For the next RENT revival... — Page 2

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,

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.

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.