the same cast, I didn’t care much for Roger either, but I thought Mark was excellent. I’d never seen the show before, although I had seen the movie by then. I found that the entire storyline made a whole lot more sense after seeing the show as it was originally intended, and there were a few songs like “Christmas Bells” and “Happy New Year” that I wish had made it into the movie.
I’m going to disagree with jackdavinci about the placement of “Seasons of Love,” though. I love the song, and I don’t strongly object to its placement at the beginning, but I just think it works better as the opening of the second act. Act I all takes place on the same night, and some of these people had never met before–they weren’t exactly friends yet. “Seasons of Love” at the beginning of Act II is just good musical storytelling, in my opinion. It says “That’s what happened last night, this is how the rest of the year goes.”
I love the show on B’way (I’ve probably seen it 15-16 times - I used to go on Sunday afternoons to the lottery when I lived in NYC, so I saw it a bunch of times just on a whim from the first two rows if there was nothing else available at another show or if there was nothing else I wanted to see), and absolutely HATED the movie. I thought it didn’t capture the spirit of the show, hated the rewrites, hated how Chris Columbus sanitized the whole thing…just hated it. I liked it for the music, I liked it for the actors, but I’d rather it had never been made than made into what it was.
And I’m not even a die-hard RENT fan, it’s just one of my favorite shows. I absolutely detest what Chris Columbus did to it.
Honestly, if you saw a lackluster production on B’way, I’d say the cast was having an off day. I’ve never seen a production of the show that didn’t have me wanting to dance in the aisles.
