RENT: Your First Time — Page 2

Some time in 2000 I was in 5th grade and I don't really remember it much except I know i LOVED the music and bought the *highlights* cd. I remember likeing Maureen (i think it was maggie benjamin jsut from memory but i honestly couldn't be sure)not understanding contact, and realizing that angel was a man. As soon as the show was over I kept telling my parents how fun that show must be to be in.

My "real first time" as i like to call it though was January 21, 2006 Junior year of highschool. I went with the GLASS club at my school and paid only $10. I saw Will Chase, Matt Caplan, Antonique, Ava Gaudet, Frenchie Davis, Desten Owens, D'monroe, Shaun Earl, Kenna Ramsey, Marcus Paul James, Haven Burton... the whole lot.

---

1998 - broadway - try ellett, maggie benjamin...i absolutely fell in love. it's the show that completely catapulted me into musical theatre. there's no way for me to count how many times i've sat in the nederlander theatre since that night.

my best memory is from 2002 when a group of friends started off my 21st birthday celebration by going together. i'll never, ever forget it.

January 2003. I was 13. Some cast members were Sebastian Arcelus, Kendra Kassebaum, Karmine Alers, and Jai Rodriguez. I was on a bus trip into the city to see 42nd Street and the next day my parents and I decided to see Rent. I really loved it. As far as the music goes, I had only heard "Seasons of Love" because of the Broadway Kids cds. The next weekend at home I bought the OBCR (it was VERY expensive for an 8th grader), and it was constantly played in my CD player for the next few months. My best friend and I bonded over that cast album many a times in high school. I remember when the movie came out, too. My friends and I were juniors in high school and all went to the 2nd showing of the day (we had an early release) and just got to share it together - about 15 of us, all the theatre company kids - and we had the theatre mostly to ourselves also, so that was cool, too. Now that Rent is closing, I do want to see it again, and the fact that I go to school 30 minutes from NYC helps - a lot. So I'm looking forward to seeing it once more before it closes.

Heh, long time ago would be ten years ago Howar/Caplan are definitely in the past two years time frame.

Whatever. I still don't remember it very well.

I do remember going backstage the last time I saw it. That was pretty much my favorite part of the whole RENT experience.

For me it was January of 2005 at the Bushnell in Hartford. My mom and I waited in line for rush tickets for two hours and nabbed front row center. I just remember sitting there being in constant awe. The moment I remember most was sobbing my eyes out during "I'll Cover You (reprise)." At that moment I felt like I was the only person in the theatre. Two years later, and hundreds of cast recording listens later, I finally saw it in NYC. It wasn't because I never wanted to see it in NYC but I was just waiting for some interesting casting. When Rapp and Pascal came back I couldn't pass up the chance. My mom and I went in August and I am so thrilled that I was able to experience it again with some of the original cast.

---

I ushered the show the third or fourth preview at NYTW. Already there was tremendous buzz, and I remember Sigourney Weaver coming in right before the show started and sitting in a folding chair in the back of the house.

I saw the show a couple more times (ushers got to sit on the cement steps)and it really was an exciting happening.

April 12, 1998. It was a high school graduation present.

I know it was winter/spring...probably winter...of 7th grade for me...I was 12, turning 13, so the year was...1999.

At first, my family wasn't even sure they were going to get a ticket, wondering if I was too young to appreciate it. I don't know why they changed their minds (thank god they did).

I don't remember the entire cast but I do know Manley Pope was Roger (I wasn't very critical of performances back then, so I liked him, thought he was cute, will never see another performance of his again to ruin the "illusion," Jose Llana was Angel (who I loved!), Carly Thomas was on as Maureen (don't know why I remember that), I'm fairly certain Mark Richard Ford was on as Collins...Jim Poulus might have been Mark...and I know Mimi and Joanne had understudies, can't remember Benny.

I think we were sitting near the front on the left side, because I remember being near Mark for Seasons of Love. Sure, there were some things that...it wasn't even that I didn't understand, but it was hard to follow going in, knowing nothing about it. Still, the message rang loud and clear for me, even if aspects of the story did not. I immediately fell in love with the message of "No Day But Today," loved "Seasons of Love," just loved the music as a whole. Bought the cast recording immediately, the first one I ever bought, and the first stage show I ever obsessed with.

