RIP Jonathan-Rent lives on.... — Page 3

I was not trashing him. I was merely stating that I do not believe he contributed nearly enough to warrant a theatre being named after him. That is not trashing.

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"If that that is your opinion than feel free to create a thread about someone you admire. Please don't come here to trash on someone who inspired me. Where's the love?"

I agree!!!!

^ When you say a much better show, do you mean something like Legally Blonde?

That was probably the most disgusting post I've ever read on BWW.

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Wow. A new low for some of you.

Just got in from seeing tonight's performance of RENT on broadway. I won the lottery and front row center seats. I couldn't think of anything else to do to honor the anniversary of Jonathan Larson's death. The cast was ON FIRE tonight. More raw emotion and total commitment to the show than I've seen in a RENT performance in a while. I'd like to think the cast was thinking of Jonathan tonight too. Thank You, Jonathan Larson. Rest in Peace.

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LET"S NOT FORGET JONATHAN'S BIRTHDAY FEBRUARY 4TH.

God Bless, Johnny. I only wish you could've stuck around so we could see what other amazing work you could create.

that is a great quote!!!

While I do agree that many moments in Rent and ttB! sound very similar, I think it's slightly unfair to say that as a condemnation, though. He didn't have a chance to develop his sound the way someone like Sondheim, who has lived to be able to write for DECADES has. Besides the fact that when he was working on ttB!, it wasn't intended to be the musical we know; it was a one-man show about his life and his struggles and his beliefs. Not to mention that if you think ALL of his work sounds the same, it's very obvious that you're basing that ONLY on Rent and ttB! and have never heard his other work.

And I'm sorry, but Rent DID change the history of musical theater. It may not have spun the genre on its head the way Oklahoma! and Hair did, but it is a mark and a piece of history, and anyone who understands the timeline of American musical theater should be able to see that. Sometimes I think people are so blinded by their participation in the vogue hatred of Rent that they can't look at it objectively anymore. In some ways, it's seen as to the 90's what Hair was to its time. It's not just histrionic fans who think Rent is the best thing ever that look at is as a turning point; scholars and academia acknowledge it as such, too.

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Updated On: 1/26/08 at 03:29 PM

Exactly. I'm not saying that RENT had no influence and it was nothing but a spot on Broadway history..but I really don't see how this changed the world of Broadway or anything.
And yes, you're quite right, it is unfair to use that as a condemnation. I don't want to say something stupid like "he died, so too bad he didn't have time to develop his shows", and maybe it's just because I have never connected with ANY of his work, not just TTB or RENT, but it's just a matter of opinion that I truly don't think it would be fair to other composers.
And trust me, I do not have a dislike for RENT because it's popular, that is just an unfair presumption. I first heard the recording when I was in the 6th grade, and I was pretty captivated by it for that whole year only because it was so different, but I never LOVED it or LIKED it. It was interesting to me at that age, but once I got over that initial curiosity, RENT did absolutely nothing for me. I could make a list WHY but apparantly we are not allowed to insult the show too much on this thread.

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Floyd Collins opened more doors that season than Rent did.

For me, Floyd Collins started to bring the American musical out of the dank, disgusting hole it was in durring the late 80s and early 90s. It paid homage to everything that came before it from Rodgers and Hammerstein to Sondheim, but was its own completely new and different animal. Rent helped the American musical about as much as Hair did. Just because you have fresh, hip people in the company and rock music does not mean you are innovative. Hair did about as much for the American musical as New Faces of '52. Same for Rent, aside from the fact that it was the first musical theatre phenomenon since Chorus Line.


On another note, I also really hated Rent's original tagline- "Don't you hate the word 'musical'?". It absolutely disgusted me. I think everyone's smart enough to figure out why and I know a lot of people feel the same way.

I don't understand how Floyd Collins opened more doors for musical theatre than RENT.

Also, while no Broadway theatres should be named as the Jonathan Larson, I can imagine an Off-Broadway house being renamed as the Larson. (Laurie Beechman has a little dinner-theatre named after her, right?)

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