Rent
Rent
#2re: Rent
Posted: 4/30/06 at 3:04am
"Does anybody else NOT like Rent?"
It's ok, I mean I like the music but it's not one that I would go and pay money and see, I mean if i got tickets for free i would, but like thats going to happen. But i would not spend my money and go see it. I'd just buy the cast album and listen to the music.
Sparklesss
Featured Actor Joined: 4/6/06
Bruce Memblagh!
Featured Actor Joined: 3/27/06
#7re: Rent
Posted: 4/30/06 at 7:24am
Despite my many criticisms of and reservations over Rent it I do like it overall, although for me it has become very dated and stale. It used to move me but now I just find elements of it pretentious and the emotion far too forced to have much effect on me nowadays. If I were a first time visitor to Rent I am sure it would be more powerful, though. The message underlying Rent is still relevant to some extent but I feel it is just going through the motions now and lacks impact.
I love the music (mostly) but the main problems with Rent for me though, and always has been, are the characters and the way Larson threw at them every possible dysfunction as if the aim is that just one strand will resonate with an audience. Putting too much in when less might well have been more. With the exception of Angel and Joanne, I find it hard to like them or care for them. All this bumming around, expecting the world do do them a favor when they sure as hell do nothing to warrant that...yikes, get over it and actively seek a job! I still wonder whether it would have attained such cult status had Larson been alive.
BroadwayGirl107
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/26/03
#8re: Rent
Posted: 4/30/06 at 10:19am
Yes. You're the ONLY one who doesn't like it.
https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?thread=846430&boardname=bway
JustABroadwaybaby2
Broadway Star Joined: 4/6/06
#10re: Rent
Posted: 4/30/06 at 1:28pm
It is /not/ the end of the world. poeple have DIFFERENT opinions! Look at my favorite board "Unpopular Opinions you hold." You can write about stuff that you think you will get pelted with rocks for if you said it somewhere else!
unless you were kidding...
In that case... Ha.Ha.
I loved it, but it does get a little...you know... once you've seen it a couple of times. You know all the funny parts (i.e. THIS IS NOT MY BAR MITZVAH! in the movie) or any of the other funny parts in the movie or play. The play, in my opinion was better.
And you get tired. So that's ok...? -ducks-
"I'm thinking about how if you took the W in
answer, and the H in ghost, and the extra A in aardvark, and the T in listen, you could keep saying WHAT but no one would ever hear you because the whole word would be silent."
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Updated On: 4/30/06 at 01:28 PM
dancing 4 life
Understudy Joined: 4/30/06
Bruce Memblagh!
Featured Actor Joined: 3/27/06
Urban
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/05
#14re: Rent
Posted: 5/1/06 at 7:46am
I'll bite.
I don't like it.
Here is why (yeah I just cut'n'pasted my answer from another thread):
I think RENT is off-Broadway rubbish that only became big due to the unfortunate death of Jonathon Larson and the morbid curiosity factor propelled the show to places it would never of gone (before anybody says anything I do think Jonathon Larson was talented and I believe would've become huge sooner or later). I think if Mr. Larson had never died, "RENT" would've been the "Brooklyn" of 1996.
To The Stage!
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/28/06
bigwill121
Chorus Member Joined: 2/21/06
#17re: Rent
Posted: 5/9/06 at 6:38pm
Urban although you said you cut and pasted your commet I feel that it is a very glib interpretation. First and foremost the book and music to RENT is far stronger then that of Brooklyn. And by making the assertion that RENT's success is mainly because of the timely death of Larson is incorrect and foolish. Am I saying that RENT is the greatest show ever, by no means yes, what I am saying is that popularity of shows that have marathon runs such as Phantom, Chorus Line... attract a wide audience. RENT by some is the first legitmate rock opera since HAIR, whether that is true or not is not up to me to decide. But the bottom line is that RENT was able to appeal to a wide range of audiences that other shows of the time haven't been able to do.
Updated On: 5/9/06 at 06:38 PM
saschasf
Stand-by Joined: 12/7/05
#18re: Rent
Posted: 5/9/06 at 7:12pm
"think if Mr. Larson had never died, "RENT" would've been the "Brooklyn" of 1996."
Yes, the sob story is what did it for me. I do not mind if people dislike it. I realize it is sentimental and to some may seem simplistic. However, I get a bit irritated when people who don't like it, claim it has been around for ten years, because Larson met an untimely death. Now the initial buzz, yes, of course, his daeth "helped" that (I use the term "helped" very loosely here as I'm sure his family and friends would rather have him alive than have the explosion of press they got right after his death that porpelled Rent into something that became really well known.).) . However, musicals do not stay on Broadway for ten years, just because of a good backstory. Audiences gravitate to the story, and the music, and the energy. Almost 1,000 fans paid a hefty amount to go to the anniversary benefit, and the street was packed for the Rent lottery. You can say the fans were immature, they do not know real theater, they have overly simplistic views but I doubt any of them came just out of what? Pity for Larson? Morbid courosity at this point?
And whoever saiid that Larson gave his chracters all those dysfunctions is right. However, why I love the music so much is that I have never had to be homeless, a squatter , hiv +, a drug addict, gay, a transvestite, and yet I still relate to the characters so well. In each of them I see a little bit of myself. I never want to live that life of being "hungry and frozen". I do not find it romantic but the musical for me humanizes characters that society looks down upon, As a disabled woman, that is very, very powerful for me. Most of the time when I see or listen to the OBC Larson doesn't enter into my mind. (the exception was the benefit of course, but even then it was a momentary thing.) As for it being corny, well, I admit to been a cornball and proud of it!
sondwisenheimer
Stand-by Joined: 5/3/06
millie_dillmount
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
#20re: Rent
Posted: 5/9/06 at 7:21pmI saw the movie...it was okay, but I don't like it really except for a few songs. RENT is probably one of the only more recent cast recordings I do not own and do not plan on buying.
"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611
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