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#26

re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??

Posted: 8/2/07 at 10:04pm

I guess get the sentiment behind it, but I really hate when people say "HIV isn't a death sentence anymore."

That being said, the characters in Rent probably wouldn't have access to the drugs needed to prevent HIV from turning to AIDS and killing them anyway, so I don't see this as being all that outlandish.

"How do you like THAT 'misanthropic panache,' Mr. Goldstone?" - PalJoey
#27

re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??

Posted: 8/2/07 at 10:08pm

well if it ends up been set in the UK they would as medical care is free here lol

And HIV isn't the death sentence it once was , there is nothing wrong with saying that, believe me i know
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
#28

re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??

Posted: 8/2/07 at 10:10pm

I know what you mean, Kringas. AIDS is obviously still a huge problem and I know that it is still "a death sentence." I understand that completely, since some of my friends have had to take tests for HIV, and I was absolutely terrified for them.

I just hope that this new Rent version won't downplay how terrible AIDS is. If they do keep true to the message and keep to the story you said, of the Rent characters not being able to get the medicine they need, then it could work.
I would just hate to see the show changed so much that the message gets lost in translation.
#29

re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??

Posted: 8/2/07 at 10:16pm

Who is Jerome Johnson?
I chose, and my world was shaken. So what? The choice may have been mistaken. The choosing was not.
#30

re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??

Posted: 8/2/07 at 10:17pm

Well, one could argue that the original production downplays how terrible AIDS is.
"How do you like THAT 'misanthropic panache,' Mr. Goldstone?" - PalJoey
#31

re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??

Posted: 8/2/07 at 10:18pm

I think this could be quite exciting. Who knows if the new concept will work or not, but I have no problem with taking a fresh look at the material and reconceiving it. I love the original Rent, but that doesn't mean it can't be redone in a different manner that is still artistically successful. Sometimes treating originals as too "sacred" leads to stale results. Just look at the movie version of Rent (which suffered from Chris Columbus's unwillingness to reconceive and recast it for the screen) and the recent xerox revivals of Les Miz and Chorus Line. I say give it a shot! Maybe a fresh look will pay off.
"This is wanting something, this is reaching for it, This is wishing that a moment would arrive. This is taking chances, this is almost touching, what the beauty is." --The Light in the Piazza
#32

re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??

Posted: 8/2/07 at 10:40pm

I don't really know what to think about this... I'm nervous that it's going to completely ruin the show and its message, but I'm still intrigued to see a new take on some of the "dated" material.
I'm just glad that I'll be in London when it opens. Good or bad, I want to see it :)
Does the sun really rise in the east?
Does the earth really spin around the sun?
What's it matter in the least?
What's real to me ain't real to everyone.

Updated On: 8/2/07 at 10:40 PM

#33

re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??

Posted: 8/3/07 at 1:13am

This is not only a horrible idea but is also extremely disrespectful towrads the material and the vision of Jonathan Larson. New sets and costumes is cool and the picture looks great but the problems here lie at the root of this concepulization. The music is going to be "poppier" That is a problem, for instance, when searching for a Roger, they went through so many auditionees looking for someone who sounded raw and edgy, not poppy. And the guy playinig Mark, I could be proven wrong, but look at his credits, Les Mis and Phantom... not exactly the kind of voice I want Roger to have. There is also nothing that you can really cut out of the show. I mean theoretically, you could cut "we're okay," you could trim all the christmas bells reprises and voice mails, but those are what give the show such character. The only characters that you can really trim are Benny and Joanne and when they did that in the movie..... well it speaks for itself. And if Jonathan were alive and gave his blessing... then fine... but imo the people running his estate have completely bastardized his vision. It has become nothing more than a commercial franchise. If you look at everything from the high school version that nixes the male/male kissing, the sterilized movie, etc. you can see the trend. It is shameful. Rent needs to close and keep some of its dignity in tact.
#34

re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??

Posted: 8/3/07 at 2:26am

I know everyone is up in arms over this but doesn't this happen all the time? When a show gets revived or even a play for that matter... it's changed...look at all the incarnations of Romeo & Juliet...all the changes that have been made for different versions. Just because Jonathon Larson conceived the original, doesn't mean it's the end all be all---BUT---The only thing I can see wrong with updating this particular show is that it's become a period piece, like "Hair". It's like doing a revival of "Hair" and not setting it in the 60's.

The same can be said for "Rent"...updating it seems odd because of the mindset of the characters. These people lived in a time when they DIDN'T know if they'd be alive tomorrow because of AIDS. Now with all the drugs, cocktails, and protease inhibitors...they know that they will probably be alive to see another day...some of the songs won't make sense.

If they want to do a re-incarnation of the show and make all these changes, don't call it RENT anymore, because it won't be.

I know I kind of contradicted myself...but I think in short, I am saying is that some shows are universal and can be set at any time and any place, but shows like Hair and Rent are of a specific time and place that can't be changed.

Updated On: 8/3/07 at 02:26 AM

#35

re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??

Posted: 8/3/07 at 2:38am

For those of you who think that HIV / AIDS is no longer a death sentence I have come up with the perfect solution that will hopefully please you. They should instead use the Avian Flu!!

What do 'ya think?
Rant, Wickud, Rant, Wickud, Rant! We're not gonna pay Rant! 'Cause everythink is Wickud!

"Leave Walt Disney Theatricals new sparkling production of The Little Mermaid on Broadway alone!!!"

lakezurich will be played by Paul Groves in the BWW musical
#36

re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??

Posted: 8/3/07 at 3:06am

i was on a rent forum.... some people were saying that they are kinda bothered that is going back to the uk. they feel that is so specific and that it should stay in NY. not just it being changed, but does anyone else feel that is should only be performed here.
#37

re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??

