Rent vs. Spring Awakening- Page 3

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 4:22pm

They've made a hero of Melchior, which I think is a disservice to what the original play was trying to convey.

Emcee, thank you. That is exactly how I feel.

While I love Spring Awakening's music and I love the original play, I do not think they work well together. I don't think the play needed the music and I don't like the changes they made to the play. It completely altered the point of the play. That is why I don't like Spring Awakening and would rather see RENT any day.

[_LaLuna]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 4:28pm

I can't really comment, because I've never seen Spring Awakening, but from what I've heard of the music, I'm thinking that, even if I had seen SA, I'd still say Rent. Like I said, I can't really comment because I can't compare the two, I just know that when I first heard Rent's score, I feel in love with the show, before I ever saw it. When I heard some of SA's score, I wasn't particularly moved.

what I can comment on however...
[in response to Rent]I haven't seen a truly good performance of the show since probably 2000.

to each their own, but I'm guessing you didn't go during The Return [when Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal were there this summer and early fall], because those were some amazing performances.

[brainlessorwise]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 4:32pm

Melchior knows what he's doing and what the consequences might be. His parents are more liberal in they way they raise him, and it doesn't turn out too well for him. That was added to the book in the Broadway version. It wasn't there off-Broadway. I don't think Melchior is portrayed as a hero and there are still those that consider what he did rape. I think Rent has an inferior cast right now and thats the only reason I would suggest anyone see Spring Awakening over it.

[ActualReality2]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 6:50pm

nydirector2, you asked what the point of Spring Awakening was, saying: "The whole theme of the show is about how kids should be allowed to discover things or know things...but the result is suicide and back alley abortions gone wrong. So does that mean the adults...aka the bad guys...were right after all?"

Wow, talk about somebody who completely missed the point of a show. Both the suicide and the abortion are the RESULT of the teen characters lack of knowledge and the fact that they are not being told the truth. The play suggests that had they been informed- neither of these tragedies would have happened in the first place.

That being said- I honestly have no idea which I'd pick because I love them both. I don't believe that the two can be, or should, be compared to each other.

[Ariella]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 6:52pm

Rent. I appreciate what Spring Awakening tries to do - it strives for something of artistic merit rather than commercial success. However, I feel that Spring Awakening only touches the surface of the issues it explores - without depth, it alludes to teenage issues and then congratulates itself for being edgy. The whole show screams, "I am edgy," whereas Rent comes from a more genuine place. With the exception of the Pascal and Rapp return, the cast has not been especially dynamic of late - I agree that's been detracting from the show.

I would argue that Melchior is indeed portrayed as a hero, and inappropriately so. Sheik and Sater attempted to make him too sympathetic - for a show that prides itself on hard-edged realism, they circumvented the rape pretty cautiously. The consentingly passionate embrace that concludes Act I does not seem true to the characters of either Melchior or Wendla.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 6:53pm

The point I was trying to make isn't so much about what Melchior knows or doesn't know. Yes, that's involved, but the problem is the way they treat how he acts with Wendla. He tells her it's okay, and gets her to agree to it, and in doing so something that was intended to be rape becomes, "oh, it's okay! They're in love!"

[jake6970]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 7:07pm

I've never once seen them as in love. In my opinion, Wendla DOES want to be close to him. However, she has no idea of what sex is so that is her way of being close to him. She has an innate feeling of society telling her it's wrong, but she DOES want to be close to him, and Melchior is taking advantage of her and telling her this is the way to do that.

[maliatkb8]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 7:21pm

RENT, it was the first... Spring Awakening is amazing but it can only hope to follow in RENT's footprints.

[lstbutifulgrl2]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 7:34pm

RENT

[brainlessorwise]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 7:47pm

Emcee. I didn't think that way at all. In fact, that is one of the major problems with the show to me. I didn't like Melchior. She was going on pure emotion, he was manipulating her. He even says, "..baiting some girl with hypothesies." And I may be misquoting. He's not sympathetic at all to me. That's one of the main reasons the second act treatment of him seems more redemption than heroism.

[BeingAliveNYC2]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 8:28pm

They are so different, it's hard to compare. I've never actually seen Spring Awakening live, so I'd choose to see that if I had the choice. But yeah, as for comparisons... It would be difficult to give a definitive answer on that.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 8:33pm

Sorry, I wasn't clear - I don't think they ARE in love. I think Melchior convinces Wendla that it IS an act of love. That this is what you do when you want to get closer to someone. He quells her resistance. I don't really remember the specifics of the show well enough, which is frustrating when I'm trying to make a point. But they've made it so that people often can't TELL that it's rape -- they've completely romanticized it. Isn't there something in the preface to the new libretto where Steven Sater talks about how they wanted to make it less of a condemnation and more of a love story?

Updated On: 11/19/07 at 08:33 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 8:52pm

If you're interested in what I thought of Spring Awakening, read this thread. It's not my review, but I'm pretty sure the subject I was trying to address in my previous post comes up here, and these post were written much closer to the when I actually saw the show. My review is around, but doesn't really touch on that issue.

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=926277#2820781

Updated On: 11/19/07 at 08:52 PM

[Pascal/Menzel/Bundy]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 9:05pm

Let me start by saying I absolutely love them both.

