RENT is coming to high schools...

I sort of want to see it but on the other hand, I'm glad I won't be able to...

Unless it's during Thanksgiving weekend which I highly doubt.

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My music teacher actually told me quite a while ago that this was being developed. I'm kind of interested, and kind of scared.

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I've been in three junior shows(well one was a one-act edition, same difference), each worst than the last. THey are all just so awful. THey are not a good way to get little kids hooked on theater(why the director chose them in my case)

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I feel like Wicked would be a much easier show to turn into a junior version than Rent, although perhaps not musically.

And... ugh. This is such an unnecessary bastardization. I'm sure someone will say that people shouldn't be upset about it because it's spreading the love and letting the fans perform the show, why should we limit its outreach, blah blah blah, but honestly, it just doesn't need to be done. Leave well enough alone and let the fangirls see it, not be in it.

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Updated On: 2/27/07 at 10:20 PM

This isn't a junior show. It's a school edition to be performed at the high school level. It's been in the works for two years now and has had two workshop productions. Very little has been cut.

Hey now.

And to clarify, I mean like... the ever-multiplying generations of 14, 15, 16 year olds that perpetuate the Rent fanbase (into which category I do not fit). I'm not saying their existence is a completely bad thing, in theory, but I don't think they should be performing the show. It's bad enough to have to listen to them belting the score outside the theater.

Aside from the fact that you can rarely address me without rude commentary, that's what I meant.

And while I don't feel like taking over yet another thread with this banter between you and I, if you knew anything about me other than what your conveniently selective reading gives you in comparison to the widely-used definition of "fangirl," or if you had ever seen these kids in action, you wouldn't feel the need to make the rude commentary and so constantly nitpick my posts. You somehow seem to have misjudged somewhere, since you're one of the only people on this board who truly thinks (or has decided) that I legitimately expect to sleep with an actor, or whatever your problem is with me. Apparently made peace only lasts so long.

But really, the world hasn't ended because I put down fangirls. Maybe the world has ended because you've finally been proven wrong. If I actually did fit into that category, I wouldn't have the ability to pass judgement on those who do, now would I? Like they say in Proof -- a crazy person does not have the ability to ask herself: "am I crazy?"

ANYway. Also, why shouldn't this version be workshopped in a high school? Things have to be worked on somewhere, might as well be done in its projected context.

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Updated On: 2/28/07 at 12:07 AM

Well, colleges shouldn't be doing the high school version.

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I would love a High School to do the original version.
It would be very liberating.
and challenging.
Imagine the protests.

Last I heard, they had cut out any same sex kissing. While it's not "that much", it definitely alters Jonathan Larson's intention with the show.

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I'm not a fan of the idea at all.
I agree that this isn't what Jonathan Larson had in mind.
I don't know what else to say aside from "Mm."

Put it to bed.

Isn't anyone happy that even ONE high school kid might audition for their school production of Rent that wouldnt if it was My Fair Lady or something?

Broadway Jr. and High School Editions have never been overly about artistry. They are to get kids involved in theatre. Track down the PBS documentary "Children Will Listen" and you'll see what a powerful tool it can be.

Keep in mind the Jr. shows were approved by the original authors many times. They know these shows aren't written to be done professionally, which is why they are not available for professional production (that is involving players older than 1.

I'm glad children are being brought into theatre and are being exposed to shows they might otherwise never be exposed to. That is the entire purpose of School Editions and Broadway Jr.

No good can come of this.