I'm seeing it in INDY! How good is the tour????
Thank-You!
Judging by the last couple of legs of the Non-Equity tour, mediocre at best.
Nowhere near what it could/should be, and was when it was an Equity tour.
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/12/05
I'm seeing it next weekend in Ft. Lauderdale
I saw it in May in Toronto and assuming it is still the same cast, overall I was impressed. I expected not to be.
The weakest links are Angel and Mimi. Definetly Angel - hope for an understudy.
Without being racist...the Seasons of Love 1st soloist is a skinny white girl. She could sing but it completely changed my perception of what it should have been.
I liked the past non-equity tour the best. the last equity tour was only okay.
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/31/69
rent is coming to my town(cincy) in december for a special
cause it was already here last year or somethinggg
I CANT WAIT TO SEE IT!!!
In a few weeks at least 8 cast members will be replaced. So I guess it depends WHEN they will be in Indy.
i saw it in Boston and i walked out. the piece is just so dated and someone told me they changed the ending
Updated On: 9/10/06 at 10:24 PM
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/14/05
I saw the tour in Chicago and it was a disgrace! Awful! An embarrassment to the words and music of Rent.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/30/04
I assume the comment about them changing the ending is a joke.
It is the most mediocre "professional" theatre I have ever seen and I have seen a lot. The guys playing Mark and Roger were great, but that was it. I hope you get to see new people.
I was told it's coming to my hometown in NH which seemed pretty impossible to me since I saw it in Boston in June... is it still circling around? If it is, coming here is kind of a shock, and seems like an act of desperation.
Reviews here:
http://www.compulsivebowlers.org/boards/viewforum.php?f=3
Understudy Joined: 11/25/04
I just saw the Rent tour at the Tampa Bay Performing ARts Center. The show was fantastic, I have seen it 2 times on broadway, and was just as impressed with tour as with broadway. The cast is very strong, theyre were several in the cast that stood out. Those would be Bryce Ryness, Jed Resnick, Tracy McDowell, and Chante Carmel Frierson. But the whole cast was good. I saw the u/s Cedric Leiba Jr. as Angel. I thought he was very good, kinda short, he could not really do much during Today for U Tomorrow 4 me. But his vocals were outstanding. Overall the show was good and I would deffinetly reccoment it.
(so um yea, I basically suck at writing reviews lol, sorry!)
Understudy Joined: 11/25/04
I just saw the Rent tour at the Tampa Bay Performing ARts Center. The show was fantastic, I have seen it 2 times on broadway, and was just as impressed with tour as with broadway. The cast is very strong, theyre were several in the cast that stood out. Those would be Bryce Ryness, Jed Resnick, Tracy McDowell, and Chante Carmel Frierson. But the whole cast was good. I saw the u/s Cedric Leiba Jr. as Angel. I thought he was very good, kinda short, he could not really do much during Today for U Tomorrow 4 me. But his vocals were outstanding. Overall the show was good and I would deffinetly reccoment it.
(so um yea, I basically suck at writing reviews lol, sorry!)
I saw the tour in Philadelphia, and it wasn't bad, but it's certainly not as great as it could be. The only cast member to really blow me away was Warren G. Nolan as Collins. His "I'll cover you" (reprise) was heartbreaking. Mark was decent, but not overwhelmingly impressive and Roger's voice worked but his appearance didnt read "rocker" for a single second. Angel couldn't come close to handling his part vocally. Maureen and Joanne were both handled pretty well, but i kind of miss the days when bigger girls got the part of Joanne. Call me sizeist if you'd like but i find it hard to believe that these tiny little women wouldn't be completely overpowered by a diva like Maureen. And finally, Arianda Fernandez as Mimi...i understand what they were going for. She looks SO PERFECT for the role. She's the right age, she has the Mimi hair...but she's just not there. Her "out tonight" wasn't that bad, but "without you" and "goodbye love" were painful. Overall, i think the cast leaves quite a bit to be desired.
Saw it in KC. Hated it.
Just for the record, you won't be seeing the current cast. Most of the cast according to rumors most of the cast will be replaced in late September. .
As for Rent being dated- the setting is dated if you can call it that, but I think the themes are timeless. (Corny, but there is no other way to describe it without writing a book).
As for the current cast, there are strengths in the current cast, but there are also many actors with raw talent and not much experience. Far from the best touring cast I've seen...
Featured Actor Joined: 8/3/04
I'm sorry to say but this current tour is God awful. It looked like a bunch of high school kids up there stumbling around. I saw it in Pittsburgh in late August. They were also very unprofessional. Before the show started they were peaking through the set looking at the audience and screaming and yelling at each other from opposite sites of the stage. I hope the addition of these new cast members can bring some life back into the production.
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/14/05
sfs, I was in the second row in Chicago and the actors would drop character and take looks at the audience during the show. OMG I am in Rent!
So can we hope their will be better actors come September?
and by changing the ending i was refering to when Mimi "moos". they took it out and she just sits up like she did in the film
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/14/05
James, if the same producers apply the same standards, I would not expect much. BUT, if you have not seen Rent on stage, then trust your instincts and not my comments.
Thing is. RENT is the only broadway show to have a non equity tour. They do this so that they can broaden casting choices and give people who are not union a chance to be union. It is the same sets and whatnot as on broadway but it is just that the cast is differen. This year the cast SUCKS last year they were better. And, if your great on tour they might bump you up to broadway. But, I don't understand the difference between equity actors and non equity actors making a show bad. It could have been just as terrable if the actors were union. Bottom line is that it doesn't matter if they are union or not to be a bad cast.
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