But one is my clear favorite because it's just better. More heart, more emotion, better lyrics, stronger message. The kind of show that makes you leave the theatre thinking, "Wow. What I just watched actually CHANGED me" and just stays with you for the longest time after the curtain. The kind of show for which the experience cannot be described unless done firsthand.

That being said, RENT. Hands down. In my eyes, no musical will ever come close.

[Sargar]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 9:17pm

if you're going to compare rent and spring awakening purely on lyrical content, for every "think twice before you poo-poo it" and "I'll call, I hate the fall," there's always a chorus of "blah blah blah"s and....well...pretty much all the words to "Totally f*cked" which beat out rent in terms of corniness everytime.

i've said it before, but I am not a fan of songs in musicals that are purely there for internal monologues and not to progress the plot, or whatever excuse Sheik and Sater give - I think it's a copout. The great and unique element to musicals is that they can use music to progess the plot...if you don't need a song to do that, what's the point of making it a musical?

[Ariella]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 9:54pm

While this doubtless can be attributed to personal preference, I find Rent's characters so much more appealing than Spring Awakening. That is to say, I care about the Rent characters. I was extremely disappointed that I couldn't bring myself to care about anyone in SA besides Mortiz. I felt nothing, nothing, except for his death - I formed no emotional attachment to either Melchior or Wendla, and Martha was so underdeveloped that it was impossible to connect with her anyway. For all their imperfections, I find the Rent characters infinitely more sympathetic, realistic, and inherently human. Of course, this conception of "character" transcends individual performances to a certain extent, but even disregarding performances does not change my opinion about SA characters.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 11:14pm

I think that both shows are seriously flawed, but I still enjoy listening to parts of them.

Overall, I prefer RENT's plot to Spring Awakening's, though I can't stand some aspects of it, as well as the cop-out ending.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 11/24/07 at 10:16pm

As SporkGoddess said, both shows have their flaws, but Spring Awakening is much better in my opinion.

[Mealz1042]

Posted: 11/26/07 at 12:46pm

"Overall, I prefer RENT's plot to Spring Awakening's, though I can't stand some aspects of it, as well as the cop-out ending."

It's not a cop out ending, I don't particularly like it either but it did have a purpose. As I'm sure you know, RENT is based on Pacunni's "La Boheme" where mimi does die in the end but Jonathan wanted his play to be about life, not about death.

If anything I'd say SA has more of a cop out ending than rent does.

[nitsua]

Posted: 11/26/07 at 1:55pm

Seeing RENT was the worst night of theatre I've ever experienced in my entire life.

I've seen crappy community theatre better than the RENT tour. Everyone in RENT sounded like they were dying, and I don't think it was supposed to sound like that.

And having a character live doesn't mean its about life. She lives for that second, but she'll die, along with everyone else.

Life is death. You can't separate the two, no matter how hard you try.

[ChiChi]

Posted: 11/26/07 at 2:44pm

And as much as NO ONE seems to want to admit this, RENT has its own share of REALLY bad lyrics. Besides I have very controversial beliefs for WHY rent was successful.

[Izzie2]

Posted: 11/26/07 at 3:43pm

I would like to say first off that I thoroughly enjoy both musicals and have the full soundtracks on my ipod.

That being said, I feel that Spring Awakening does not deserve to be called a musical, and that, while it is a wonderful show, the people of the theatre community should detest it. Producers who believe all of that crap about "why are they singing" "the audience won't get it" "no modern day audience will understand singing" are killing the beautiful art of Musical Theatre.

Spring Awakening set out to do something completely new and innovative. They did not stop to think about the old. what they did create is certainly new, and unique and innovative, but for being based on such an old play, it fails to mix the old and the new.

Rent, however, blends old and new almost seamlessly and with a much purer political purpose than Spring Awakening. It is handled tastefully, but isn't watered down. The traditional style of musical theatre is blended with Rock music. Rent forever changed the world of Musical theatre.

End result is that Rent is an opera and Spring Awakening is a Play where the characters happen to do a little bit of singing.
This is the reason why rent has lasted over ten years and Spring Awakening, well, we will see.

Rent is better.

[nitsua]

Posted: 11/26/07 at 3:47pm

I don't know if one's better than the other, as I haven't seen Spring Awakening live.

I enjoy watching the RENT movie more, that's how bad it was live.

[gymdudeva]

Posted: 11/26/07 at 4:08pm

I saw both shows within weeks of their Broadway opening, with their original casts, so I have some basis for camparison.

Both knocked my socks off, electrified me, got me interested in Broadway again, and were like nothing I had seen before. I've seen both several times. Have listened to both OCRs dozens of times.

If I HAD to choose....

it would be.....

drum roll....

Spring Awakening.

With Rent, I feel like I'm being LOUDLY hit upside the head...in a good way...but still...Whereas with Spring Awakening (OK I'm gonna get flamed for this, but it was my original thought upon seeing it) was that it was a more intimate, subtle piece, with better direction, lighting, staging, etc. then Rent. Rent to me is a glorious, unfinished-looking/sounding mess, whereas I found SA to be more controlled, more thought-out (for better or worse), and with a more sophisticated score. It took some risks that, for ME, worked brilliantly. (BTW, I am a 46-year-old man, not some young fangirl, LOL.)

[DRSisLove]

Posted: 11/26/07 at 6:48pm

I love both.
However, I'm not sure how the new cast in Rent is since I only recently saw it with Adam and Anthony. If they are in any comparison to them, go and see Rent while you can.