RENT Live on Fox- Page 20

[After Eight]

Posted: 1/29/19 at 12:00am

"Far be it for me to interrupt a "You kids, get off of my lawn" rant, but those productions of Flower Drum Song, Cinderella, My Fair Lady, etc were all produced with the creators' estates permission. "

 

Which made those travesties not a smidgen less grotesque.

If anything, it only added to the pain of seeing them.

[After Eight]

Posted: 1/29/19 at 12:11am

^^^

 

That's quite amusing, seeing how you're the one complaining about disrespecting the writer's legacy.

 

Get with the times!

[LuPita2]

Posted: 1/29/19 at 12:27am

Dude, everyone thought you were dead.  There were two cruel posts about "memories" you made here and basically saying you had gone to hell.  I reported those gross posts because they were disrespectful.

YA WELCOME.

[After Eight]

Posted: 1/29/19 at 12:30am

"Dude, everyone thought you were dead. "

 

Guess they were wrong.

[LuPita2]

Posted: 1/29/19 at 12:31am

Oh and Rent (and all other musicals after 1975) are NOT for you and doesn't matter if you watch them.  hey aren't trying to get people like you to enjoy their shows. You are the opposite of their demographic.  Jonathan wouldn't want a negative curmudgeon enjoying it anyways, and I am so glad you did not! 

And again, YA WELCOME!

[After Eight]

Posted: 1/29/19 at 12:48am

"And again, YA WELCOME!

 

Thank you for your kind gesture.

And my thanks as well to those who expressed kind thoughts in my regard in this thread.

[John Adams]

Posted: 1/29/19 at 2:37am

After Eight said: "Thank you for your kind gesture.

And my thanks as well to those who expressed kind thoughts in my regardin this thread."

I am SO HAPPY (and relieved) to see the report was untrue!!!!

...still my favorite! 

[TheaterGeek]

Posted: 1/29/19 at 8:03am

JoseLee_ said: "CarlosAlberto said: "JoseLee_ said: "DottieD'Luscia said: "@JoseLee, as an audience member, when did they let you know that things wouldn't be going on as originally planned?"

The producer Marc Platt and director Michael Groeff told us 5 minutes before the live show. Which was 5pm for us here in LA. Then they made the cast go around shaking our hands around the whole stage. The hype guy was like "don't worry act 10 WILL BE LIVE"... lol it was such a joke. The cast was trying so hard to make us feel better by talking to us in the pit and taking selfies with us and shaking our hands everytime they passed by someone from the audience. It felt very fake. They just sang *some songs. Not every song. Literally at some points they were watching the "live" show WITH us. We were all so mad. If they were going to show the dress rehearsal to America...they could've done the show just for us since they apparently rehearsed for 2 MONTHS. I bet they all hate that Rodger guy. I know we all did."

You sound very immature. I understand why you were disappointed and I agree that NBC and the producers should have handled this differently but to be angry at Brennin who broke his foot is absolutely ridiculous. He BROKE HIS FOOT! He didn't break it on purpose, it was an accident. Be a human being and not some self entitled theater twit and show him some compassion and some empathy.

<>We literally wasted our entire day. 12pm to 4pm ... 4 hours WAITING to go into the studio in the hot LA sun. THEN standing for the complete 3 hours for basically a sing-along. Why wouldnt we be mad? If it wasnt going to be live or see ANYTHING like as planned we couldve been told at the beginning and just left. We were trapped there. And we just had suggestions like "do everything LIVE but for Rodger's seens THAT can be pre recorded.".. the whole thing was a waste of time. I can care less than he broke his foot. I dont care at all. I dont know him. You dont know him either. Imagine wasting 8 hours of your life and STANDING the whole time. 12pm to 8pm.

"

First of all it is ROGER and secondly you don’t need to know Brennin personally to feel empathy for someone who put a lot of time and effort into the project. Should you be disappointed that you didn’t see what was intended....possibly. But you knew what you signed up for when you decided to attend to n terms of you wait time. Consider yourself lucky for your opportunity. I am sure there are many others that would have loved to have been there.

[theaterlyfe19]

Posted: 1/29/19 at 8:11am

I haven't read all of the comments on here because I'm sure most of you don't know how something like this works. I'm not claiming to know everything either, but I can at least be supportive. Yes of course you can offer your opinion. But an incredibly rude blanket statement like "they deserved to tank!" is incredibly unnecessary, rude and insulting. This was not a disrespect to Larson's memory or the legacy of the show. This was N)OT by any means meant to be a carbon copy of any Rent production anyone had seen before this aired. 

