RENT Tour- Page 2

[alliez92092]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 7:06pm

When I saw the tour in Boston, everybody would start whispering whenever Arianda sang. No one liked her. It was painful.

[JamesMacon]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 7:13pm

Ouch. I hope I see someone else in the Spring.

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 9:20pm

"When I saw the tour in Boston, everybody would start whispering whenever Arianda sang. No one liked her. It was painful."

Yes, that's who it was- Arianda.

Yes, James, I think that someone who has not seen RENT would know how bad she is. Sadly, it was quite obvious.

[atlsuperstar]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 1:46am

Hey Sweetq, can you give a rundown of the cast that you saw? I want to know especially who was the Angel and Mimi. My friend is the Season of Love Soloist, Mimi Jiminez what did you think of her? That's so sad to hear about the show, I saw the Rent Asia tour with an amzing star cast, and it was a little blah blah too. But the Broadway cast always seems to be faithful!

[kootness]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 2:09am

SweetQ did you see Ano Okera as Angel? I really didn't enjoy him at all and Angel is my favorite character

[CyCoSpAz2]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 2:28am

I saw Arianda and I didnt think she was bad at all... sounds like maybe she has one good night per year?

[OnMyWay]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 2:36am

She was painful when I saw it.

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 2:48am

atlsuperstar- seasons of love soloist was good

CyCoSpAz2 - I don't know how you got that lucky!

kootness- Yes, I saw Ano as Angel. I can't say he was absolutely wonderful but he was very, very good considering the rest of the cast.

Here is the cast, as someone asked:

Roger: Bryce Ryness
Mark: Jed Resnick
Tom Collins: Warren G. Nolan Jr.
Benjamin Coffin III: Michael Ifill
Joanne: Chante Carmel Frieson
Angel: Ano Okera
Mimi: Arianda Fernandez
Maureen: Tracy McDowell
Mark's mom and others: Nina Lynn Metrick
Chrsitmas caroler, Mr. Jeffersion, pastor and others: Aswad
Mrs. Jefferson, woman with backs and others: Altamiece Carolyn Ballard
Gordon, the man, Mr. Grey and others: Gavin Reign
Steve, man with mqueegee, waiter and others: Ben Roseberry
Paul and others: Mike Evariste
Alexi Darling, Roger's mom and others: Sheila Coyle

[broadway_freak2]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 10:04pm

Well, I saw Rent yesturday night. I saw the same cast as SweetQ. May I point out this was my first live performance of Rent.

I have a lot of the same opinions. As for Mimi, I thought she started out alright in Light My Candle. But then she did Out Tonight and I would have liked her to move less and actually sing the song. To me, she was moving too much, thus affecting her singing, a lot. But then, as the show went on and I dont know, she really didn't wow me. I thought Mark was fantastic. I don't know about Rodger though. At during the title song, he annoyed me a little, and let me know if this sounds a little crazy, but he over- enounciated everything. Then during One Song Glory, he was hunched over through half of the song, it got me thinking about how he was singing like that. Because when you are hunched over, you are crushing your diaphram, hence making it extremely hard to sing. Maureen was great. So was Joanne. Angel was amazing. Though I thought Colins was a little short of emotion during the funeral. Actually, I thought Act 2 lacked a bit of energy until the fight between Rodger and Mark leading up to Goodbye, Love. Take Me or Leave Me left me wanting more. However, I liked it. I still thought it was a great show and I'm glad I saw it.

[alliez92092]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 10:06pm

Out Tonight makes or breaks the Mimi. When I saw Arianda sing it, her moves looked so forced, and I'm not going anywhere near her voice. I did not like her.

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 10:14pm

Yes, I also wrote that Collins lacked emotion at the funeral. It seemed he was almost distant.

Alliez- I think she (Arianda) was working too hard on her moves and thinking about them so much that they did seemed forced, which also made her singing worse...which is bad enough to begin with.

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 11:23pm

This current generation of Rent fans is being cheated by this tour. Jonathan would have demanded more!

