Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp back to RENT starting 7/30- Page 8

[Chloe]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 8:10pm

That section was cut from the show, I believe, he didn't just skip it. They didn't do the whole show for Rent 10. There were a lot of little cuts and no intermission.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 8:16pm

Interesting both of you find that one line so important to the show...considering neither of you noticed WickedRentQ left a word out of it.

I guess the stuntcasting worked if people that haven't seen Rent (the show) in years and probably had no intention of ever seeing it again are suddenly touting themselves as these great "Rent" fans and rushing out to buy tickets.

Updated On: 5/6/07 at 08:16 PM

[misschung]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 8:32pm

You're right Chloe, it was cut. I totally forgot about that. I just love that song so much - I can't wait to see it performed live again.

And yes, the stuntcasting is working. But I think you can be a big Rent fan even if you havent seen the show for years. Some people don't have the financial means to do so, or they live too far away, you know?

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 8:53pm

"I guess the stuntcasting worked if people that haven't seen Rent (the show) in years and probably had no intention of ever seeing it again are suddenly touting themselves as these great "Rent" fans and rushing out to buy tickets."

I'd be surprised if there were an immense difference in ticket sales than there usually is over the summer. As far as people suddenly touting themselves as great Rent fans...I, as a fan of the show, wouldn't have dared to step into that theatre over the past few years after seeing it twice because I think pretty much all of what I saw was crap. The people who were IN the show didn't even get the show, and I have no interest in paying money to see half-assed actors butcher one of my favorite shows. I question calling the person who would put up with that much of a "fan" at all. The only thing that ever makes me return to Rent is the knowledge that people who are (or in this case...were...and therefore hopefully still are) capable of giving the material respectable treatment.

[misschung]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 8:54pm

mmmhmm

Posted: 5/6/07 at 9:03pm

For what it's worth (and BroadwayGirl, I know I've mentioned this to you before), I truly feel that the current cast is a huge step up from the Caplan/Shields cast of 2005 and although they're certainly not on the same level of the OBC or perhaps a few subsequent casts (I think Rent has been plauged with mediocre Marks and Rogers for years prior to 2006, but that's another story), they're still capable of delivering the message of Rent. I do understand being hesitant to see the show again after finding the cast disappointing, but I don't think it makes anyone any less of a fan to see the newer casts in hopes that they will be an improvement. I do try to stay away from the "true fan/not a true fan" discussions as much as possible though, if only because there are so many factors involved and there's no set definition, if one even exists.

And misschung, you mentioned that you haven't seen Rent since the OBC, correct? Simply saying "mmhmm" to BroadwayGirl's statement makes absolutely no sense coming from someone who hasn't even given any post-OBC casts a try. I'm not going to get into whether you're a "real fan" or not, but you're in nowhere near the same position as her. Updated On: 5/6/07 at 09:03 PM

[misschung]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 9:07pm

No, I've seen the show twice since the OBC. I wouldn't make a statement about other casts unless I had seen them. I don't think that post - OBC has been bad. That's total black and white thinking and of course a show needs to progess and evolve.

But I agree with what she's saying that I and many other people stayed away from the show for a number of years because some of the casts werent really that great.

Updated On: 5/6/07 at 09:07 PM

Posted: 5/6/07 at 9:10pm

Oh, I could have sworn that you said you haven't been back since the OBC. At any rate, I still support seeing the show after major turnover in the performers. However, I do understand the reluctance to do so after finding previous casts inadequate, and I'm not sure any of this is really directly related to fandom.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 9:15pm

oh, yeah, siamese...I should clarify. Obviously, I haven't seen the show many times because of my dissatisfaction with the two casts I did see (except for one, maybe two performances). So I obviously can't speak for many casts, but I'm very hesitant to give others a cast (not to mention so many stale performers stay for a while). So, I'm not saying anyone who sees casts I haven't even seen or hear and likes them is not a fan. But when there are some lazy, careless performers (not to name names...)and "fans" fawn over them...then I question.

