I have seen the movie numerous times and have seen the stage version 2 times live (1 National Tour, 1 Off-Broadway) and I must say the Staged version is far superior. It gives us a better sense of the situation Mark and Roger are in and you can really feel the raw emotions in Angel and Collin's relationship and the fire in Maureen and Joanne's. Also, the movie left out key songs and moments in the show that really help the story drive forward and catch the audience member up in all of the emotion swirling around the room.
The nice thing about the movie is that it preserves performances of most of the original cast who worked directly with Jonathan Larson.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
I definitely prefer the stage show. I've seen it three times on stage, and I've seen the movie countless times. Overall, I agree with what everyone else has said about it already. The relationships are more real, there's just more to the story with so many other amazing songs that aren't included in the movie. Though the movie isn't terrible, I much prefer the stage show.
At the end of the day there's another day dawning
And the sun in the morning is waiting to rise.
I actually prefer the movie. Love, love, love the cast and the movie just resonates well with me. I like the montages and how everything just gets to the point. I saw the stage version at a college and I just didn't connect to it as much (even though i liked it too), could've been the cast, but overall I feel the movie is better.
RENT is a show that works best with it's OBC, so in that sense I like the movie better than the stage show... but there is nothing like seeing s show live
"TO LOVE ANOTHER PERSON IS TO SEE THE FACE OF GOD"- LES MISERABLES---
"THERE'S A SPECIAL KIND OF PEOPLE KNOWN AS SHOW PEOPLE... WE'RE BORN EVERY NIGHT AT HALF HOUR CALL!"--- CURTAINS
RENT on Broadway with the original cast was a once in a lifetime, lightening in a bottle moment. Even someone like me who isn't the greatest fan of the work can appreciate the effect it made at the time. For me, those extraordinary performances elevated what I don't think is a great piece of writing.
Despite the fact that most of the original cast participated, the movie left me cold. It's mostly because RENT was a product of its time, and now mainly feels like a museum piece more than anything else.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
I agree with a lot of what you say, AC, in that the original cast was spectacular. And I used to have some of the same problems with the show as you do.
But time has passed, and I recently saw the new off-Broadway production...and I appreciated the piece in a way I never have before. There are probably many factors (particularly personal ones) that go into this, but I couldn't help but be completely overwhelmed by the structure of the piece. What I once thought were flaws now seem like moments of brilliance. And being further away from the late 90's makes me appreciate this as a period piece, instead of a museum piece. I was incredibly moved by the off-Broadway production (I know...not a popular view) in a way that I wasn't by the original Broadway production.