I really can't believe the amazing memories it has provided me with, and how I've been able to have some experiences that I would never thought have been possible when I first saw it (watching a scene from the movie being filmed, seeing the original cast in Rent 10, etc).

Even going recently for "the return," the show still had an amazing impact on me and it totally changed my viewpoint at what was going on at that point, and I just looked at everything more positively. I can't explain it.

It's been a great 9 years for me and my experiences with Rent.

ETA: Sorry, that was a total typo.

---

Updated On: 1/16/08 at 12:22 PM

Ok I'm the only one who wrote about ALL my RENT experiences, not just the first time.....should I take that down and put it in some other thread?

---

My first time seeing RENT was in 2000. Ever since I've only wished I could've seen it with the original cast, but alas.... that wasn't the case.

I remember back in 1998, 1999 seeing commercials on TV for rent. I remember thinking then, even though I knew nothing about the show, that something about it looked interesting and captivating. Just in those few short seconds of commercial time. But then I thought nothing else about it. I've never been a big Broadway person, even though I live just outside of the city and could've gone to see shows all the time if I wanted... I was always a movie and film girl.

Then, in 2000 a girl I went to high school with told me about it, said we should go. She told me about the lottery and it seemed great, getting to see a show for $20!! I mean, who wouldn't be into that.

Trey Ellett was my first Mark, I remember liking him very much. I loved the music, I loved the simplicity of it, and the overwhelming feeling of just having witnessed something truly powerful (even if not an OBC).... it hit me hard.

At the time my dad was battling Leukemia (he passed away in 2004) and at times it was so f*cking bad I wanted to just die. Seeing my dad wither away to almost nothing... it was so painful to see, even when I went away to college a number of states away, it was just heartbreaking to know he was so sick. - If nothing else, I found comfort in Rent. Maybe that sounds silly to some.... I know MANY people understand me though. The core of that story helped me at times like nothing else could. -- and I wasn't exactly turning to it for help, but it just always seemed to be there waiting for me when I needed something to lift me up. It was like the story knew my pain, and the characters were helping me just as much as they were helping each other.

I loved that show.

It's not the same now as it once was... but the message is still there. Jonathan Larson was something extraordinary, everyone knew it. It's a shame he couldn't live to see how many lives he would affect.

I saw it on Broadway only 5-10 times. MUCH less than many others, yes, but I was just as much a fan as anyone else.

When I first saw the trailer for the film I cried. I'm not even kidding you at all. I was so proud of JL and the OBC members that made it there and were getting to spread his message farther than NYC. The film was.... well, what it was... but, I love it all the same. I went to a preview for it that Anthony, Adam, and others were at. The day I went to that was the day of my aunt's memorial. She was my father's sister, she lived with us helping out with my dad while he was sick, and she died a year after him. It was a completely sudden thing. We had no idea she was sick and she just ended up having a heart attack in our house at the age of 67. So that day of the preview... I went to her memorial, and then wasn't really sure if I should be going anywhere else. But there was no way... I had to go that night, I HAD to. Once again RENT just seemed to ... be there... just at the right time, right when I *needed* it, or needed something.... again, it did help.

I'm sorry to ramble, there are many who are glad this show is finally over.... I too think it's the right choice... even if ticket sales were still doing really well, it just isn't what it was anymore. It can't go on forever. But it will forever be missed, and hopefully always remembered.


Thank you so much Jonathan Larson!

---

My first time was the day after X-mas in 2005 I won lotto with my mom and we sat front Row center orc. It was the most amazing day of my life. After it was over I turned to my mom and said "That was increditable". It was truely the first b-way show that really got me emotionally. I will truely miss this AMAZING SHOW. I've heard the rumors about it closing for like the past 3 years but I didn't think that the real closing announcement would come for a LONGGGGG LONG time. Now What show will I See time after time. There is no other show. No other show on broadway has spoken to me the way this show has.

---

My first time was on a Saturday night in February of '97..saw most of the original cast. I saw it again the next day (Sunday afternoon). Needless to say I was a Renthead from the beginning. I've seen it about once a year since...always moved, always inspired...I've made my living for the past 20 years as a songwriter, always seeking out music that moves me..RENT gets me every time...THANK YOU JONATHAN LARSON...