I'm not into the true fan/not true fan discussion either; it's more my wish that Rent fans in particular wouldn't lower their standards and just...take anyone the producers cast. Sometimes I feel like you can put any decent rock-ish singer in Rent, and the fans will eat it up even if the performer is clueless.
Updated On: 5/6/07 at 09:15 PM

[misschung]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 9:18pm

I think that goes without saying for some theatre fans in general, though. Rent is not immune, unfortunately. I mean lets face it, some people could watch certain performers eat a sandwich on stage and you'd swear the Beatles came back to life by their reaction.

Well, let's just hope that this 6 week run goes well and that there are good replacements for Adam and Anthony. I'll drink to that

Posted: 5/6/07 at 9:21pm

Sometimes I feel like you can put any decent rock-ish singer in Rent, and the fans will eat it up even if the performer is clueless.

Right, I completely agree. I think there's a subset of current Rent fandom (although perhaps it's been going on for years, I'm not sure) that literally eats up anything related to the current cast regardless of the performer in question and the level of his or her talent. The philosophy seems to be that if a performer is in Rent, he or she is inherently worth fawning over in one way or another. I think Rent becomes much more of a social event and less of an actual show to many of those people.

[AnnaK<3LMIP]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 9:24pm

I thought they were both all about not returning unless the whole original cast came back?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 9:27pm

I think that was what Adam used to say. Anthony wrote in his blog that he wouldn't return unless there were special circumstances, which he considers the chance to work with Adam again to be.

[AnnaK<3LMIP]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 9:29pm

I bet Adam and Anthony are gonna form their own clique and not talk to any of the younger performers and laugh at them in their clique-y way because "the others" simply were not good enough to be in the original like they were. Or, you know..old enough.

I bet that because...that's what I would do. Haze and haze and haze.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 9:32pm

That sounds like a Weekly Adventures from rentsecrets...

[misschung]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 9:34pm

I think Rent becomes much more of a social event and less of an actual show to many of those people.

yeah, definetly. Like Bloomsday in Dublin - my other obsession, haha

AnnaK, I dont think they will do that - the clique thing I mean.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 9:42pm

Thank you, siamese, I agree 100% with everything you said in your first post on this page. Especially the second paragraph.

BroadwayGirl, you said you haven't seen it often because you've had bad casts. But you had little if any hesistation to see Adam and Anthony. They were the only additions to the current cast (Tamyra Gray hadn't been announced yet). So if a new Roger and Mark is enough to convince you the cast is worth checking out, have you seen it since Christopher Hanke joined?

Personally, I think requiring Rent to be in ideal circumstances, with only critically-acclaimed cast members that love the show and understand it 100% before you'll deem it worthy of your presence makes you a fair-weather Rent fan, at best. I mean, I'd love Godspell if Adam were playing Jesus, Raul were playing Judas and probably see it once a week. But I definitely wouldn't claim to be a Godspell fan. For god's sake, at least admit you're seeing it only for Adam and Anthony and wouldn't be anywhere near Rent otherwise.

Updated On: 5/6/07 at 09:42 PM

[AnnaK<3LMIP]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 9:45pm

misschung - I don't really think they would either. They are adults, afterall. But it would be funny.

[misschung]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 9:58pm

Personally, I think requiring Rent to be in ideal circumstances, with only critically-acclaimed cast members that love the show and understand it 100% before you'll deem it worthy of your presence makes you a fair-weather Rent fan, at best.

But what if you don't have the means to go that often, and you've already seen mediocre casts and just dont want to be disappointed again? I don't think that going to a show because seasoned performers whose portrayal of the characters you like are in it makes you a fair-weather fan.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 10:10pm

Lotto tickets are $20 and they've practically been giving them away lately. If someone wasn't able to scrape together an extra $20 once in recent years, how could they afford the advance tickets during Adam and Anthony's comeback?

