Jaystarr's 10/10 Report on ReNT (with theater and stage door photos)

[jaystarr]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 5:16pm

Special Guest :
NYCBoy2
wheelsinmotion


a tribute to one of my favorite musical of the 90's...



E42

Rent
Long-Running Musical
Nederlander Theater
6/1 2 pm matinee
2 hours and 30 minutes (with 1 intermission)
Tix Price: $55.00 (MEZZ CNTR)

INTRO: I only saw RENT twice.. first- almost 12 yrs ago and yesterday. I guess you might say... I saw the begining and the end of this show. Yesterday was supposed to be the last day~ that's why I saw two posters from here, who liked me bought tickets for the last day...NYCBOY2 (Marcus) and wheelsinmotion (Brandon) who coincidently...are also 10 yrs younger than me...so basically there were two generations of Rent fans there- the old timers like me and the new Renthead.

Rent is probably one of my favorite show in the 90's. When it first opened. It really made an impact on me. Ive listened to the OBCR probably a hundred times in the 90's. I never really had a chance to revisit the show, but I just can't let the show go without seeing it for the last time.


Things I LIKE about the show

1. The Book, Music and Lyrics by Jonathan Larson- Ever since I first saw the show almost 12 yrs ago.. I always love the material.

2. Will Chase- as Roger : I thought Will Roger is the only one in the main cast that really made the role his own. He is probably born to play Roger. He really is perfect for this role. He's just had a perfect voice as Roger and his rendition of Glory to die for. Ive only seen 2 Rogers- Adam Pascal & Will Chase -and both are good and different from one another. He is sporting a blonde spiky hair that looks like Spiky in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

3. Ensemble like Jay Wilkinson as Gordon & Mr. Grey , Andrea Gross as Alexi , Maia Nkenge Wilson as Mrs. Jefferson, bag lady and vocalist in Season Of Love- I thought this are only to ones that really stood up with me.


Things I DID NOT LIKE about the show

Most of things that I did not like are the actors:

1. Eden Espinosa- I am actually a big fan of Eden. I love her in Brooklyn and Wicked (LA) I admire her vocal prowess, though I will say.. I was very disappointed with her bec. I felt like she is not playing Maureen at all.. she is playing Idina Menzel playing Maureen.. let me borrow yankeefan's phrase that he used in his Sunday in the Park
review...if you close youre eyes..you can even imagine hearing Idina Menzel singing..and I mean that not in a good way. I really feel that she is not Maureen, but she is playing Idina, even her mannerism and facial reaction is down right Idina. I was very disappointed...I was hoping she will do Maureen her own way, the only thing that not identical to Idina was her costume in the Over the Moon. They gave her a new costume~ at least that was a change!

2. Mostly the remaining cast : I will say.. I was soo underwhelmed...I felt like everyone was playing the actors from the Original Cast. For me-they failed to make the role their own, also sometimes when they sing- it feels like they are competing with one another..I know this is supposed to be a Rock Opera, but something is missing in their performances..it looks like they were just there to sing or belt out the songs...I really did not see the characters.

a. Tamyra Gray- beautiful voice, great body but unfortunately not a good dancer. Her "Out Tonight" number was soo robotic and she was so stiff! I would given her a good review bec. of her beautiful voice, but the dancing part and acting- I was disapointed. I felt like she was just there to sing- dont get me wrong, she sings beautifully..but I dont see Mimi in her!

Tamyra Gray as Mimi


b. Justin Jonson (as Angel) great falsetto voice, though he was not a good dancer neither. his "Today 4 U" did not really win me over, I thought it was flat.

c. Michael McElroy as Tom Collins- he is always running out of breathe while he was singing.

(e. Adam Kantor as Mark- this guy is almost in the MY LIKE LIST, though I felt that he really did not impressed me till Second Act during "What You Own Song" which is actually my favorite song in the musical... I will say he is not in my like list nor dislike, but I guess I mention something about him. He has a very good voice though and very nice in person! )


In Summary: I only seen Rent twice- the original cast and the last cast. I dont know what went wrong? I probably compared them to my first experience when I saw the show almost 12 years ago.. The funny thing is I can't even remember the 1st time I saw it, so when I saw the show..its almost a new musical for me~ What I saw yesterday was a bunch of people JUST singing the songs, I did not see the characters in them. The only one that really made his character his own was Will Chase..almost everyone was just there singing and trying to get this thing over. There were more energy in the audience than the stage. The audience were always yelling..."Awwwwwww!" everytime Tamyra Gray, Justin Johnson or Eden Espinosa shook their asses...it seems like the audience already knew what was going to happen, and there was almost a cue part that everyone HAS TO YELL- Awww!. I actually love the audience.. they are very energetic! though I was disapppointed with most of the cast.. I dont know if this is the 9th generation or 10th generation cast but it seems like the cast are just TIRED of doing the show! The show is not outdated, I feel like its still potent with its message, though the cast that I saw is making the show STALE. though even I'm 50/50.. I would still give this a LIKE IT review bec. of the material and Will Chase. Probably~ sometimes no matter how much you love a show...there is probably a time to let it go, until it get revived and get a new make over to make it FRESH again!

I took extra photos of the Nederlander Theater for those who want to remember ReNT!


There's Only Us .....There's Only This
Forget Regret Or Life Is Yours To Miss

No Other Road No Other Way
No Day But Today!


