Taking a break from my break to add my piece about Mr Larson.
I must be one of the only people on the planet who didn't know a thing about Rent prior to first seeing it. Actually, I take that back. I'd asked around and someone told me it was happy, some said it was depressing, some liked it, some said it was crap. Anyway, I got a cheap ticket to the tour last fall through my school because we went as a group. I walked into the theater with no knowledge of what I was about to see and I left with something I didn't have when I had entered. It was a certain sense of hope, like it might be ok to be optimistic. It might be ok to not be scared of tommorrow. You can worry today about what will happen in another twenty-four hours or another five hundered twenty-five thousand six hundered minutes, but why? It's a kind of freedom, the ability to live and love today. A lot of people have a hard time really living like that, or even grasping the concept at all. A show like Rent brings it home more than any kind of lecture or self-help book can.
One of the things that I didn't like about Rent was what I found out about it later. Many people said it wasn't authentic, it was a sanitized version of reality, and that Mimi living was the worst thing Mr. Larson could've written for the show. After all my thought... I beg to differ. I don't claim to know anything about life in that time and place, but I can't throw Rent away either. A lot of people have been killed by the AIDS epidemic and I understand the viewpoint that says Mimi's revival belittles the crisis, but it does serve a higher purpose than just being a happy ending for the audience. Unreal? Yeah. I do believe that the show recognizes it, though, and while the characters get a second chance, the near-miss strongly reinforces living life to its fullest. If you let life pass by, you lose people like Roger nearly lost Mimi, and sometimes, just sometimes, enough passion will bring it back. Larson's themes reflected his life, or so it would seem to the outsider. It takes passion and a burning desire to make breathing worthwhile in order to create a powerful musical like Rent that has affected so many. Today is a sad day for broadway; theatre lost a talented budding composer far too soon. Despite his premature death, Mr. Larson left his mark with Rent. He can rest assured that he is not and will not be forgotten because he did live 'No Day But Today' and didn't waste what time he had. Thank you, Mr. Larson, for giving us much more than just a musical, but a piece of your own peace of mind.
Edited to apologize for length.
Updated On: 1/25/05 at 10:12 PM
Today, a guy in class asked about the "No Day But Today" quote on my shirt, so I told hi mall about the show, and i'm going to bring in the cd tomorrow so he can hear a few songs!! I was so proud!
