RENT Review - Sunday, January 20th, 7 PM- Page 2

[yankee_fan907]

Posted: 1/21/08 at 8:12pm

"Who was Collins and how was he?"

The normal Collins, Michael McElroy, was on last night. It is obviously hard to try to match Jesse L Martin's performance, but McElroy did an excellent job and I was actually quite impressed. I am not a big fan of the character, but he made me not hate it so much.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 1/21/08 at 8:25pm

I didn't realize Michael McElroy was in RENT!

He is immensely talented. I'd like to see him originate a role again.

His duet with Tyrone Giordano in BIG RIVER was gorgeous.

[winter_sky]

Posted: 1/21/08 at 9:59pm

Another time, as the guy with the dreads was putting the shirts out on the railing above the band, one of them fell and hit the conductor on the head. The dreads guy laughed and waved when the conductor looked up.


"The guy with the dreads" is Marcus Paul James.

I am also surprised that you had a negative opinion on David Truskinoff. He is very good and I've seen other conductors there who have sped up the pace so rapidly that the show ended 5-10 minutes early. At the very least most people don't notice him which is a pretty standard reaction.


The normal Collins, Michael McElroy, was on last night. It is obviously hard to try to match Jesse L Martin's performance, but McElroy did an excellent job and I was actually quite impressed. I am not a big fan of the character, but he made me not hate it so much.

Michael McElroy is all kinds of talented. He is not my favorite Collins (Marcus and Mark Richard Ford are) but he is the best fulltime Collins in a while.

Of course no one could live up to an original cast member who did stellar work but while he was the one to replace Jesse 10 years ago, there have been many Collins since then and he has far exceeded many (including the 2 most recent Collins: Troy Horne and Destan Owens). Also, aw, I think Collins is written in a way that I am very surprised that you hate the character. To each his own.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 1/21/08 at 10:09pm

Wanna Be A Foster: He's been back for over a month now. Yay! I loved him in BR too.

[fetzles1490]

Posted: 1/21/08 at 10:55pm

I have a lot to say on this thread now =).
I was at this performance too, and yankee, I didn't realize it was your first time seeing the show!

Last night was actually one of the best performances I've seen of Rent in awhile... it's been losing its spark, but last night it was much more alive than it has been.

Karmine's been in the show for YEARS, I think close to 8 if I'm not mistaken. Some ridiculous stretch of time, though. She's played every female character there is to play in the show (except maybe Joanne. I'm not sure.), and she's fierce at every single one of them. I saw her as Mimi twice and I LOVE her. Last night was my first time seeing her as Maureen and she didn't disappoint. Her Over The Moon was AMAZING. I've also seen Caren as Maureen, and she's my favorite Maureen I've ever seen live. I've heard recordings of her Mimi, and she sounds awesome at that too. As for Nicolette, I enjoyed her performance, I really did. Just not as much as Caren =).

Justin Johnston, in my opinion, is the only Angel that lives up to the standard Wilson set way back in '96. He tears the role apart every night - I LOVE him. Michael McElroy was fantastic as well. He didn't really stand out in my mind though.

I actually loved Harley & Declan. There were moments of each of their performances where I didn't like something they were doing, but overall I was perfectly happy with them. Declan's accent slipping in was pretty funny. I adored his One Song Glory and Harley's La Vie Boheme.

[Marissa2]

Posted: 1/22/08 at 12:24am

I was at the show last night too (another person with tickets from VFR.) I thought it was one of the most lively and on performances I've seen in a while. I really don't have any complaints about the performance at all. Take Me Or Leave Me with Karmine and Kenna- wow. One of the most fierce performances of the song I have ever seen, if not THE most fierce. My jaw literally dropped by the end of the song. I continue loving Tamyra more and more each time I see her Mimi. It was my first time seeing Declan and Harley, and they did not disappoint. I'm sure it was hard for them to take over after Adam and Anthony, but they did a pretty amazing job. Yes, Declan's accent did slip in from time to time, but otherwise, they were both spot on.

[yankee_fan907]

Posted: 1/22/08 at 6:23pm

I bet you'd remember me. Haha I was like the only guy who got tickets from VFR. I must have been sitting right by you?!

[fetzles1490]

Posted: 1/22/08 at 7:38pm

Are you tall with curly hair? I think you were like half-participating in a conversation I was having with people before the show/at intermission lol. I walked over to 2 of my friends sitting in row R and we were talking to 2 girls in front of us.

[yankee_fan907]

Posted: 1/22/08 at 9:58pm

Haha yup, that's me. And yes, I remember who you are not from looking at your picture. I didn't quite recognize you before, but now that you say that, it makes complete sense. You were sitting a couple rows back right, and came to visit? This is really weird that we should meet up here... Hahaha

[fetzles1490]

Posted: 1/22/08 at 10:27pm

Hahah I should mention this to my friends who were there with me. One of them posted a few posts back in this thread actually!

[Marissa2]

Posted: 1/22/08 at 11:29pm

I was the girl with fetzles and I remember meeting you! I'm surprised we didn't figure out we were all from BWW!

[xOnMyOwnX]

Posted: 1/23/08 at 8:20pm

I have to agree with most other people on nicollette- i did not like her at all.

and im happy you liked tamyra but i have a question. when i saw her i loved her but her first few notes in "light my candle" she cracked and sounded awful. someone who had seen her before said it wasnt the first time she cracked on that. after those few notes she was fantastic. so my question is did she still crack in the beginning?

[fetzles1490]

Posted: 1/23/08 at 9:51pm

Not that I can recall, nope. She sounded fine.

[Mealz1042]

Posted: 1/23/08 at 11:15pm

I'm a fan of Nicolette (mostly because I love her off stage and I like the edge she gives to maureen, though im a litte tired of it by now) but Karmine takes the cake for this role. She is amazing and you are so damn lucky that you got to see her. Karmine is one of my favorite Maureens (along with Kelly Karbacz and Haven Burton) and one of my favorite Mimis (she and Caren Lyn Manuel are both AMAZING) so yeah, she's the best.

I'm suprised you liked tamyra so much, but I guess also you had only Rosario to compare who do. Although I don't like her performance, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

What you own is my favorite song too and there's something about seeing it live that gets me every time (not to mention, now that you saw it in a theatre without the random mountains its a lot more believable, yes?)

I'm glad you enjoyed the show!!