 

I understand where people are coming from when they say that they should have hired an understudy. However, that is one option. That is not the ONLY option. How many names in this production did people know before? The only two I personally knew were Vanessa Hudgens (HSM) and Brandon Victor Dixon (he was Burr when I saw Hamilton)/. Each actor brought their own spin to the roles. To say they weren't doing them justice? Well, that's your opinion. If you didn't like a part and you were thinking "ugh this is awful" why didn't you just change the channel? Why didn't you just watch something else? I'm sure there are a lot of people who are fans who actually enjoyed it and didn't just watch it because they wanted to complain about it.

 

Actually, there was one thing I wasn't thrilled about--I can understand why they wanted to have the live audience, but I would've liked to hear what the actors were saying instead of being almost unable to hear them because of the cheers. They also could have just put them offstage, like with a regular musical, but that was my only problem with the audience aspect. 

I was pleasantly surprised by Vanessa Hudgens.

I KNEW Brandon Victor Dixon would do amazing things in the role of Collins. I love him so much.

 

Question: why would you accuse someone of not doing their best? Would say that about people in previews on Broadway? That they save their best performances for opening night/after opening? That's incredibly insulting to the actors. So nice on that.

 

This was not insulting to Larson's memory. There is only so much language you can allow on TV. There are many words you just can't say on TV. According to a different post I read about this, on some tours and in some productions of the show, "dildos" is changed to latex. It's censorship. Is it unfortunate? Yes. But if you let that ruin your experience of the show, I'd rethink watching with SUCH a critical eye. I'm not saying ignore it, I'm just saying maybe let some things go that are also changed in other productions. Not everyone has seen the Broadway production (I was taken to see Chicago because my Dad didn't think I'd want to see the show, so I've only worked on a high school production and let me tell you, that was heavily edited, but I still came away loving the show. Was I deprived of anything? NO. Was the audience? No). 

 

The nitpicking I see of this show really makes me sad. If you were watching this as someone who had previously seen a production, and were like "but it's misleading to call it 'live' when what we saw wasn't", it's not like they PLANNED to show footage from the dress rehearsal. They specifically recorded the dress rehearsal in case something happened. Could they have hired an understudy-sure. Should we kvetch about that instead of appreciating what we got? No. 

 

Of course you can be critical. But be specific about things you don't like. Instead of saying "this sucked" what didn't you like? "Jonathan Larson is rolling in his grave" to be honest-I don't think he could have imagined the impact his show would have on so many people. And it has. And THAT is what's important. I'm not saying if you think it was a bad production overall that your opinion isn't valid, I'm just saying see the wider perspective: See what this has done for people who are being exposed to a show they might not have been able to see otherwise. 

 

Jonathan Larson would be PROUD. 

Don't @ me. 

[sparksatmidnight]

Posted: 1/29/19 at 8:17am

LuPita2 said: "They deserved horrible ratings for being morons without an understudy."

Do you even know how understudying works? How many productions have you seen that had understudies ready to go on the first performance? Can people just stop going boo-hoo understudy understudy when not even on Broadway there would be an understudy ready to go on the first show? Thank you

[theaterlyfe19]

Posted: 1/29/19 at 8:28am

sparksatmidnight said: "LuPita2 said: "They deserved horrible ratings for being morons without an understudy."

Do you even know how understudying works? How many productions have you seen that had understudies ready to go on the first performance? Can people just stop going boo-hoo understudy understudy when not even on Broadway there would be an understudy ready to go on the first show? Thank you"

 

THANK YOU FOR THIS 

 

[Babe_Williams]

Posted: 1/29/19 at 8:58am

They should have just thrown Aaron Tveit or some other actor who had previously played the role up there instead of the actor who was injured (pardon me for forgetting his name) and called it a day. Realistically---I get that wouldn't happen for a myriad of VALID reasons but it would have definitely generated more interest. 

[Kad]

Posted: 1/29/19 at 10:03am

sparksatmidnight said: 
Do you even know how understudying works? How many productions have you seen that had understudies ready to go on the first performance? Can people just stop going boo-hoo understudy understudy when not even on Broadway there would be an understudy ready to go on the first show? Thank you"

 

But if the first show also happens to be the only show... 

 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 1/29/19 at 10:11am

Babe_Williams said: "They should have just thrown Aaron Tveit or some other actor who had previously played the role up there instead of the actor who was injured (pardon me for forgetting his name) and called it a day. Realistically---I get that wouldn't happen for a myriad of VALID reasons but it would have definitely generated more interest."

Of course.  Aaron Tveit would completely know the camera blocking and staging to just come in and wing it.  He’s a pro.  Screw the reality that the entire RENT: Live! cast and crew have been rehearsing and camera blocking the entire show for weeks so Aaron can just plop in and just do whatever he wishes without throwing off anyone on that stage.   Heck, he knows the material.  The cameras can just follow him and the other actors can figure it out for themselves.  Screw THEIR performances.  

