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

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 5/4/07 at 2:21pm

considering the 2005/ 2006ish cast was arguabley the best one in a while.

Please tell me it's the *only* cast you've seen...

[paphillyguy]

Posted: 5/4/07 at 2:25pm

DO you think they will do the matinees as well or will they only do 6 shows a week?

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 5/4/07 at 3:03pm

"praise it and celebrate rent, thats what jonathan wanted, dont point out the bad things..."

I've explained this before on a different thread, but criticism isn't always a bad thing. Just because the creator of the musical is dead, that doesn't mean I have to ignore the things I don't like about the musical. That's not useful to anyone. Criticism, as long as it's respectfully presented, helps everyone (and everything) grow.

[Dirty Rotten Scoundrel]

Posted: 5/4/07 at 5:40pm

Just bought tickets for Friday, August 24. Center Mezz row AA. I also used the $60 discount code (which was truly a gift). I've seen RENT with a good Roger (Cary Shields) and a bad Mark (Matt Caplan). Then again with a good Mark (Christopher J.Hanke) and a bad Roger (Tim Howar). I am excited to see two people who are both good in the role. I don't think that they are too old, either. And whoever said, "People aren't going to see RENT, they are going to see Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp in RENT." Truth.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/4/07 at 5:43pm

I just bought tickets to go with my mom. It's a little more real now.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 5/4/07 at 5:43pm

paphillyguy - Yes, they'll be playing an 8-show week.

[DRSisLove]

Posted: 5/4/07 at 5:54pm

Going with DirtyRottenScoundrel... SO excited.

[nztheatreluva]

Posted: 5/4/07 at 7:05pm

Oh my god, I'm so excited - it'll be my first time seeing Rent and I get to see Adam and Anthony - SO cool! But I'm trying to book my tickets and this may sound like a stupid question - but could someone tell me what format a US phone number is in cause I keep trying to put mine in and it says it's in the wrong format. But I'm so desperate for tickets!

[coolkid11776]

Posted: 5/4/07 at 8:40pm

Its 7 numbers with a 3 number area code added for example
212-111-2232

[ActualReality2]

Posted: 5/4/07 at 8:54pm

Seeing as this is going to be happening in the summer, are there any days that you think may be less crowded during the week? Also, in the summer are matinees or night performances more crowded? I'm really hoping to have an uncrowded stage door afterwards for extra Adam and Anthony time

Hopefully I will be ordering tickets soon, which kind of scares me because with my luck one of them will be sick the day I go! :/

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 5/4/07 at 10:32pm

well said broadwaygirl , i was about to scream at some of the idiots calling them whiny or brats who dont want to pay rent etc(COULD YOU MISS THE POINT ANYMORE?)

[xM3L24x]

Posted: 5/4/07 at 10:35pm

I just bought tickets - Row A center - for August. I'm SO excited! I've never been that close. There's a code on theatremania.com I used so they were only $70 + all the extra ticketmaster charges...just incase anyone is looking for discount codes =).

[misschung]

Posted: 5/4/07 at 10:40pm

well said broadwaygirl , i was about to scream at some of the idiots calling them whiny or brats who dont want to pay rent etc(COULD YOU MISS THE POINT ANYMORE?)

seriously

[jeremykushnier1fan]

Posted: 5/4/07 at 10:45pm

I need to go! Why, oh why am I in fricken CANADA?!

[misschung]

Posted: 5/4/07 at 10:48pm

oh, ditch that place!

[VIETgrlTerifa]

Posted: 5/5/07 at 3:02am

I know I have a very unpopular opinion in this thread, so I'll make this my last post. I just felt the need to clarify some of my points, then I'll stop raining on everyone's parade. If I feel the need to respond, I'll do so to the specific poster by PM.

I'm going back a few pages here, but I'm very confused about the stance people take against Rent's character, calling them "whiny." I mean, if you see really lousy actors, I guess I can see where it's coming from, but I don't think there's really a sense of entitlement in all the characters. With Mark and Roger, they're staying in a place their friend owns and lets them stay in for free, and one day, on Christmas Eve, her rides over and pays them a visit and basically says, "Oops, by the way, your rent is due, or you're out on the street." Somehow, I think if he told them, you know, before the rent was due so they had some warning and it wasn't just laid on them on Christmas Eve, right after Roger comes home from rehab (which, I'm sure, didn't hit him financially at ALL, right? Noooo. Couldn't have). People seem to act like as if the story is portraying these people as if they're whiny brats who think they're entitled to a free ride and hate their landlord on principle--because he's a landlord. But that's not what's in the script. They're constantly picking on their landlord because he's a former friend who's obviously lost all sensitivity to their situation and moved all his worries to money (the guy marries for money, which he has more than enough of, then kicks his friends out on the street without even giving them the opportunity to save up.).

