RENT in Philly - Page 5

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 8:58pm

Trisha has gone on as SOL#1, Mrs. J, and bag lady. She's also gone on as Alexi.

Jed has gone on as Paul.

Toby has gone on as Mr. J.

I'm not going to go through the cover order for every character, but assuming you're most concerned for Adam and Anthony, you will more than likely see Cary and Jed.

[musicandtemiror]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 9:46pm

I went on Friday night....crazy audience [loads of late comers ] but It was an amazing night.
Toby Blackwell was on as a SWING for Mr. Jefferson...interesting but okay.
The cast was utterly amazing, and the whole performance was great.
There was a few sound glitches, and the motorcycle sound was very early [like beginning of song early] during Christmas Bells, and then it went again on time.

I waited at the CRAZY stage door



I waited for about 30 minutes for the crowd to die down [anthony was out singing stuff] but the rest of the cast never came out and I eventually left cause he went in and their car left and I thought they left the building, but everyone stayed.
It was crazy. Adam never came out. Does the rest of the cast normally come out the stage door with Adam and Anthony craziness??

Great, fun night!
I want to hear other stories! :)

[willep]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 10:11pm

Actually, musicandtemiror, I was there that night too. In fact you might be able to see me in that picture, I was on the opposite side. Just about all of the cast actually did come out the stage door and sign. I didn't see Gwen or Adam, but just about everyone else did.

[[tos]fan999]

Posted: 2/9/09 at 1:11am

I miss living in Philly.
Florida sucks.

Although I always wondered why most shows that toured there went to The Academy. I found that most shows were swallowed in there. I remember seeing the last non-equity tour of Rent at the Merriam and thought it fit there quite nicely.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 2/9/09 at 10:42am

I'm not sure what was more distracting last night- the flash photography or the ushers who came in with squawking walkie talkies to shine their flashlights across the section and shout "Put the camera away!"

[PlayhouseBeauty]

Posted: 2/9/09 at 1:46pm

I was there for the matinee on Saturday and there was someone taking pictures through out the whole show. It was the most annoying thing. I never saw anyone ask him or her to stop.

[lstbutifulgrl2]

Posted: 2/9/09 at 1:56pm

I agree about the camera flashes. I could not believe the people in the front row taking pictures during WYO. And during the sunday eve show, there was a man who moved into row AAA on the right side who clapped for everything, at the most inappropriate times. Completely ruined the second act for me.

[musicandtemiror]

Posted: 2/9/09 at 2:50pm

The whole cast came out?? When? Where did they go?! haha

A girl was on her phone video taping the whole show about two rows in front of me and she got up until Without You and house management came and told her off....then the ushers started swarming in
so distracting
then the pictures started which no one got caught ....>!

[philly03]

Posted: 2/9/09 at 2:57pm

"Although I always wondered why most shows that toured there went to The Academy. I found that most shows were swallowed in there. I remember seeing the last non-equity tour of Rent at the Merriam and thought it fit there quite nicely. "

Something happened with the Merriam -- although I'm not sure what specifically: it was something with the ownership maybe..or the lease or something to those matters. Anyway, the only things I've seen at the Merriam are: the extremely rare-Non-Eq shows that don't have a random star in it and are straight-up Non-Equity; a lot of plays stop there (Doubt was the last thing I've seen there..wow two years ago I think!), and shows that don't generally sell well enough. ALW's Whistle Down the Wind stopped down there, but they were still forced to comp & heavily discount!

I'm always suprised why tours don't stop at the Forrest more...but apparently it's due to the loading & unloading slowly. It's a beautiful theatre, practically across from the Walnut, and there's not really a bad seat in there (but still big enough for a tour). The Academy is so beautiful, .. but not really a great place to see a show.

[blondebaby589]

Posted: 2/9/09 at 3:05pm

I'm always suprised why tours don't stop at the Forrest more...but apparently it's due to the loading & unloading slowly. It's a beautiful theatre, practically across from the Walnut, and there's not really a bad seat in there (but still big enough for a tour). The Academy is so beautiful, .. but not really a great place to see a show.

That's what I always wonder too! And yeah, the last thing I saw at the Merriam was Chicago a few years ago. I haven't heard of much coming through there anymore, which is a shame since it's such a beautiful space. I know UArts uses it along with the Arts Bank.

[[tos]fan999]

Posted: 2/9/09 at 6:16pm

I still remember seeing the first national tour of Spelling Bee and me and my cousin were the only two people wayyyy up in the Balcony. They let us move down to the mezzanine.

But I agree about the Forrest. Very beautiful.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 2/12/09 at 1:39am

Just adding to this topic, seriously. I figured there was no need to make a separate thread on the show coming to Jersey, as it is exactly the same.

Anyway, I liked it. I just got annoyed because of course I end up with the audience cheering and clapping at inappropriate moments. For me, act 2 should have been silent, but it wasn't. The ending got ruined because everyone started cheering the second Angel came back on stage during the finale. I feel like I need to go watch the movie now to get the depressed feeling that I get every time I watch it.

And, I really thought people were going to get really upset because originally in the program, there was a slip of paper saying that Cary Shields was going on for Roger instead of Adam Pascal. Fortunately, Adam did go on. I figured if he didn't go on, he was probably still sick from last week.

I have to say, Lexi Lawson stole the show for me. She was just a riot as Mimi. I also enjoyed Justin Johnston and Nicolette Hart, along with Adam and Anthony.

And, personally, this was the first time I have ever seen Rent live, but I thought the NJPAC was way too large for it. It just seems like one of those shows that works better a little more intimate, and the NJPAC is definitely not. And I did end up getting moved to the last 3 rows of the 3rd tier because nobody was buying tickets for the 4th tier. I'm just glad that the rows are not on the same level, or I think I would have been mad, since I had row A originally.

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 2/12/09 at 11:44am

^^Cary went on as Roger for Tuesday's show. The slips in the playbills were probably left over from then.

The venues chosen for tours are almost always larger than the NYC theatres where a show my have played. Updated On: 2/12/09 at 11:44 AM