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 10:11pm

"BroadwayGirl, you said you haven't seen it often because you've had bad casts. But you had little if any hesistation to see Adam and Anthony. They were the only additions to the current cast (Tamyra Gray hadn't been announced yet). So if a new Roger and Mark is enough to convince you the cast is worth checking out, have you seen it since Christopher Hanke joined?

Personally, I think requiring Rent to be in ideal circumstances, with only critically-acclaimed cast members that love the show and understand it 100% before you'll deem it worthy of your presence makes you a fair-weather Rent fan, at best. I mean, I'd love Godspell if Adam were playing Jesus, Raul were playing Judas and probably see it once a week. But I definitely wouldn't claim to be a Godspell fan. For god's sake, at least admit you're seeing it only for Adam and Anthony."

I have never seen Hanke in anything before and have no idea whether or not he can handle the role, so I have no reason to spend money on seeing a show just because Matt Caplan is gone and some new guy I know nothing about is in there. Unless some actors that I know do good work are in there, it's hard for me to convince myself to spend money on the show knowing I very well may sit through the whole thing again listening to a bunch of teenagers wail their lungs out as a bunch of clueless actors schlump around the stage.

I don't require Rent to be in "ideal circumstances" more than I would any other show. If any of my other favorite shows had been fortunate enough to run as long as Rent is, and any of those shows started to have the same awful pattern of utter carelessness from all aspects that Rent has in the past few years, I would not see THOSE shows either unless someone who I trusted could bring a little dignity to it was in there. It has nothing to do with being "critically acclaimed." Heck, I don't think critics even touched Will Chase when I saw him in the show, but I went when he was in it, because I know he was a serious actor who could invest something in it.

I don't even know what you mean y "fair-weather fan." You act as if Rent is a sports team; it's not. I hate it when any work of art that I think could be important and meaningful is given lousy treatment, which is exactly what my experience has been with Rent when I've seen it in the past few years: a great show with lousy actors, that looks and sounds as if the director and musical director hadn't been there in years. It's not Rent; it was like amateurs trying to do Rent. I don't see why a fan would put up with that.

I would never see a show for Adam Pascal or Anthony Rapp. I've never seen either one in anything other than Rent; I would hardly call myself a fan of either one of them. If I see them perform in anything other than Rent in the future, I'm sure it'll be because I'm interested in the show much more than either one of them. I bought tickets when I heard they were coming back because I know that they are (or at least were at one point) very much capable of telling Rent's story.


"Lotto tickets are $20 and they've practically been giving them away lately. If someone wasn't able to scrape together an extra $20 once in recent years, how could they afford the advance tickets during Adam and Anthony's comeback?"
Because there are constantly other shows opening besides Rent that also offer $20 or $25 rush tickets, and I (and I'm sure others) hardly have enough money to see all of those. Is seeing other shows a bad thing? Updated On: 5/6/07 at 10:11 PM

[AnnaK<3LMIP]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 10:13pm

Maybe people just want to see RENT again because of Adam and Anthony because they know their return will make the show better.

Updated On: 5/6/07 at 10:13 PM

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 10:15pm

That's kind of what that long post was in a nutshell. People might be willing to shell out the money now because they trust these two actors to actually put on Rent, which so many actors in recent years seems incapable of doing.

[misschung]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 10:16pm

Lotto tickets are $20 and they've practically been giving them away lately. If someone wasn't able to scrape together an extra $20 once in recent years, how could they afford the advance tickets during Adam and Anthony's comeback?

Well, I don't know what the financial situation of people who bought tickets to Adam and Anthony's run is. But I do know that a lot of people don't live in the NYC area and you are making the assumption that everyone has the means to do the lotto.

[AnnaK<3LMIP]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 10:20pm

Annnd on that note I'd like to point out that some people's parents won't even let them do lotto in the first place. My friend's parents refuse to let him do lotto or student rush or anything like that. I'm not sure why, but people have their reasons. Assumptions galore on this thread.