Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
#1Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Posted: 8/2/07 at 8:30pm
I know its west end news but i thought you might want to know
The West End has been waiting for Rent to come back for many years and now its finally happening (ish)
Rent will open at the Duke Of York Theatre on 16 October 2007 (previews from 2 October) but its not the Rent as we know and love it.
They are updating it, new set, set today, native accents, video screens blah blah blah blah
As a Rent fan this is the worst news we could have hoped for.
Your thoughts?
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
#2re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Posted: 8/2/07 at 8:36pmSounds weird...is there a link to an article where you found this or is it just floating around the rumor mill?
Your aspirations are your possibilities-Samuel Johnson (and a little help from nomdeplume)
#2re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Posted: 8/2/07 at 8:38pm
woops forgot to post it
http://www.whatsonstage.com/index.php?pg=207&story=E8821186075179&title=Kylie%92s+Director+Reinvents+West+End+Rent%2C+16+
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
#3re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Posted: 8/2/07 at 8:38pmThat's crazy. I'll wait to judge it, though. It might be cool seeing Rent done another way.
One time, Patti LuPone punched me in the face...
It was awesome. - theaterkid1015
It was awesome. - theaterkid1015
#4re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Posted: 8/2/07 at 8:39pmThat's crazy. I'll wait to judge it, though. It might be cool seeing Rent done another way.
One time, Patti LuPone punched me in the face...
It was awesome. - theaterkid1015
It was awesome. - theaterkid1015
#5re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Posted: 8/2/07 at 8:50pmI'm a big Rent fan...and I think it's exciting! What's wrong with them changing it? West End audiences are apparently different than NYC audiences, remember how Drowsy just closed there? I can wait to see/hear more!
#6re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Posted: 8/2/07 at 8:56pm
At first, I was like "holy sh!t". But then the more I read, the more I was intrigued. The fact that they are indeed editing the book, changing the music and re-imagining the set should be very interesting. Will it do well? I really don't know.
PS Rent for the new generation? It's only been a little over 10 years, but I suddenly feel so old...
"Hey little girls, look at all the men in shiny shirts and no wives!" - Jackie Hoffman, Xanadu, 19 Feb 2008
#7re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Posted: 8/2/07 at 8:56pm
Drowsy closed because no one here really cared and we all realized it was a pretty average show (all be it a fun one)
Updating the show immediately takes away 50 percent of the tragedy and the hope (HIV is not the death sentence it once were)
UK fans understood rent perfectly (even the film got better reviews here).
Im all for giving it a new set and a few nips and tucks here and there but not to this extent
Kylie, sugarbabes , Hollyoaks (shudder)
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
#8re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Posted: 8/2/07 at 8:59pmsonganddanceman2 - why don't you try keeping an open mind? You don't know what they're doing to it, so get a grip.
Funny Face
Broadway Star Joined: 7/6/06
#9re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Posted: 8/2/07 at 9:02pmI don't think it's bad news. I'm rather intrigued...
#9re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Posted: 8/2/07 at 9:02pm
do you have any idea who this cast are? do you have any idea how long UK fans have been waiting for a production of Rent to go back to the west end?
Well us brits do, thats why we are worried
And its called an opinion
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
#11re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Posted: 8/2/07 at 9:03pmSounds interesting! Any chance for a new recording?
#12re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Posted: 8/2/07 at 9:09pm
There could be a very good chance of a new recording because of the very commercial talent involved
I guess it will depend on how well it does
Sorry if i sound so negative i just feel its a shame that Rent has found so many UK fans since its mid 90s run and they are not going to get to see the original version of the show.
Its been a very big deal with a lot of uk fans for ages , people are always starting threads about "when is Rent coming back" on the West End board.
We all heard rumors of this months ago and that they were changing the production and the UK fans expressed there disappointment.
It could be great who knows, it just isnt the news UK fans were hoping for
But i do wish them the best, having any version of Rent back is better than having none.
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
#13re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Posted: 8/2/07 at 9:10pm
Hmmm, it could be interesting. I'll wait for reviews of the show to see how it'll it work. It could be very good, who knows though. (thanks for the link! 
)
Your aspirations are your possibilities-Samuel Johnson (and a little help from nomdeplume)
#14re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Posted: 8/2/07 at 9:11pmWith That, My Soul Just Died alittle
#15re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Posted: 8/2/07 at 9:11pmYou know, it COULD be better than what is playing in NYC right now.
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.
outovfashion07
Broadway Star Joined: 1/17/06
#16re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Posted: 8/2/07 at 9:13pmI dont like the fact that it's shorter. I don't think anything should be cut. They can change the set and update all they want, but the score should be left intact. Under 2 hours? It runs at about 2hr 45min now, thats ALOT to be cutting.
#17re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Posted: 8/2/07 at 9:16pm
Yes Kylies stage designer, a former member of the sugarbabes , a cast member from Hollyoaks , setting it in a non descript location in a time when HIV is not a death sentence, and giving it a pop makeover
It has all the makings of a hit
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
sgv123
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/16/06
#18re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Posted: 8/2/07 at 9:18pmhow long did it last in the west end the first time ?
#19re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Posted: 8/2/07 at 9:21pmi guess if it really is bad, then the true Rent fans won't go see it (at least not more than once) and it will close. That's the only way thing are really successful - return audiences.
TapTapTapioca
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/27/07
#20re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Posted: 8/2/07 at 9:21pm
I wonder if the West End version proves to be successful if they would change the original. The chances of that happening are 0 to none. But this sounds kind of interesting.
Has their ever been a revival of a show in one part of the world while the original is still on Broadway?
I shave me Xanadu every morning!
#21re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Posted: 8/2/07 at 9:22pm
18 months originally but Rent was very unknown here at the time and has since found a hell of a fan base.
We have had a UK tour in 2004 i think (very average) which took it back in to the west end for a limited run and the tour did really well(even though it was an awful cast and cheap production) but it showed just how many fans Rent had in the UK.
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
Updated On: 8/2/07 at 09:22 PM
sgv123
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/16/06
#22re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Posted: 8/2/07 at 9:25pmi didnt read the article, but from what i am hearing they are changing too much. they should just make a completly different show. if they are going to do rent they should do the original to please the uk fans.
Craww
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/13/06
#23re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Posted: 8/2/07 at 9:35pmI hope they record it, sounds like a fun little oddity. Granted, it sounds more like a "cover song" version of Rent for me, because I'll never see it. As a fully staged production, as the show that will be available to the fans of the piece, it sounds ghastly.
#24re: Rent -for an Ipod generation ??
Posted: 8/2/07 at 10:03pm
Whoa.....they're completely changing the arrangements of the songs? That sounds...unsettling. I guess in theory it could be a good show. But I just don't like the idea of everything being different. Why does it have to be "updated" for an "ipod" generation? It seems like changing too much might ruin its entire message. Won't updating the AIDS references completely change the whole "no day but today" theme?! If AIDS isn't made to sound like a death sentence in this new version, then what's the point of the show? Hmmm?
It'll be interesting, I suppose. I really am kind of curious about it. But in another way, it just seems a little bit wrong to be updating something that already works so well.
Some of the updates I can cope with. But it's the changing of the song arrangements that just seems really wrong to me.
The Ipod Generation comment makes me kind of sad. I mean, have we gotten to the point that we need to update and change EVERYTHING just to make it more "modern?"
Still.....I'll try to give it a chance before I get completely panicky over the whole thing.
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