[RWPrincess]

Posted: 1/29/19 at 11:48am

GavestonPS said: "RWPrincess said: "Maybe they need to move these broadcasts back to NY? Sound of Music and Peter Pan and I think maybe The Wiz were broadcast from Long Island, NY. It was when FOX started doing these that NBC moved Hairspray to LA. If they broadcast from NY again, they could bring more of a Broadway audience that knows theater etiquette. That might be how you get the happy medium."

Where and what do you think Los Angelesis? (And where do you think half of its theatergoers come from?) Hint: LAain't Pocatello, ID.

We Southern Californians understand theatrical conventions perfectly well, thank you. And I first heard an audience drown out performers in DREAMGIRLS on Broadway back in the 1980s.

The difference you cite may be generational rather than geographic. Perhaps instead of chasing the youth demo, networks should concentrate on doing a show well before a diverse audience."

I'm very familiar with Los Angeles and spend quite a bit of time there throughout the year thank you.

My comment was more about how the show was run as audience members were clearly coached on when to cheer. There has been ample discussion of that previously in this thread. Shows do tend to get run differently in NY and LA.

I agree with your point on the generational difference though. I'd imagine they were pushing the youth in this case on account of Jordan and Vanessa being in the show.

[DigificWriter]

Posted: 1/29/19 at 12:05pm

Still haven't read the entire thread, but I'm getting the feeling just from the last two pages of comments that at least 3/4 of the comments are going to be stupid.

Crap happens; FOX made the best of a bad situation that was beyond their control.

Regarding understudies, what legitimate and practical reason is there to put people on "standby" for what is supposed to be a one-night event for everyone other than those who were actually attending said event in person?

A rock band doesn't go out and recruit a "replacement" lead singer just in case something happens to their already-established frontman on the first night of a 2-night performance where the second night is going to be broadcast to the world either as it happens or after-the-fact.

Updated On: 1/29/19 at 12:05 PM

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 1/29/19 at 12:18pm

I was busy Sunday night and unable to watch this as it aired, but after reading the drama on this thread, I am so excited to watch my recording tonight.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 1/29/19 at 12:44pm

'Crap happens; FOX made the best of a bad situation that was beyond their control.'

That is entirely untrue.  FOX made the absolute wrong call.  I have seen and been in shows where outside forces create challenges for a particular performance.  An announcement is made and the audience, who feel like they are about to witness something special, becomes very willing to go along for the ride. 

The live 'concert' they did while the broadcast of the dress rehearsal was happening is what should have aired.  It would have been in keeping with RENT's beginning, it would have captured something immediate and spontaneous, and it would have allowed the actors to actually be seen in a great light.  Millions of people would have actually understood what is meant by 'The Show Must Got On.'  It would have been special, electric and alive.  It would have taught us about these performers and the spirit of this work and we all would have been on the edge of our seats, rooting for them. 

Instead, FOX committed malpractice against these hardworking performers by showing them marking.  Even Hudgens, who did NOT mark, came across as a bit manic and nutty because everything else was so low energy.  Shame on FOX. 

[DigificWriter]

Posted: 1/29/19 at 12:49pm

SonofRobbieJ said: "FOX made the absolute wrong call. The live 'concert' they did while the broadcast of the dress rehearsal was happening is what should have aired."

That's a matter of opinion.

FOX made the decision they made, and it's not anyone's place to say what they * should * have done.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/29/19 at 1:06pm

Because Fox would get its feelings hurt? It WOULD have been very in keeping with the show's history.

Also, Lupita, where ELSE would AfterEight go?

[ggersten]

Posted: 1/29/19 at 1:08pm

Anthony Rapp on Twitter

[ggersten]

Posted: 1/29/19 at 1:15pm

Report of Attendee on Sunday Night

This person claims to have been there Sunday night and from the description, the live "concert" was not consistent and done for the whole evening.  

 

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 1/29/19 at 1:38pm

"Can people just stop going boo-hoo understudy understudy when not even on Broadway there would be an understudy ready to go on the first show? Thank you"

I am not in the business but I can't imagine an understudy is not being ready for the first show. What happens if opening night a lead breaks his/her foot, they cancel the show? 

[Tom5]

Posted: 1/29/19 at 1:53pm

Only vaguely aware of what happened here (Not a Rent fan) but after months of promoting Carrie Underwood for Sound Of Music I woudn't have seen them having an understudy for her. I would instead expect the director of the next Live musical to exhort to the cast during the previous days dress to give it everything you've got because tomorrow you could all be dead! (Tough director)

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 1/29/19 at 2:00pm

Yes, that is precisely what happens... and it has happened many times before - a show is canceled, a show is canceled so an actor can be rehearsed for the next performance... an actor loses their voice and they mime the show while the understudy sings from the wings, etc etc...

Understudies learn their material themselves, but they are not rehearsed and do not have a put in until the show is frozen / open, and their costumes are not built until the show is frozen / open. To do so would eat away at valuable time in rehearsal to get the show ready and any changes made would have to be multiplied in time and cost.