RENT "Contact" Question

I saw the tour 2x this past weekend and I still don't get the song "Contact." I mean, I get what is going on in the song, but what are the actors doing? On stage right, there are three actors, and they're on the phone, what exactly is suppose to be going on? And the actors on the left are just grinding and doing some really laughable type dancing, any idea? I think I would prefer the song if they just had a big sheet on stage with the actors inside of it.

They are having an orgy aren't they?

what tourboi said...

The song "Contact" is about sex and death. The end.

"The actors on the wall are representing how AIDS gets transmitted."

Maybe that's how you took it, but you're wrong.

They aren't showing how AIDS is spread, they are having sex (in a representational way).

---

For the record, Winston is pulling this out of his ass. There's no official explanation for the stage directions and definitely nothing along those lines.

---

There is NO need for a debate. The people against the fence are having sex. The End. There is no debate. The people under the blanket are ALSO having sex. Angel is dying. Therefore, the song is about SEX and DEATH.

There is no more need for a discussion.

"Mucho Masturbation"

I think this can be interpreted in many different ways and should be- Rent means something different, maybe similar, but different to everyone so that scene can be taken any way it wants to be. If there is no "official" reason given, then who knows who is right and who is wrong?

As for the phone, I have never seen a phone in the broadway production and I have seen it many times...

and as for Mark being under the blanket, maybe its because they just needed him on stage lol i dont think there is really an answer to that but I think its also supossed to represent the group as a whole and their friendship and when they take off the blanket and Angel has died they are all facing away from each other and separate because they are being broken apart by the death and all the other things going on.
He is not having sex with anyone necessarily, which is why people think it is an orgy I think. Maybe there is "mucho masturbation" going on

This is not to be taken as fact, just my opinion so please don't jump down my throat. As I said before, this scene can be taken a million different ways and is just opinion here.

---

Actor,

Your posts make my skin crawl.

If you haven't seen the non-equity tour, please don't speak as if you know it.

---

I have not seen the touring performance...what is different about it (besides the phones)?? It was simply a joke...RentBoy86 said "Also, why is Mark under the blanket? Who exactly is he having sex with?" and I responded by saying that Mark was masturbating.

I don't understand why theatrediva said "If you haven't seen the non-equity tour, please don't speak as if you know it."

Can you explain this to me?

Look, all I'm doing is asking an opinion. If you thought it looked "awesome" - tell me why. I thought it didn't make any sense, but I guess they wanted the "sound." They should have just put the actors up above the band.

Well, I thought it was pretty cool because it added a new twist to a song that already was really well coereographed and blocked. I'd only seen the B'way production twice (which I loved beyond reason) so I guess the fact that it was new was what appealed to me the most. Plus I thougth it was just another interesting addition to the Sex theme of the song. I mean...it was already INCREDIBLY sexual, but I thought it kind of covered the last way you could have sex back in the day. I mean you had the Phone Sex, Club Sex, and the Partner Sex.

And whoever said that if you've seen a non-equtity tour don't talk - or something to that extent - why don't you get off your high stool and get some taste? Sure non-eq tours aren't as "classy" or high-scale as the Equity productions, but they add new takes on the show, only some of the time, and give a bunch of new actors a chance to start a career.