Im still glad I watched it. It gradually improved over the three hours. That first hour was rough though. The last 15 live minutes were a vision of what the whole thing coulda been. But some miscasting for sure. Fisher is cute as a button and sexy which is not what Mark needs but by end I bought him as a new kind of Mark. And just because someone was on Rupauls Drag Race doesnt mean they can be Angel. As someone else noted, MJ Rodriguez from TV show Pose woulda been great. She can act & SING. Loved BVD. Mario and Hudgens were good. And live Roger was eons better than dress rehearsal Roger. Warts and all, Id still rank this as the second most successful live tv adaptation behind JCS. Having said that, Ive missed some like The Sound of Music and Rocky Horror. I wasnt as jazzed about Grease as others were. Ditto for The Wiz except for Home. And Peter Pan was just bad as was A Christmas Story. I do fear for what Fox will do to Hair though. Ive never seen a production of it either filmed or on stage and Im not sure I want this to be my introduction. LOL
I loved Jordan as Mark. He played it very different from any other Mark I've ever seen, but I thought it was great. He was more playful and humorous, and I don't know if it was intentional, but I took it as an almost coping mechanism. Watching him shift so dramatically before Halloween was really powerful.
I thought Vanessa was amazing, and I really enjoyed Brennin Hunt. He must be so disappointed with how things turned out, but he definitely brought it with Your Eyes.
Overall, I liked most of the show. I knew we'd be getting a watered down Rent, but some of the changes don't make sense to me. I'm not sure why some of the lyrics were changed, and I don't get changing the story from 89-90 to 91-92. Just within La Vie Boheme, the parts that were deemed okay versus the parts that weren't?
I think this could have been really good, but the sound was just bad in a lot of parts. My station had no interruptions or mishaps, though, so I guess that's good.
Miles2Go2 said: "Im still glad I watched it. It gradually improved over the three hours. That first hour was rough though. The last 15 live minutes were a vision of what the whole thing coulda been. But some miscasting for sure. Fisher is cute as a button and sexy which is not what Mark needs but by end I bought him as a new kind of Mark. And just because someone was on Rupauls Drag Race doesnt mean they can be Angel. As someone else noted, MJ Rodriguez from TV show Pose woulda been great. She can act & SING. Loved BVD. Mario and Hudgens were good. And live Roger was eons better than dress rehearsal Roger. Warts and all, Id still rank this as the second most successful live tv adaptation behind JCS. Having said that, Ive missed some like The Sound of Music and Rocky Horror. I wasnt as jazzed about Grease as others were. Ditto for The Wiz except for Home. And Peter Pan was just bad as was A Christmas Story. I do fear for what Fox will do to Hair though. Ive never seen a production of it either filmed or on stage and Im not sure I want this to be my introduction. LOL"
I really enjoyed Fisher.
MJ played Angel I the off-Broadway revival of RENT. She was fantastic. Got to see her a few times in the show.
Miles2Go2 said: "Im still glad I watched it. It gradually improved over the three hours. That first hour was rough though. The last 15 live minutes were a vision of what the whole thing coulda been. But some miscasting for sure. Fisher is cute as a button and sexy which is not what Mark needs but by end I bought him as a new kind of Mark. And just because someone was on Rupauls Drag Race doesnt mean they can be Angel. As someone else noted, MJ Rodriguez from TV show Pose woulda been great. She can act & SING. Loved BVD. Mario and Hudgens were good. And live Roger was eons better than dress rehearsal Roger. Warts and all, Id still rank this as the second most successful live tv adaptation behind JCS. Having said that, Ive missed some like The Sound of Music and Rocky Horror. I wasnt as jazzed about Grease as others were. Ditto for The Wiz except for Home. And Peter Pan was just bad as was A Christmas Story. I do fear for what Fox will do to Hair though. Ive never seen a production of it either filmed or on stage and Im not sure I want this to be my introduction. LOL"
CarlosAlberto said: "Well know that THAT'S over I guess we have the heavily censored and edited fiasco that will be HAIR LIVE! to look forward to in the spring on NBC.
