RENT (the musical) (1 Viewer)

[Michael Reuben]

According to reviews of The Public's recent revival of Two Gentlemen of Verona (the Guare/McDermott musical), she doesn't have a strong singing voice. I can't offer personal observation, because I didn't see it.

M.

 

[Sean Laughter]

Yeah, "Out Tonight" sounds somewhat dissapointing. I was about to attribute it to the mixing of the song, but she just doesn't have the same kind of energy as Rubin-Vega had. Vega's voice was just so idiosynchratic in the role that going from listening to her forever to someone else was bound to be jarring.

That said I really like the sample of "Santa Fe" and Anthony Rapp seems to have brought Mark straight from the stage, whereas even listening to "Today 4 U" even Angel sounded a little lethargic.

 

[Holadem]

I saw it at the Bushnell Theater in Hartford, CT.

Two reasons I did not enjoy the show:

1 - This is the one show I saw where the vast majority of the dialogue was all songs, as opposed to say The Producers or Mama Mia where musical numbers complemented the dialogue, but (IIRC) did not replace it.

I simply have a harder time understanding songs in that setting.

But mostly:

2 - My expectations of the show were quite different from what I ended up seeing. I first heard of the show during my college years in New York, and vaguely knew it about being young (and in love?) and struggling in the city. There was un underlying theme of light at the end of the tunnel, of hope. I felt this was something I could strongly identify with, being a young man who was struggling to come up with rent and tuition. I somehow managed to graduate and leave the city without ever seeing the show.

When I finally did last year, it ended up being dramatically darker than anything I expected, certainly more than anything I had ever come close to in the worse of times: junkies, protitutes, AIDS, death. To the point where the personal connection I had hope to have with the characters was simply not there. I guess there is struggle, and struggle...

I will check out the movie, I liked the trailer.

Is it me or does the movie cast look older than show's? They certainly don't look like teenagers in the trailer.

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H

 

[Sean Laughter]

Well, most of the movie cast is made up of members of the original Broadway cast, so they've obviously aged since then. I'm not sure if the show's characters are teenagers though, I always saw them more as 20-somethings, though Mimi is explicitly said to be 19, close enough to 20-something anyway.

 

[BradWOO]

Hey.

I picked up the soundtrack over the weekend and am very impressed. The songs seem to be mostly intact from the play.

 

[Brian Kidd]

Pretty much the only things excised from the show are areas where dialogue is sung instead of spoken. In that case they have been converted into spoken dialogue for the film. The only large musical section cut from the film is the Christmas number; a shame since it's quite strong. I'm not sure what the reasoning was behind the cut. Also, the homeless people singing has been cut as well. Perhaps these numbers were a bit too stridently theatrical to play in a film. Anyway, I don't think Columbus is any great talent. He's kind of like Ron Howard, competent but not noteworthy. He has (amost all of) the great cast from the original show in his favor so it's a start. We'll see how he does. Dumb to shoot such a quintessentially NY show in SF, though.

 

[Joe Hsu]

I'm pretty excited to see this movie as I love movies and have a passion for singing. The cast does a pretty good job on the OST although I agree that Rosario doesn't quite match up as well as the others.

I just wonder...what must it be like in the Diggs household...do they sing around the house? What do they listen to...

(Idina Menze who plays Maureen is married to Diggs)

 

[Michael Reuben]

Right now, I doubt it, because they're both doing eight shows a week in off-B'way productions, and actors with that schedule need to rest their voices when they're not working. (He's in a revival of A Soldier's Play; she's in a new musical called See What I Wanna See, which I wanna see ).

M.

 

[Sean Laughter]

I just noticed there's a new trailer linked from the quicktime movie trailer site rather than the original one. Of course, it's probably been there for months and I've just never noticed.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

One thing I don't like is that "Mark" tries to go for a more radio-esque performance than the more show-tunesy Original Broadway Recording.
I've grown to appreciate Dawson in repeated listenings to the movie soundtrack. "Tom Collins" goes a bit overboard (I'm reminded of Bleeding Gums Murphy in the Dancing Homer episode of "The Simpsons") but most of the other performances are intact. "Roger" strikes the right peaks even though he approaches the tunes more from an acting standpoint. Idina still rocks as Maureen, but the echo effect in "Over the Moon" is irritating.

 

[Paul Linfesty]

Only the interiors were shot in S.F. (actually, old military warehouses converted to soundstages on Treasure Island, located in the middle of the east bay between S.F. and Oakland). I think most of the exterior shots were actually done in NYC.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Besides, how much of New York still looks like it did in 1994, once you get away from the landmarks?

 

[Michael Reuben]

A lot. But some neighborhoods have changed more than others, and the Lower East Side has seen more change than most.

M.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Good to know, from an actual New Yorker. Is there new legislation about shooting in the city too that makes it more difficult? I'm pretty sure I read something but can't be sure... oh well, the alarm goes off in two and a half hours so I'll leave that for others to resolve

 

[Michael Reuben]

Are you talking about guns or films? In either case, I don't know of any new legislation, but that doesn't mean there isn't any.

M.

 

[David Williams]

The various Law & Order series seem to shoot just fine in NYC...

 

[Holadem]

I very much doubt that any piece of legislation would hinder filming in NYC given what they are trying to do with the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

--
H

 

[Michael Reuben]

To return to an earlier topic in the thread: I don't know about the rest of the cast, but Idina Menzel can still play the right age for the character. I just returned from her current off-B'way show, and the woman looks (and sounds) amazing.

M.

 

[Sean Laughter]

Yes! I'm like so in love with Idina. Unfortunately, I won't be able to get to New York until after the run of her off-B'way show so I won't get to see her in it. :frowning: I've yet to see her live in anything, it's dissapointing.

I also have to say that I've grown to really like the soundtrack to the movie. It's just a matter of getting past the original B'Way cast recording that has become engrained in people's heads over the years.

I still think Mimi is a little weak in some spots and "Over the Moon" doesn't seem as energetic (not sure whether that's Idina or Columbus' fault though), but most everything else is in top form. I do think an opportunity was missed to do a somewhat neat, hilarious, and gritty montage mass sex scene using "Contact" - that's about the only track from the original score that I really miss besides "We're OK" for Joanne.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

"Contact" was fun, but essentially flab when looking at a movie adaptation. The only song I miss is "Christmas Bells" because all of the echoes of it throughout the rest of the soundtrack had to be removed. Otherwise, I quite enjoy the movie soundtrack. I wish Anthony Rapp had approached the sounds from a Broadway perspective rather than a pop-music standpoint, and I think Jesse L. Martin goes a bit over the top at times but generally I quite like it. (Debauchery of "Over the Moon" aside) The original approach to Mimi had a lot more spice to it, but I've really connected to how Rosario has approached the role. She's the weak link in terms of vocal talent, but you can hear alot of her dramatic performance in the songs, which I like.
My favorite change by far is "La Vie Boheme". I love how after "...we raise out glass, you bet your ass..." the tempo is dropped to a crawl and slowly gains momentum over the course of the next next minute or so as Mark gains steam.