Posted: 8/3/07 at 9:59am

Article on Playbill.com this morning:

"London will welcome a reworked version of Jonathan Larson's Pulitzer-Prize winning musical Rent this fall...this "contemporary" take on Rent was conceived and will be directed by William Baker. This production will be the first professional production to not reproduce the original...

"Baker told Daily Variety, "Because of Jonathan Larson's untimely death at the first preview, the show has become frozen as a kind of sacred text. It looked and sounded very much of its time. Audiences have changed since then, and I think it needed reappraising for a London audience." Baker added his Rent is a "digital production for a digital world — more a pop opera than a rock opera." Each song has been reorchestrated to match the character who sings it. "All great songs can always be remixed," Baker explained. "We've kept the vocal melodies, but the sound is completely different.'"

Oh. Dear.




Playbill Article
...this bird is singing.
#38

re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??

Posted: 8/3/07 at 11:00am

So this girl Siobhan Donaghy, who is as white as a sheet, will be playing Mimi Marquez?
Tonya Pinkins: Then we had a "Lot's Wife" last June that was my personal favorite. I'm still trying to get them to let me sing it at some performance where we get to sing an excerpt that's gone.
Tony Kushner: You can sing it at my funeral.
#39

re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??

Posted: 8/3/07 at 11:15am

She is very very white with red hair lol , she does have a good voice though, she quit the pop band the sugarbabes a few years ago.

RENT IS NOT A POP OPERA grr

JL wanted to create a new Rock Opera like Hair, not High School Musical.

Oh my god Its FAME with AZT lol
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
#40

re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??

Posted: 8/3/07 at 11:16am

I"m trying to keep an open mind, but it's hard.

Rent really doesn't NEED updating for this generation. I'm a member of the Ipod generation. My first exposure to Rent was the movie. Most of my friends were exposed to it in the same way. Many of my friends have gone to see the show for the first time- and we all loved it. I'm not a fangirl, but when I saw the stage show I wasn't really crazy about all the cast members, but I didn't think it was tired or outdated. RENT is only tired nad outdated to the people who have seen the show many times over. And those feelings aren't from age- it's from overexposure.
Cosette: Roses are red. Marius: Violets are blue. Eponine: You're so in love! Marius: And so not with you.
#41

re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??

Posted: 8/3/07 at 11:28am

Ahh! I LOVE the Sugababes!

"If you're ready for me boy, you better push the button and let me know!"

One of my top played songs on my iPod :).

oh...and the revival sounds interesting...
"If it walks like a Parks, if it wobbles like a Parks, then it's definitely fat and nobody loves it." --MA
#42

re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??

Posted: 8/3/07 at 12:41pm

I don't really know what to think of this. I am definitely from the iPod generation, and my friends are more into that pop-mainstream stuff than I am, and yet we all loved it when we saw it on Broadway. I can understand maybe making it less Americanized, but completely changing it is taking things a little too far.

If they like it, that's great. If not, then the whole thing was a mistake.
"I'm sort of like a child genius without being a child or a genius."~Tim Rice-Oxley
#44

re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??

Posted: 8/3/07 at 1:09pm

I posted this in the other thread:

It should be interesting. And I hope we get a chance to at least hear what they are doing with it.

I don't know why, but his statement -

“When Rent was first produced, Jonathan tragically died at the point when it would have been tightened up. We’ve edited it a lot, taken it down to its core, down to core relationships and issues".

- bothers me a bit. As if he knew what Larson had in mind at the time. And how does he know the show was not tightened up by the director after Mr. Larson died? It is fine to update it if he wants but as stated, we will always have the original. My thought also is that theatre "transforms" you. The show is set in the early 90's (correct?) and I think one should be ready to be taken back to that time. Why update it to "pacify" the kids who look at music differently. This is not an old album of songs, it is a multi award winning Broadway show. It depicts a certain time, style of music and lifestyle, etc. When I see a show set in the past, present, future or fantasy world, I let it take me there. I am also worried about what they will cut.

But again, it will be interesting to hear what they will do with it. And this is Mr. Baker's first outing as a Director. I see he is was Kylie Minogue's former creative director so we have an idea what this show may look like. Just my random thoughts.
Just give the world Love. - S. Wonder
#45

re: Rent -for an Ipod generation?

Posted: 8/3/07 at 1:11pm

I'm not disturbed by anything at all in this situation as much as I am by the fact that Oliver Thornton is going to be Mark.
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
#46

re: Rent -for an Ipod generation?

Posted: 8/3/07 at 1:18pm

In all fairness, it's the same person who always posts the "when's 'RENT' coming back?" threads on the West End board. re: Rent -for an Ipod generation?

I'm not dissing different orchestrations. Hell, I still love John Doyle, I'm ALL for different orchestrations! And I'm not going to say "this show's definitely rubbish!" or "this show's definitely great!" without going to see it.

But uh... the cast list frightens me, and I find it insulting that they feel the need to "update it", and if anyone wants to throw out the phrase "too American", I'll happily argue that point - again - an' all.

I will wait and see. But I'm remaining on the cautious side of the fence for this one, rather than my more usual optimistic standpoint.
Notes from the Earlham Street Gutter
#47

re: Rent -for an Ipod generation?

Posted: 8/3/07 at 1:21pm

I'm going to assume that the "orchestrations" will have a techno vibe to them. Like that tour of GODSPELL did several years ago.
#49

re: Rent -for an Ipod generation?

Posted: 8/3/07 at 1:32pm

Rent will close in Broadway and then...the Rent Remixed will open in NY not soon after...
#50

re: Rent -for an Ipod generation?

Posted: 8/3/07 at 2:07pm

weez i hope your not talking about me since i haven't posted a thread about whens rent coming back i have posted on them as have all the members on the west end board

Facts before bitching
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna

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