Let the crap-fest of live tv musicals continue....."
I TOTALLY agree. What is the point of going to all that expense to bring 'live theatre into our homes'? [and f it up].
Leave it in the theatre and try to reduce ticket prices.
Miles2Go2 said: "Im still glad I watched it. It gradually improved over the three hours. That first hour was rough though. The last 15 live minutes were a vision of what the whole thing coulda been. But some miscasting for sure. Fisher is cute as a button and sexy which is not what Mark needs but by end I bought him as a new kind of Mark. And just because someone was on Rupauls Drag Race doesnt mean they can be Angel. As someone else noted, MJ Rodriguez from TV show Pose woulda been great. She can act & SING. Loved BVD. Mario and Hudgens were good. And live Roger was eons better than dress rehearsal Roger. Warts and all, Id still rank this as the second most successful live tv adaptation behind JCS. Having said that, Ive missed some like The Sound of Music and Rocky Horror. I wasnt as jazzed about Grease as others were. Ditto for The Wiz except for Home. And Peter Pan was just bad as was A Christmas Story. I do fear for what Fox will do to Hair though. Ive never seen a production of it either filmed or on stage and Im not sure I want this to be my introduction. LOL"
MJ Rodriguez actually did play Angel in the off- Broadway production at New World Stages. She was great in it.
"I don't want the pretty lights to come and get me."-Homecoming 2005
"You can't pray away the gay."-Callie Torres on Grey's Anatomy.
Ignored Users: suestorm, N2N Nate., Owen22, master bates
Just finished (combination of DVR and Moutain Time) and some of it was good, some of it was bad, some of it was painful. We liked Fisher, BVD and Hudgens. Really didn't like Angel and barely tolerated Joanne. Mimi had her moments - but too few and far between. And I was so looking forward to La Vie Boheme and soooooo disappointed. That was just lacking in so many regards - and what was the Busby Berkeley camera shot?
I also feel bad for the Sunday night "live" audience - yeah, they got to see the OBC - but they thought they were going to see a live performance [and had to sit there for almost three hours watching monitors][EDITED - My Bad. The cast did perform live - only the Sunday night audience go to see it - and supposedly that had the energy that was lacking at the dress rehearsal - What we Missed.] That said, did they really have to cheer when Mimi "dies" (before she comes back to life)? What idiot stage manager(s) prepped them to cheer at that moment? Yeah, Roger sang well, but you are supposed to think that Mimi DIED! If you're cheering that, then the show has failed.
I do feel bad for the producers. I presume they considered delaying the broadcast till Roger got better - but I'm sure with contracts and other opportunities plus keeping the technical crew and keeping the set up made that an impractical choice.
Now to find the DVD of Rent Filmed Live on Broadway....
ggersten said: "Just finished (combination of DVR and Moutain Time) and some of it was good, some of it was bad, some of it was painful. We liked Fisher, BVD and Hudgens. Really didn't like Angel and barely tolerated Joanne. Mimi had her moments - but too few and far between. And I was so looking forward to La Vie Boheme and soooooo disappointed. That was just lacking in so many regards - and what was the Busby Berkeley camera shot?
I also feel bad for the Sunday night "live" audience - yeah, they got to see the OBC - but they thought they were going to see a live performance and had to sit there for almost three hours watching monitors. That said, did they really have to cheer when Mimi "dies" (before she comes back to life)? What idiot stage manager(s) prepped them to cheer at that moment?Yeah, Roger sang well, but you are supposed to think that Mimi DIED! If you're cheering that, then the show has failed.
I do feel bad for the producers. I presume they considered delaying the broadcast till Roger got better - but I'm sure with contracts and other opportunities plus keeping the technical crew and keeping the set up made that an impractical choice.
Now to find the DVD of Rent Filmed Live on Broadway...."
It appears thd Sunday live audience got a live performsnce along with the dress rehearsal video on monitors. That is what itlooked like from this video posts.