Ok, Benny was in the wrong for doing it in that manner with such short notice, but that's where the whole entitlement thing comes in. How long were they expecting to stay there for free and just because Benny was their friend long ago, he should continue to keep putting up with them? What are they giving him in return? Is it because he's making tons of money now that he's obligated to help them live their life trying to figure out how to make money without selling out while they get to stay in a spacious loft for free with electricity and other utilities.

Not to mention these people also feel it's ok to go to a restaurant and just stay there without paying for anything and when Angel's blood money lets them stay, they think it's ok for them to be making a big mess just because they have money now. Yes, I know it's probably supposed to represent that money buys anything and how materialistic the world is and how those with money feel like they can do what they want. However, the characters in Rent had no problem being like the same exact people they're supposed to be better than.

Nobody in the show is against having money or making money. They're against taking jobs or doing work that goes against something they believe in. So I'm not sure what's "funny" about them returning to a show they believed in in the first place.

I'll concede the point about Adam and Anthony. However, the characters in Rent have no problem having a superior attitude towards those with money, and they are only kidding themselves if they believe that they themselves haven't sold out in the tiniest bit to get to the situation that they were in or ended up being in. Angel was willing to kill a dog for money, Maureen has no problem taking advantage of Mark when she needs him to help with her show, and I am sure she has no problems with Joanne, the lawyer, probably helping to pay for some of the production. I mean there's no way Maureen can be making enough to fund it. Tom Collins steals money from ATMs and pretends he does it to stick it to the man. And as sad as Mark was for "selling out" by selling his "video" and taking a job at a studio (a job that utilizes what he wants to do and he is still complaining!) I'm sure that didn't stop him from spending that money.

Yeah, I know the show is about their struggle with it and how they don't always succeed. However, I just don't see what's there to celebrate.

Not to mention the bigger framework of all those issues is nothing other than learning to appreciate the mere fact that we're alive.

I agree, it is a great message. However, the other parts of the story just make it seem to be a lot more than "we're alive! Celebrate! Live only for today!" Especially when they're worrying about where they're going to live tomorrow.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 5/5/07 at 9:51am

VIETgrlTerifa

Its almost scary how much you are missing the point of Rent and the Bohemian life style.

Also your pint on how long were they expecting to stay there Rent free? as long as they wanted and needed, that was what Benny told them.

The most important message in Rent is about not conforming and living life to the full no matter what cards you have been dealt,Its not that these people don't want to work, they want to do what they are passionate about not something they hate .
They want to live the one life they have the way they want to and that doesnt mean doing a 9 till 5 what makes them miserable.

This was also Yuppie 80s/90s and they did not feel they belonged to that yet everywhere they looked that side was happening all around them to the point where their friends were gonna be made homeless because they wanted to build expensive condos for the yuppies(what happens to the people who cant afford that?)

Above all else is their fight for their lives especially in Rodgers , Mimi, Angel and Collins case.They are dying and they know it, its at a time people were looking down their noses at people with HIV and Aids.They decided to live each day as their last and believe me i know how that feels.

[Greekmusicalfan]

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

I really miss the older times here, when someone asked a question and people were really helpful and kind ! Oh, well...

[misschung]

Posted: 5/5/07 at 12:02pm

to add to that - I dont think that anyone would say that any of the characters in Rent are perfect people. Yes, Maureen takes advantage of Mark, yes Angel kills the dog for money, yes they don't always pay their tab at the Life Cafe, yes Benny turns off their power -- despite that, my feeling was that you sympathize with all of them ultimately because you see how they are struggling to survive in a very harsh time. To me, their imperfections humanize the show. It's too black and white to see it as "them versus Benny." You also have to remember that the action of the play, as in all musicals and shows, is to be taken with a grain of salt. I mean in real life people dont break into song and dance on tables in cafe's - you know?

