RENT at Hollywood Bowl (with REVIEWS)- Page 2

[Harpz2006]

Posted: 8/7/10 at 1:21am

YA- I had high hopes but she sounds like what I'd expect in a high school show. I'm going to see it tomorrow so we'll see...

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 8/7/10 at 1:26am

She sounds much better than I was expecting her to, she actually can sing without the help of the HSM auto-tune machine. Still not fantastic.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 8/7/10 at 1:32am

I had a similar reaction to that audio of Nick Jonas as Marius: kinda bland, but far better than I thought. Does no damage, but does nothing special either.

[hpeabody930]

Posted: 8/7/10 at 1:42am

If nothing else the orchestrations sound pretty cool!

[Tori_Ann]

Posted: 8/7/10 at 1:42am

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I agree Lizzie. I'm not impressed, but I'm not disappointed. Then again my expectations were pretty low.


I hope more videos go up soon!

[theaternut]

Posted: 8/7/10 at 2:10am

Ok.. so we are on the bus on the way to the parking lot. We are still not moving. Long night. I must say...I thought this was pretty awful.. and it seems to be the consensus among most people here. The guy who played Angel was terrific. Bu that is about it. It was all actually very boring. Curious to hear other thoughts.

[theaternut]

Posted: 8/7/10 at 2:12am

Oh.. and it was cold tonight at the Bowl.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 8/7/10 at 2:17am

Thanks for the thorough reviews! I would love to see a new production of this show! I think the changes for Out Tonight sound like they would work really well with the song. I wish I could see this!

[michaelchwe]

Posted: 8/7/10 at 4:17am

I saw it at the bowl Friday night with my two kids. Nicole S really did a fantastic job as Maureen, making her even funnier and wackier, but she painfully missed a a few lines in the second act. La Vie Boheme was great, and the Take Me or Leave Me duet was hot, the only non-ensemble number which got a lot of applause. Astin as Mark, Brady as Collins, and Tveit as Roger were very good, but Leung as Angel really stood out for me. Tracie Thoms was excellent as always.

There was one major lighting miscue and scattered mic problems throughout the show. None of these were terrible but it felt a bit ragged. They used live cello instead of synth for Maureen's "Over the Moon", which was great, and the band overall was excellent. The arranger added brass and strings to some of the numbers, which sometimes was nice (the strings in some of the slow numbers) but in general was disconcerting, especially the added brass lines, which added a disco feel to some of the songs.

The Bowl stage is very large, and it felt a bit sparse sometimes. I wonder whether a show like Rent, which focuses on friendship of a small group of people, is really appropriate for a place like the Bowl (as opposed to Les Miz or even Guys and Dolls). Rent is really kind of an intimate show.

I must say that Hudgens was weak as Mimi---her singing was uneven, especially in her first number. In general she is better when she sings strongly, but in the softer numbers, she has little vocal intensity. She has to support more. She had the potential to reimagine Mimi as a nineteen year old (other versions of Mimi we've seen, on Broadway, in touring productions, and in the movie, make her seem like a jaded 27-28 year old), but it happened only in moments. I wonder why she took this role, because I don't think her performance would make anyone think highly of her talent. It's good experience for her, I suppose.

Overall, the show was kind of ragged, even though the strength of the material of course carried the thing through. It was not the kind of performance which is typical of the Bowl, in terms of overall professionalism and polish. If I had paid $100 a ticket for a professional Broadway-like theater experience, I would have been disappointed. As a "community event" it was OK, I suppose. Rent is a great show, and the more people who get to see it, the better.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 8/7/10 at 7:58am

From watching the clips i must say that VH sounds awful during Out Tonight but she sounds great straight after in Another Day. The new orchestrations are wonderful.

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 8/7/10 at 11:26am

songanddanceman2 I agree! Her 'No Day But Today' portion is very strong.

'Out Tonight' is just not in her range apparently.

[darquegk]

Posted: 8/7/10 at 11:29am

I am glad, however, VERY glad, to see that this isn't a replica production. I would hate for a show like Rent, which offers so many opportunities and possibilities, to become a "museum piece" like A Chorus Line or West Side Story, where every production tries to be the same. Better some creative misfires like Rent Remixed UK than endless replicas of the original Broadway staging. Rent is a fluid enough piece that it could be giant, tiny, theatrical, stripped-down, or everything in between.

[suttonfoster]

Posted: 8/7/10 at 11:49am

i'm watching clips on the "site" and i have to say as much as i personally dislike tveit, he sounds wonderful hear and proved me wrong when i said he played everything the same.

i must say the standout is Nicole Scherzinger. her take me or leave me is fantastic. really surprising.

[RemlapLBC]

Posted: 8/7/10 at 11:50am

The Bowl has to end at 11pm which is why the songs were cut with an 8:30 start. While I'm sure NPH chose what was cut, the question of, to cut or not was not his.

My 2 cents, with bowl traffic, parking, buses, & picnicking as part of the bowl tradition, moving the start time to 8 is not really an option.

Anyone remember what was cut from Les Miz two years ago? It would have had the same time constraints.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 8/7/10 at 11:56am

I saw Les Miz there -- it had similar cuts to the tenth anniversary concert, but there were even more of them. (Such as all the convicts' solo lines in "Look Down," the "there was a time when men were kind..." portion of "I Dreamed a Dream," and bits and pieces of recitative.)

[BwayTday]

Posted: 8/7/10 at 12:01pm

Nicole sounds great. Like Damn. Vanessa sounds fine, nothing spectacular, but not horrible. My friend who saw it was mixed about the show, I am waiting to hear their full opinion.