I paid to see RENT live on BROADWAY at a movie theater and wish i hadn't. Those constant close ups drove me crazy. JMO.
I doubt they considered delaying the broadcast. I broke my foot. Had surgery a week after to put a metal plate in. Took 4 months to recover. It was mentioned earlier in this thread about pushing Rogef around in a wheelchair. I give him kudos for being there and singing his butt off for that last 10 minutes. I was on the couch the day after i broke my foot.
in my honest opinion, rent live was beyond disappointing and a waste of time. i understand that they did the best that they could regarding the situation and i dont want to take away their hard work but at the same time, this was just boring. the production was a little much. there were too many sets. i felt that they should have kept it simple and have one huge stage rather than have a bunch. valentina, mario, and kiersey clemons were miscast in their roles respectively. kiersey acting wise was good but her vocals werent strong enough for the part. valentina has the right look and personality for angel but the vocals were very flat. mario was good vocally but acting wise, he didnt deliver that much. tinashe did a good job as mimi but she didnt have enough emotion and grit. brennin hunt did a good job as roger but he just needed more grit. however, he did redeem himself in the ending. brandon victor dixon was great as collins but i just wish there was more from him since he was incredible in jesus christ superstar live. jordan fisher was great as mark. he was definitely one of the highlights along with vanessa hudgens. she was great as maureen. she really stood out. another thing i disliked about this production was the fact that they didnt even have understudies. its important in theater to have understudies in situations like brennins. for future live musicals, they need to consider that. im sure that they were saving their energy for tonight and if brennin didnt break his foot, we would have had a more energetic and better show. the highlight for me was the very ending when the original cast showed up and sang seasons of love. it was a beautiful moment along with the tribute to jonathan larson. overall, i am very underwhelmed and let down by this production. i give this a 6 out of 10.
uncageg said: "It appears the Sunday live audience got a live performance along with the dress rehearsal video on monitors. That is what it looked like from this video posts."
Yes. I discovered that and edited my comment before seeing your reply. There is this article with some links to video: The real "live" Rent on Fox
ggersten said: "I also feel bad for the Sunday night "live" audience - yeah, they got to see the OBC - but they thought they were going to see a live performance [and had to sit there for almost three hours watching monitors][EDITED - My Bad. The cast did perform live - only the Sunday night audience go to see it - and supposedly that had the energy that was lacking at the dress rehearsal - What we Missed.] That said, did they really have to cheer when Mimi "dies" (before she comes back to life)? What idiot stage manager(s) prepped them to cheer at that moment?Yeah, Roger sang well, but you are supposed to think that Mimi DIED! If you're cheering that, then the show has failed."
Yeah they likely got a better show then we did. They got to watch the same footage we did but the vocals were the free or nerves, playing around, live versions we had to miss out on. In the few videos that I have seen from audience members, they DID tape it. I would not be shocked if Fox uses this to their advantage and on the DVD/Blu-Ray we get the Dress Rehearsal version that played on TV and they include the REAL live recording they captured, concert style. Cus honestly...... I would buy the SH*T out of that to see how much fun they had just celebrating the work and the music live.
The Hollywood Reporter: kind of sort of liked some of it - but thought the solution could have been to just switch to a "concert" production - Did no one think about having an understudy?
Variety - loved Dixon and Hudgens - wondered at lack of an understudy who could step in and become a star in the grandest of Broadway traditions (Ok, I added that last part) - confused about lyric changes - and, well, trying to be understanding but underwhelmed What? No understudy?
I loved the set too. With this and JCS, I hope further tv adaptations adopt the one stage production set. Either shows that automatically lend themselves to that or can be creatively adapted to do so.
Ok. If they do release a DVD of Rent (Pre-Recorded) - then they absolutely must include the "concert" version from tonite. Ok - forget Rent (Pre-Recorded) - just release the "concert" version.
The singing and the last fifteen minutes were forgivable. Still enjoyed just for the effort. The audience and accompanying band were loud at times. Just wish most of the show wasnt pre recorded. Thanks for trying everyone. Viva La Vie Boheme