#1
Posted: 2/17/08 at 11:00pm
Sorry I couldn't resist the hokey thread title.
Tonight a friend talked me into seeing RENT again even though I said I would not be seeing it again now that it has posted a closing notice. But, I figured why not one last time.
We got second row on the right aisle for 65.00 with my teacher discount about 3 hours before showtime. It ended up being a little too close. One of my favorite parts of Seasons of Love is the lighting, and I couldn't appreciate the lighting being that close. I like to see the whole "picture".
There were mic problems through the whole show. It was sort of like a blown-out speaker sound. Through the whole show.
It was great to see the theater packed though. As one of the girls in the front row got to her seat, she turned and looked at the mezz and said "oh man look how many people are here!" That was cool. And it was nice to hear the loud, concert-like cheers after each song like back in the day. For the past year or so, the theater is always so empty the applause just didnt sound right.
Whoever the guy is who tries to keep the lobby in order before the show was a hot mess. He kept yelling at everyone to use the "center door" to pick up tickets, even though there were two center doors. He meant "the other one". I got there at 6pm for some reason, so every 5 minutes or so, he would make everyone get out of the will call line and walk around to the other center door and get back in the will call line, explaining that "you can't go to the will call window until its available" People were like "what does that mean?" He replied "I got a lot of people to deal with, ok?" It was cool to see Marcus James and Shaun Earl run through the lobby at 6:30.
None of the cast was a standout to me. I still really don't like that Tamyra is allowed to be Mimi without the hair. If she wants to be Mimi, then wear the darn wig and be proud of it. Nobody wants to see her throw a random bag of glitter around instead of having it fly out of her hair.
Declan as Roger seemed like he was trying to conserve his voice. Same with Michael Mcelroy as Collins. He blew his I'll Cover U reprise. So many belty notes that he just let quietly out instead. I like Rodney Hicks as Benny a thousand times more than the previous Benny---D'Monroe I think? Rodney annunciates very well. Harley Jay as Mark was dull. I dont think Nicollette Hart's Maureen is popular but I thought she was decent.
But the very worst thing in the show was in the final song, as they sang "No other road, no other way...." and Shaun Earl turned to the person next to him and rolled his eyes. Being that I was in the second row I could see every pore on their face and I was like wowwwwwwww you really just rolled your eyes during Rent's gosh darn theme song.
OVERALL, its still the same 90's RENT. One of the reason why I thought that its not working anymore is because nobody is nostalgic for the 90's yet. We have had a lot of 70's nostalgia, 80's fashion is clearly making a comeback in the streets of NYC (I even admit to wearing skinny jeans and hi-tops tonight) but the 90's is still out of style, fashion, and currency, and our collective mindset. I look forward to going to the RENT revival as a cranky old man and saying "oh yeah we did dress like that in 1996! Cellphones were a novelty at one point! You could live in Manhattan without being an investment banker with a trust fund!"
I will miss nights like tonight, when a friend could call me up and say "wanna see RENT?" The show was still great fun, and it was nice to go back to the days of my early 20's. And I also thought--I was 20 when I first saw RENT, and now i'm 30 when I last see it. That seems like a nice ending.
Tonight a friend talked me into seeing RENT again even though I said I would not be seeing it again now that it has posted a closing notice. But, I figured why not one last time.
We got second row on the right aisle for 65.00 with my teacher discount about 3 hours before showtime. It ended up being a little too close. One of my favorite parts of Seasons of Love is the lighting, and I couldn't appreciate the lighting being that close. I like to see the whole "picture".
There were mic problems through the whole show. It was sort of like a blown-out speaker sound. Through the whole show.
It was great to see the theater packed though. As one of the girls in the front row got to her seat, she turned and looked at the mezz and said "oh man look how many people are here!" That was cool. And it was nice to hear the loud, concert-like cheers after each song like back in the day. For the past year or so, the theater is always so empty the applause just didnt sound right.
Whoever the guy is who tries to keep the lobby in order before the show was a hot mess. He kept yelling at everyone to use the "center door" to pick up tickets, even though there were two center doors. He meant "the other one". I got there at 6pm for some reason, so every 5 minutes or so, he would make everyone get out of the will call line and walk around to the other center door and get back in the will call line, explaining that "you can't go to the will call window until its available" People were like "what does that mean?" He replied "I got a lot of people to deal with, ok?" It was cool to see Marcus James and Shaun Earl run through the lobby at 6:30.
None of the cast was a standout to me. I still really don't like that Tamyra is allowed to be Mimi without the hair. If she wants to be Mimi, then wear the darn wig and be proud of it. Nobody wants to see her throw a random bag of glitter around instead of having it fly out of her hair.
Declan as Roger seemed like he was trying to conserve his voice. Same with Michael Mcelroy as Collins. He blew his I'll Cover U reprise. So many belty notes that he just let quietly out instead. I like Rodney Hicks as Benny a thousand times more than the previous Benny---D'Monroe I think? Rodney annunciates very well. Harley Jay as Mark was dull. I dont think Nicollette Hart's Maureen is popular but I thought she was decent.
But the very worst thing in the show was in the final song, as they sang "No other road, no other way...." and Shaun Earl turned to the person next to him and rolled his eyes. Being that I was in the second row I could see every pore on their face and I was like wowwwwwwww you really just rolled your eyes during Rent's gosh darn theme song.
OVERALL, its still the same 90's RENT. One of the reason why I thought that its not working anymore is because nobody is nostalgic for the 90's yet. We have had a lot of 70's nostalgia, 80's fashion is clearly making a comeback in the streets of NYC (I even admit to wearing skinny jeans and hi-tops tonight) but the 90's is still out of style, fashion, and currency, and our collective mindset. I look forward to going to the RENT revival as a cranky old man and saying "oh yeah we did dress like that in 1996! Cellphones were a novelty at one point! You could live in Manhattan without being an investment banker with a trust fund!"
I will miss nights like tonight, when a friend could call me up and say "wanna see RENT?" The show was still great fun, and it was nice to go back to the days of my early 20's. And I also thought--I was 20 when I first saw RENT, and now i'm 30 when I last see it. That seems like a nice ending.