[Popular]

Posted: 8/7/10 at 12:08pm

I think your experience will depend greatly on where you are sitting (as with every show in the bowl) so let me preface this by saying that I was all the way in the back. I mean AAALLLL the way in the back. Even the screens seemed small. It is definitely a HUGE challenge for the show to connect with people on a personal level in this venue. I'd be happy to be proven wrong so please let me know if you did. I just don't see how. I can't comment on the set, or the details of the costumes, or even much of the choreography being that far away. For me it was all about the music and what I could hear. Vocally, a lot of it was strong, much of it wasn't. Like others have mentioned, Out Tonight was all over the place but she did improve a bit later on. Nicole was definitely a stand out. My friend who knew nothing about RENT enjoyed Tango Maureen the most.

Another note about the bowl is that you never know who you will be sitting with and how that will effect your evening. The group of about 12 people next to us were drinking the whole time. They got increasingly obnoxious and by What you Own some of them were talking non-stop and even singing along. RUDE!

Was it a great and profound night of theater? Not really. Did I have fun? ABSOLUTELY! You can't really be too picky paying $10 for a cheap seat in the back. It's RENT music under the stars in a beautiful venue. Just take it for what it is and enjoy - and bring a jacket, its cold!!


Updated On: 8/7/10 at 12:08 PM

[Dan6]

Posted: 8/7/10 at 12:20pm

I saw it Friday night and was hugely disappointed. There was some good -
Scherzinger as Maureen (her flubbed second act opening was redeemed by a terrific "Take Me or Leave Me"), Leung as Angel, Astin as Mark, and Brady as Collins. I expected and wanted to like Tveit more as Roger, but he was surprisingly weak in the role. The guy playing Benny was absolutely horrible - a complete misfire. And Hudgens... stop being kind, people. She was awful. I actually covered my ears in "Out Tonight," she was so sharp - and then she came in a beat early on "Without You" and never figured it out for the whole first half of the song, leaving the band struggling to figure out where to skip a beat to catch up with her.

Technically, the production was a mess, with missed sound and lighting cues throughout (including several times when people were singing the first parts of their songs unmic'd and in the dark). The band frequently drowned out the singers - if I hadn't already known the lyrics, I wouldn't know a lot of them now. The staging was surprisingly static, and occasionally just flat-out weak (as in Mimi's revival).

The biggest problem, though, was the venue. "Rent" is simply too intimate a show to play in an 18,000 seat amphitheater. Our seats were good - the "Super Seats" one section behind the boxes - and yet I felt completely removed, both physically and emotionally, from the action. Even the video screens weren't helpful; the cameras used close-ups only very infrequently, and sometimes were frustratingly focused on completely dark areas of the stage. The "bigger" shows I've seen at the bowl - Les Miz, Guys & Dolls, The Sound of Music - worked much better.

I love "Rent" and was so looking forward to this production, but overall it was a mess. (Based on the conversations overheard while exiting the Bowl, I was far from the only one who thought so.) I have friends who are seeing it tonight and have never seen the show before: I've suggested to them that they sell their tickets and watch the DVD of the Broadway closing performance instead. This is simply not the way to experience "Rent" for the first time.

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 8/7/10 at 12:28pm

I saw clips of Nicole, and she freaking rocked. I knew she had a good voice but damn...

I was going to get tickets, but the only thing available was far back, and unless I can actually see the performances, I don't think I would enjoy this as a "concert" per say.

I am wondering whether things will be cleaner tonight. It is a pretty rushed process of prep, practice, and then going live ...

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 8/7/10 at 12:34pm

Nicole Scherzinger is the best Maureen since Idina, IMO.

[DAME]

Posted: 8/7/10 at 12:36pm

I ask myself this every year when they decide to do the musicals there. WHY? WHAT IS THE POINT? it doesn't represent the piece well. It is hard on the audience. And it is a shame that a lot of people use these shows to go to the great Hollywood Bowl for the first time and really don't come away with what the experience should be.

[Popular]

Posted: 8/7/10 at 12:38pm

YWIW - if you aren't going to be able to enjoy it as a concert definitely skip out on this one. Even Dan6 right behind the boxes felt too far away.

[Holbee]

Posted: 8/7/10 at 12:44pm

Okay, I have to agree with you, Tveit was weak as Roger. Sorry everyone, but besides Benny he was the weak link in the show. But I have to disagree with you about Vanessa. Though she did go sharp a couple times during "Out Tonight" I thought she was a very authentic Mimi...if perhaps a little too wholesome? She looked the age, the correct ethnicity and the only time Tviet really came alive was when he was onstage with her. Their chemistry from even where I was sitting was terrific. And I loved her during "No Day But Today"...this could be because when she was onscreen the camera LOVED her and that part was very nicely filmed. But what she left out in vocal ability (which she actually did have plenty of) she showed in energy, especially on the wrap around in "Out Tonight". Now, Nicole, as everyone stated, WAS the standout. Also, with the Grief staging, I never felt "Over the Moon" actually felt like a performance art piece. This time I was completely taken to that Lot on Avenue B and aware of the pretension and youthful exuberance of the downtown art scene. And her "Take Me or Leave Me" with the always terrific Thoms was wonderful. What was thrilling for me was watching the show in that venue, in the Hollywood Hills with thousands of RENT fans, treating the show like it was a rock concert. And remembering seeing this show, five days after Jonathan died, third preview, tiny off-Broadway theatre...then looking around to where it was now, who was performing it and who directed it and the extreme reaction its now getting. Really wonderful...

[uncageg]

Posted: 8/7/10 at 12:47pm

Why do they start their shows at 8:30?

[Dan6]

Posted: 8/7/10 at 1:06pm

I think generally they like to wait until it's dark to start. The exception is Sunday nights, which they start at 7:30 (more family-friendly and keeps in mind those who have to work on Monday morning). I've been to some of the Sunday performances, and it is actually hard to get into the show until it gets darker.