won the Rent lotto tonight (Thurs 10/20) and feel like I should post this here as I had *three* u/s- Jay in as Roger, Ava in as Mimi, and Nicolette Hart in as Maureen.
Jay and Ava were great, but I was OMG blown away by Nicolette- her Over the Moon was the best I have ever seen (granted, I have only seen Rent 3x in NY, 1x on tour), such high energy, and she completely owned the audience at the end of that number. (random story: The 2 guys sitting next to me spoke no English the entire night, except for during the intermission when one was singing "only thing to do is jump over the moon" over and over again, it was great.) Nicolette and Merle (more random: Merle Dandridge in Rent and Tracy Miller in Hairspray are my two favorite performers right now) had awesome chemistry, and I was just overall blown away by her Maureen.
I saw Antonique on Monday, she was good, but I enjoyed Ava a little more tonight, for the same reasons that the first poster liked Antonique- I thought her Mimi was too smiley and laughing, while I liked Ava's take more. But they're both good.
The projector didn't turn on during the first part at the end (where the title Today 4 U: Proof Positive appears, etc.), but Jay and Matt totally covered well there- when Mark says "first shot Roger..." Matt pointed the (dark, off) projector at Jay as if he was filming him with it, etc. I've read about those projector problems before, it was the first time I'd seen it happen. I don't think those watching for the first time realized they were missing anything though.
(eta: I completely agree about Destan's I'll Cover You: Reprise. For three times now I've seen him as Collins, he's come on stage and on that first "live in my house" I tear up every time, it's just so hauntingly beautiful. I actually did cry the first time I saw him, now I just almost-cry.)
And now I feel like one of those 'you know you're a Renthead' lists: when you've seen the show twice in one week, and start referring to the performers on a first name basis... :)
Updated On: 10/21/05 at 12:38 AM