Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp back to RENT starting 7/30- Page 3

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 10:41am

Smartful Dodger, I already got flamed on another thread a couple weeks ago for saying the same thing about their being too old for the parts. It was absurd in the movie and it's certainly absurd two years later.

Ah well.

[matjomae]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 10:49am

Wow this is crazy. Completely 100% excited by the news, however just picturing Adam in the plaid pants once again is just...odd.

I truly wonder how this even came to happen. Did they approach the show? Did the show approach them? If the show did approach them, I wonder if it was individually at first or if it was presented as a package deal to the both of them. Were any other OBC members asked to come back or just Adam and Anthony?

Ah so many questions.

*Edited to note that I just broke down and purchased an advance ticket which I NEVER do. I just needed to assure myself that I would indeed get to see these two without having to rely on lotto-ing day after day after day.

Updated On: 5/3/07 at 10:49 AM

[EverythingIsRENT]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 11:01am

why does everyone have to be so damned cynical?? Why can't people just be happy instead of thinking how bad the show or Adam and Anthonys career are going? it's just sad. They did amazing in the movie and I refuse to jump on the whining "but they're soooo oooooold!" bandwagon. Sheesh.

[EponineAmneris]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 11:10am

GREAT NEWS! This is awesome!

[usmma2010]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 11:11am

ive been putting this show off for months now
i guess ill be at the lotto sometime in aug.
but im excited

[acrocksyo]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 11:12am

I love RENT as much as the next guy but come on, close already.

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 11:12am

"why does everyone have to be so damned cynical?? Why can't people just be happy instead of thinking how bad the show or Adam and Anthonys career are going? it's just sad. They did amazing in the movie and I refuse to jump on the whining "but they're soooo oooooold!" bandwagon. Sheesh."

Ah, here we go. Well, this would be because that's how we feel. That's fine if you feel differently, but some of us do think that it's a terrible idea. It's not a hard concept to grasp, understanding that other people have different opinions, that is.

Updated On: 5/3/07 at 11:12 AM

[bklynqt19862]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 11:15am

I am so excited!! I've been dying to see those 2 live...now i finally have my chance =)

[MotorTink]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 11:18am

Well I just went and bought myself a birthday present! =)

[Becky]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 11:29am

They're so much older now.

Keep in mind that there are several people in the Broadway company now that were doing the show just about at the same time as Anthony and Adam back in '97/'98 (at least three I can think of). They still handle the roles fine, and I think Adam and Anthony will be fine as well. It's certainly getting my rear end back to the Nederlander.....

[Smartful Dodger]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 11:31am

Think of it this way...

If Jonathan Groff, Lea Michelle, and John Gallagher are invited to reprise their roles in SPRING AWAKENING in 2018, wouldn't the whole conceit of the show be lost?

And, before everyone jumps on the "SPRING AWAKENING won't last a decade" train, my suggestion is merely a hypothetical.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 11:35am

I see your point, Smartful Dodger, but I think it's a much bigger problem when thirty-year-old try to play teenagers than when adults are playing slightly younger adults. The difference in how you look is much bigger.

I think with these two, it's an issue because we know their ages, not because they look that old. You're conscious of it, so you're going to harp on it even if you do so... well, subsconsciously. There are people who are their ages and old older than them in the current cast, but people don't complain because their names aren't like, associated with a number. I think people are more hung up on how old they are than how old they look. Some of you make it sound like they've both gone totally grey.

Not trying to convince anyone to think some other way, just sayin'.

Updated On: 5/3/07 at 11:35 AM

[matjomae]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 11:36am

I could be mistaken but isn't Tim Howar currently in his mid-30's and he's filling the role of Roger just fine. I have heard a lot of complaints when it comes to Howar, none of which have had to do with his appearance or age.

Yes the guys are older now, but to so many people Anthony and Adam ARE Mark and Roger and because of that I really don't think the age issue will matter all that much.

Posted: 5/3/07 at 11:39am

If Jonathan Groff, Lea Michelle, and John Gallagher are invited to reprise their roles in SPRING AWAKENING in 2018, wouldn't the whole conceit of the show be lost?

