For the next RENT revival...- Page 2

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 8/25/20 at 4:16pm

aimeric said: "Tag said: "Islander_fan said: "Another example, is that when Larson found out Idina was from Long Island, he than made her character from Long Island too. Hence the line, “you can take the girl out of Hicksville, but you can’t take the Hicksville out of the girl.” When they started to tour the show they changed Hicksville to Jersey."

Wow, after all these years...I always thought Hicksville was a reference to "hicks" (ie. country folk) and not a real place!"



Lol, same. Now as an adult, I know Hicksville, Long Island, but as a kid growing up in Florida, listening to Rent I just assumed they meant "hicksville" in the broader use of the term: i.e., a town that's "bumf**k." (Or at least, that's how I commonly heard "hicksville" used where I came from...is that not a thing in other parts of the country...?) Thus my confusion over why it would even need to be changed in the libretto."

That was definitely an issue with Rent on the road and why the first national tour in particular got so many walkouts (besides the subject matter, which some people didn't realize what they were getting into).  It's really such a New York show that for many people across the country they just couldn't relate to it.  But on the plus side, I give them credit for not altering it for the road,

[joevitus]

Posted: 8/25/20 at 4:58pm

If a show is thought to side-line its gay characters (I don't agree this is true of Rent, but I can see the argument) or any kind of character, I think that provides zero reason to alter the text to "correct" the issue. I agree with those who say write the show you want to see.

I get, what with Company getting a gender-switched lead, it will become more common to think of changing the sex of characters in various shows (as it has become more common to change their race). But I think for this to happen, the show either has to be designed this way (as Dear Evan Hanson seems to be designed so any character/family can be of any race) or such a well-established classic that it is clear we are seeing a variation on the traditional text. Rent wasn't written for the former and is still too new, I think, for the latter.

[joevitus]

Posted: 8/25/20 at 5:40pm

I should add, I hate that Mimi lives, and feel not only is it false to the material (and I mean the material in Rent, not just the source material La Boheme) but it trivializes the plight of people with AIDS at that stage in history. You didn't get that close to death and just spring back to life. You just didn't. So that Angel actually experiences what so many with AIDS experienced (death) I think makes him, and by extension makes the show's other gay characters, the more substantial ones. 

 

[Kad]

Posted: 8/26/20 at 11:37am

Rent's biggest obstacle now is its own mythology and prominence. What was subversive for a mainstream musical in the mid-90s is now pretty saccharine and dated, with Larson's death looming over the work and adding gravity that the material itself lacks. I don't know that switching genders of any of the characters will address things.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 8/26/20 at 5:59pm

Agreed. It's important to remember that he never intended Rent to be relevant in any way 20 years later; it was meant to be of its moment and era, and then he'd go on and write the next thing. Unfortunately, he never got that chance.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 8/26/20 at 9:08pm

Wait, but if you look at the eight main characters, aren't at least 50% of them LGBT and get a ton of onstage time? Sure the gays don't get the A storyline, but it's not like they're marginalized or sidelined at all. In fact I'd argue they get the best songs and best lines in the thing. 

[missthemountains]

Posted: 8/26/20 at 11:54pm

joevitus said: "I should add, I hate that Mimi lives,and feel not only is it false to the material (and I mean the material inRent, not just the source materialLa Boheme) but it trivializes the plight of people with AIDS at that stage in history. You didn't get that close to death and just spring back to life. You just didn't. So that Angel actually experiences what so many with AIDS experienced (death) I think makes him, and by extension makes the show's other gay characters,themore substantial ones.

"

I couldn't agree more. It seems so painfully contrived--whereas Angel's death feels almost in a way, very rush, by contrast? It always made me cringe even from a young age. I know there have been productions that have changed this, and I think it's honestly for the better. I think it genuinely improves the work. That being said, I understand that it's sort of hypocritical of me to feel this way but then dismiss someone else's "adaptation" of the script in the OPs post to the script.

But at the same time, although I believe Mimi should die, I also think that is asking less than asking for Mimi to be a totally different gender and sexuality. Mimi being a cis (presumably straight) woman, is really important of the storytelling to a mainstream audience. Mimi and Roger were in an interracial straight relationship during the AIDS crisis, and the female romantic lead had AIDS. That also needed to be shown. It actually was representation. Thought it might not seem like seeing a Latinx actor and a white actor in a straight relationship is a big deal now, it was not something that was done often, or really at all in commercial productions (see: Evita).

That being said, Rent as a whole I think may have outstayed its welcome in terms of revivals at this point. I don't think the generations of young people of today want another Rent, they want something totally different like A Strange Loop. I also think that for many young queer people, there is a pressure within the movement to severely limit the amount of "gay tragedy" storylines for reasons that are not totally unwarranted. I think to erase any stories about queer pain or pain about the black/latinx experience would be a mistake, but I agree that we could afford to cut back on them and show these underrepresented communities living and overcoming obstacles.

Rent was surely empowering for its time, and will always be important--but especially with the Fox Live Revival fresh in everyone's mind, I think Rent should take a backseat in terms of it even being considered to be revived.