SCORE 3/2- I LIKE IT!





Nederlander Theater






The Last Cast of Rent:














The Back Wall of Autographs:






MERCHANDISE:








Going inside the theater:






The Playbill








Stage Door Photos





Merle Dandridge as Joane (the last Joane)




Rodney Hicks as Benny (the last Benny)


Maia Nkenge Wilsom


Adam Kantos as Mark (the last Mark)


with the last Mark of ReNT!










My Autographed Playbill






Updated On: 6/2/08 at 05:16 PM

[folkyboy]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 5:21pm

aw i didn't know Will Chase was in this again! i want to go see him now! i LOVE him!

thank you for the report :)

[sally1112]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 5:28pm

Thanks for the great photos. Glad you got to go one last time for those of us that can't.

You and Adam look good together in that picture...I'm just sayin'..

[burnsy]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 5:33pm

I totally forgot you were coming for this.... I love Will Chase but I don't think that's enough for me to sit through it again after reading your review....

[Drunk Chita Rivera]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 5:36pm

Ug, I can't stand that people write on the OBC doors or the walls. I'm glad to hear Will is good, I'm seeing the show next weekend (14th Time! Very Excited)

[broadwayboy522]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 5:38pm

Wow was someone actually writing on Idina's picture in one of those things? That's just wrong(not because it's idina just in general)

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 5:38pm

Great review, Jay. It's interesting to hear your point of view having seen the original cast with the show in its original condition, to its final cast with the mold that has eroded (not only the walls and ceiling of the theatre) the production itself over twelve years.

P.S. Adam Kantor is ADORABLE!

[defyingravity07]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 5:45pm

Didn't take long to make more graffiti. Did they stop painting over it at night?

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 5:48pm

No pic with Eden or Will?

Can you post their bios? Updated On: 6/2/08 at 05:48 PM

[jaystarr]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 5:57pm

Eden & Will went out too..but if youre familiar with the Nederlander Theater (not having an actual stage door-just the front door) most likely you will miss some of the cast bec. there's too many people around them. Someone told me that Will snucked out early and I missed Eden while I was having my photo with Adam. There's really no RULE on the Nederlander Theater when it comes to stage dooring bec. Actors can come out in any of those front doors and fans are segregating around them. Anything Goes!

and almost everyone are stage dooring at ReNT. yay! finally! I am not all by myself!

J*

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 6:00pm

I love being quoted - it inflates my ego even more- but if only I remembered what it was referring to!

Jenna Russell and Bernadette Peters, perhaps? I know I didn't compare anyone in SUNDAY with Idina!

[lesmis]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 6:05pm

I love Will Chase!

[jaystarr]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 6:07pm

Yankeefan- I think you said. Jenna Russell was so good, that you can even close your eyes and hear Bernadette Peters singing thru her voice. (something like that?)

I used your same experience this time with Eden Espinosa and Idina Menzel...you can close your eyes and hear Eden "sounding" like Idina~ and so there's no confusion- I dont mean that in a good way!

J*

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 6:14pm

Yeah, I knew it was something like that!

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 6:27pm

Why would you want your picture with or the autograph of an actor you think sucks?

Updated On: 6/2/08 at 06:27 PM

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 6:29pm

And considering you did not like the show that much why does it get a 10 out of 10? Shouldn't it be more of a 3 or 4 out of ten?

Posted: 6/2/08 at 6:35pm

That Tamyra Gray is kind of handsome. Has he been in anything else?

[suicidalmickeymouse]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 6:41pm

Thanks so much!

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 6:46pm

Joe, I think he played Michael Jackson in the "Thriller" show at Six Flags, Paducha.

[jspaeth87]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 6:51pm

well i can't say that i saw the original, but i couldn't agree w/ your review of the show now anymore. tamyra was out when i saw it, but her understuday also had the great voice, but her dancing lacked any intensity. and i absolutely fell in love with will chase's roger

[Gobstopper]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 7:08pm

Thanks for the review!

BTW Maureen's costume has been different from the original for a long time. I'm not sure when it changed, but I've never seen the original costume in the 5 times I've seen the show (but I only started seeing the show in 2006).

Posted: 6/2/08 at 7:17pm

Thanks for the review! I didn't realize that Tamyra Gray was "headlining" over everyone else. Just surprising is all. It's cute that people are writing stuff on the wall, but why would you write on pictures of faces? but yeah... to each his own.

[wicked_beast4]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 7:23pm

What the f*ck? Writing on the walls I can deal with, but on the pictures? What is wrong with these people?

[jarred03]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 8:23pm

Ok, not surprised by your review of Eden, I loved her as NessaRose the first time I saw Wicked but did not like her as Elpheba. So it doesn't surprise me that she isn't the best Maureen.

I am surprised by Tamyra because I saw her on her first night and her dancing during Out Tonight was pretty damn good. I was quite surprised how fearlessly and fluidly she moved through and around the railings so I would think she would be better at it now.

[NYCboy2]

Posted: 6/2/08 at 8:24pm

Thanks jay for a thorough review again and finally I had a chance to met you in person! I was suprised that you give the show a positive review considering you were complaining about it during the intermission! I had a blast hanging out with you during the intermission, too bad we did not sit together. and yeah! everyone is right about you! you are a sweet guy here at bww and in person, and very likeable!