Spring Awakening's central point is much more intertwined with the ages of the characters than Rent's. Rent is not a show about a certain period in one's life (in Spring Awakening's case, adolescence) in itself.

Additionally, as others have pointed out countless times, there have been many Rent cast members (even those playing the leading roles) who were around the ages of (or even older than) Adam and Anthony. The current Roger and Mimi are older than Adam and Anthony. I'm not saying this situation is ideal, but I'm not sure why Anthony and Adam's ages are such an issue for so many (other than us being fully aware of their ages) while no one seems to care that Tim Howar and Karmine Alers are older than both of them.

[Becky]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 11:40am

If Jonathan Groff, Lea Michelle, and John Gallagher are invited to reprise their roles in SPRING AWAKENING in 2018, wouldn't the whole conceit of the show be lost?

Yes it might. Their characters are VERY age specific and very young. Mark and Roger are young adults without specific age specifications. Huge difference.

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 11:44am

I think that the characters are vaguely age-specific, though. If a person in his/her early to mid-20s is going around trying to be an artist and not wanting to sell out to the establishment, then that's acceptable to most people, I think. However, if we have someone in his/her mid-30s not wanting to do that, it comes as self-indulgent and adolescent. We all have to work and not all of us like our jobs, you know, but we get over it and we do things beyond our jobs that are satisfying.

But all of this is more about my opinion of RENT than of Mssrs. Pascal and Rapp.

Updated On: 5/3/07 at 11:44 AM

[rentrocks27]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 11:47am

This is so amazing! Now I just need to scrounge up some $$$ to make a trip to NYC!

Posted: 5/3/07 at 11:48am

If you (or anyone, for that matter) are inherently opposed to casting Mark and Roger in their mid-30s, that's certainly understandable. I personally don't have a problem with it as long as the actors in question can play younger than they are. However, I hope that you had the same complaints when Will Chase, Tim Howar, Christopher Hanke (who is in his 30s despite his given age), and various other mid-30s actors were hired.

[matjomae]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 11:52am

Ha, Christopher Hanke is in his 30's? No way, I totally estimated him to be 25..at the most.

[Becky]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 11:53am

If a person in his/her early to mid-20s is going around trying to be an artist and not wanting to sell out to the establishment, then that's acceptable to most people, I think. However, if we have someone in his/her mid-30s not wanting to do that, it comes as self-indulgent and adolescent.

So would you call Jonathan Larson self-indulgent and adolescent?? He was 35 and doing just what you described. Mark and Roger could certainly be close to or in their 30s and still make the story believable.

Posted: 5/3/07 at 11:56am

Ha, Christopher Hanke is in his 30's? No way, I totally estimated him to be 25..at the most.

From what I heard, someone asked him how old he is (probably slightly rude, but anyway), felt that he was lying, and asked someone else in the cast about his age, to which the person replied that he was somewhere in his 30s.

It's possible that the other cast member was incorrect or I'm remembering the story incorrectly, but at any rate, there have been various Rent actors in their 30s over the years.

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 12:04pm

Becky, let me explain myself better. My problem with the characters in RENT (and I'm only going from the movie) was not just that they were self-indulgent, adolescent, or anything else along that line. It's that they had a strong sense of entitlement because they, as artists, were doing something above and beyond the rest of society. I looked at them and saw a bunch of brats (no matter how old they were) who didn't want to pay for what they wanted.

I realize that I'm going to get hell for saying all of this because heaven forbid anyone should criticize RENT. I don't care for the show. A lot of people do and I can respect that just as I would hope a lot of other people would respect that I don't like it.

[matjomae]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 12:05pm

Well no one can say he isn't aging well. He just looks like such a youngin'.

I remember reading a feature on Christopher, some Broadway Fresh Face spotlight thing or another, in which he completely avoided the question on his age. I think he quoted a Supreme Court Justice?

[avab802]

Posted: 5/3/07 at 12:08pm

Oh I am so lotto-ing for this. Or standing room, if I get desperate. As long as Adam doesn't have the hideous hair from the movie or his Aida man-boobs, I'm all good.

Posted: 5/3/07 at 12:09pm

SorryGrateful, I don't see anyone attacking you for your opinion, just a lot of respectful discussion and you playing the victim.