[theaterdude87]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 11:38pm

im not a tatoo guy..but i think that looks hot. its neat and it seems like it means something to you. ithink its cool

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 9/18/06 at 2:12am

"I know they are supposed to be “starving artists” but mark seemed so…skinny…"

The really skinny one was Roger, Mark seemed very healthy, plus he wears a jacket most of the time.
It was the weakest Angel I have ever seen. I disagree about him being good, he got a huge applause when he showed up before he started dancing and singing, he changed all the keys and couldn't hit the notes on Thursday and Friday. Mimi as you say, was a great dancer and her acting was terrific, since I was on the front row, I was able to see her gestures from very close and she didn't overact, but yes, her singing wasn't the best.

Posted: 9/18/06 at 7:54am

I saw the show last night and I think it was quite a different show than previous nights. Although they didn't say this after the show, I think it was the last night of the tour (the actor who played Mark stated this when he was interviewed on NBC6). It was the complete opposite in the funeral scene- Collins was REALLY emotional. I was wondering how he could hit those notes in between the tears and sobs. From that point on, it seemed as if the whole cast was very emotional. Throughout the show, we felt as if they had a very good energy, but it also felt like they were pulling it out b/c it was their last night (I've seen many casts from Broadway to tours since 1997). The actress who played Mimi definitely looked the part, but her dancing in Out Tonight really seemed to take away from her vocal performance. We also felt that she was singing from the back of throat. She had potential, but some of her notes were just plain off key.

After the curtain call, did the cast and crew come out and sing Seasons of Love together at other shows? We thought this was because it was the last show- they were all crying. We felt as if they didn't want the show to end. In fact, they were still on stage hugging, etc. as people finally started to leave (they had stopped singing by this point and the music was over).

Posted: 9/18/06 at 9:41pm

Im absolutely obsessed with RENT
and im seeing it when it comes to town in december
well , it was already here but its coming backkkk
for a special .. 5th row YESSSS

[IAMmyownMUSICAL]

Posted: 9/18/06 at 10:59pm

no it wasn't the last nite of the tour, it was just closing nite for many many of the people who are in it. the tour keeps going through next summer.

[kootness]

Posted: 9/18/06 at 11:13pm

I agree bemeonbway, I thought collins was EXTREMELY emotional when I saw him. Maybe he just had an off night when the others saw him. He really was my favorite part of the show. And i agree about Roger being the skinny one he was sooooo lanky.

[broadway_show_fan]

Posted: 9/18/06 at 11:24pm

For those who saw it - SweetQ, perhaps? - any comment on the girl who played Alexi? Sheila went to my college and got the part... I didn't really know her well but I know so much of her. I didn't see her in the show (because I'm not a big non-eq supporter - I'd rather support an eq tour or just go to nyc) but I'd like to hear how she was.

[faithanytwo]

Posted: 9/19/06 at 12:04am

I saw Sheila in Boston, actually I only remember her because her brother was sitting behind us and was talking about her... as far as her Alexi goes, I mean, it's not a big part so she didn't mess it up but it wasn't completely memorable either. I thought she handled it well, but nothing to amaze me.

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 9/19/06 at 12:07am

I agree with faithanytwo...

Maybe if I had known to pay attention to her specifically going in, I could give you more info but I just saw her as Alexi.

She definitley wasn't bad. Trust me, I mentioned the BAD ones.

Sorry I can't give you more

[melissaregele]

Posted: 9/19/06 at 1:16am

can anyone tell me where i can find the dates/locations for the tour? someone had posted a whole list of "updated tour dates" on one of these threads, but i can't find them anywhere else online, and i can't find tickets for them anywhere. so i don't really want to get my hopes up too much, but i am hoping that the dates are true, cuz i really want to go!

[folkyboy]

Posted: 9/19/06 at 9:25am

i saw that cast in Boston as well and ending up leaving at Contact because i just couldn't take the B.S. anymore. Bennie was horrible and acted like a kid from the ghetto finally getting a break. i dunno if that was the same Angel i saw because the one i saw was AWFUL and everyone kept coming back from the show saying how much they loved him/her.

don't even get me started on the Mimi. or the fact that Roger came across way too gay and made me believe there's alterior motives for him running away from Mimi.

i never thought RENT could be dated but wow has it COMPLETELY dated itself.

[broadway_show_fan]

Posted: 9/19/06 at 11:37am

OUCH! folkyboy - go give it another chance on broadway!

[joanna2]

Posted: 9/19/06 at 11:28pm

Does anyone know WHEN the cast will be changing? It looks to me like pretty much all the people I saw in Chicago (in April) are still with the show.