[GuitarGirl]

Posted: 5/5/07 at 4:21pm

Got tickets for the August 25th 2PM show. Now that I've seen Rent twice (with Tim Howar twice as Roger and Justin Brill, then Christopher J. Hanke as Mark) it'll be interesting to see how the originals do it, since I've never got to see them before. I don't think they're too old. As long as they can still be good, their age doesn't phase me.

I've been asked about why the characters of Rent don't pay their Rent or get jobs(or worse, why do we root for them) and have basically answered with what was previously posted. The message of Rent is to learn to live each day as your last, and to "measure your life in love", not about why Mark and Roger won't pay their Rent or if everyone is too lazy. Jonathon Larson was going through a very similar situation when he wrote Rent, and not because he was lazy. He worked so hard to get his work noticed and on stage, so that other people could see it. That's basically what the characters of Rent are trying to do.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 2:39am

"How long were they expecting to stay there for free and just because Benny was their friend long ago, he should continue to keep putting up with them?"
It was Benny's offer. When somebody offers you something like that, you would expect them to give you a reasonable warning time before they tell you they're going to start charging Rent and throw you out on the street before you really had the chance to get money together.

"Is it because he's making tons of money now that he's obligated to help them live their life trying to figure out how to make money without selling out while they get to stay in a spacious loft for free with electricity and other utilities."
Again, it was Benny's offer. The characters aren't idiots, they know they're privileged to get a free ride; they also know how incredibly rotten it is the way Benny's just SUDDENLY decided he's need the rent. Not because he's short of money, but because he wants to make some more for himself. And he's willing to so quickly throw his "friends" out on the street for it.

VIET, like you said, the obnoxious things the character in Rent do either for money or because of a lack of it is making a point about the rotten games an awful lot of people do play for money and that the whole concept is a sort of necessary evil. These characters are not supposed to be our role models. I mean, they do a lot of stupid stuff when it comes to money, but it's making a point (and I think there's also a consciousness of it. "Yet Robin Hooding isn't the solution.". I mean, Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett slit people's throats who did NOTHING to them, and them bake them into meat pies. Does Sweeney Todd suck because the characters are sinking to such depths?

And then there's character arc with people like Maureen, who is a complete and utter narcissist until Angel dies and she realizes there's something much bigger than herself, but unfortunately, I'm not sure that any actress has understood that character's necessary arc since Menzel played the role.

"However, the other parts of the story just make it seem to be a lot more than "we're alive! Celebrate! Live only for today!""
I don't understand what you're saying here. What other parts and what "a lot more" are you talking about?

"Especially when they're worrying about where they're going to live tomorrow."
I really don't know what to say other than you just...didn't get it. I'm not even trying to be condescending, but it actually seems like there are some pretty significant pieces of the show you're not understanding (which is understandable, I suppose, because recent casts have been awful. I'm convinced that most people who have been in the show in recent years don't even understand the point of the story they're supposed to be telling. So how is the audience going to get it?). I actually I'm trying to recall when in the play they're wondering where they're going to live tomorrow...I don't think they do. What I do hear is Roger wondering why he's alive if "reason says [he] should have died three years ago." What I DO hear is people who aren't exactly sure whether or not tomorrow will come. What I do hear is people going through the struggle of learning to appreciate life in the face of death...and learning that lesson by the end. Updated On: 5/6/07 at 02:39 AM

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 2:16pm

Okay, so late to the discussion, saw the news of course, but there's just one thing I'm so excited about. I am dying to see Adam sing live the "You'll Never Lack Customers" line. He skipped it at the 10th anniv performance, so I'm really excited to see it.

I'm debating just trying the lotto every day I possibly can or asking for a particular birthday present (Aug. 1).

[ActualReality2]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 7:01pm

August 17th

[xM3L24x]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 7:23pm

You have the same birthday as one of my bestfriends.
Can you imagine someone buying tickets and them being out the day they go though? That has to suck haha. Anyways, I'm very excited to see them perform since I've never seen them in Rent, or actually in anything. Can't wait for August 29th .

[misschung]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 7:56pm

oh man, well I bought a ticket for their opening night so hopefully they wont be out for that one! I don't think they will miss a show during a 6 week run unless they really have to though. They know people are buying tickets to see them.

I am dying to see Adam sing live the "You'll Never Lack Customers" line. He skipped it at the 10th anniv performance, so I'm really excited to see it.

Definetly one of my favorite lines/scenes/numbers in the production. I forgot that he missed it during Rent 10, but that's why we love Adam :o)