RENT did what?!- Page 2

[blaxx]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 2:16pm

I agree with Mamma Mia, but I really don't see the RENT effect on Broadway. Almost a decade after it opened, and I barely see its influence on other musicals... I see much more jukebox or screen to stage craziness.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 2:43pm

I think Rent was probably most influential in it's ability to create a devoted fan base in an audience that was largely ignored by Broadway for decades (teen to early-twenties). It started the brilliant marketing device of employing the open rush policy that morphed into the now popular lottery. Remember the kids camping out on the sidewalk to purchase tickets? There was even a fashion display devoted to Rent at Bloomingdales.

As for the score being influential, just listen to The Last Five Years, Bare, I Sing, or Bright Lights, Big City. Intentional or not, it's hard to ignore the distinct style that was unique to Rent when it opened (especially in Bare, which is almost a carbon copy of much of the Rent score). I do think it opened the doors for a certain contemporary sound that had yet to find its way into the mainstream of musical theatre and has not been as successful since.

[blaxx]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 2:59pm

As for the score being influential, just listen to The Last Five Years, Bare, I Sing, or Bright Lights, Big City

But none of those played on Broadway. From a publicity point of view, I could understand, although if we're basing those facts in talking about "redifining" theater, then a lot of shows would have achieved that recently.

[blaxx]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 2:59pm

As for the score being influential, just listen to The Last Five Years, Bare, I Sing, or Bright Lights, Big City

But none of those played on Broadway. From a publicity point of view, I could understand, although if we're basing those facts in talking about "redifining" theater, then a lot of shows would have achieved that recently.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 3:55pm

Well, I was thinking about influencing musical theatre, not specifically only those shows with Broadway runs.

[Rentaholic2]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 4:45pm

Well, one might argue that it 'redifined' theatre by being the first pop-rock score that ALSO told a concrete story. Yes, Hair came before it, but Hair was more of a montage than a story.

just a thought

[Pippin]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 4:50pm

Jesus Christ superstar isn't concrete?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 4:56pm

Or Two Gentlemen of Verona? Or The Wiz? Or Dreamgirls? Or a dozen others?

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 5:17pm

I think we can boil this thread down by simply saying that Rent is/was a great work commercially and artistically, but not the earth-shattering event people make it out to be.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 5:19pm

Rent was influential because the producers agreed to allow the first two rows of the orchestra to be sold for $20.

The first two rows being sold to people who couldn't afford to attend the theater???? Unheard of!! It will shut down Broadway!! Will they know how to behave in a Broadway theater?? How will the people paying $90 in the third row feel knowing they overpaid by $70?

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 5:29pm

And yet, like most of the other groundbreaking innovations discussed in this thread, that rush policy had a limited effect. Sure, it spawned a ton of other rush and lotto policies, but how many of them offer front-row seats? Or even decent seats?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 5:34pm

"that rush policy had a limited effect."

Au contrare, it produced the Rent heads, a fan base of young kids that keep returning to the show and then posting on internet boards about the show.

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 6:17pm

Having just written that I clicked on the news link about Tarzan and found that Disney will be using its front row of the orchestra for its lotto, so maybe Jonathan Larson's vision is not yet dead after all.

[blaxx]

Posted: 3/23/06 at 7:23pm

Lol, well in conclusion, whoever wrote that article that is at the beginning of this thread got really carried away with his use of words.