I'm super tired so I apologize in advance if any of this makes no sense at all lol.
Anthony Rapp: was fantastic. There were one or two times where he looked like...5% bored, but his voice was spot on and he seemed to be giving a lot of energy and heart into his performance. His Mark was not nearly as lacking in personality as many others I have seen, probably because he's been playing the role on and off for so long now lol. His dancing during La Vie Boheme and Tango: Maureen was hilarious! He *did* come out the stage door and zipped through the line pretty quickly, didn't stop to take individual pictures but people were snapping them. He and I had a .10 second conversation lol I won't repeat its contents here, what I said was super cheesy but he was nice about it, especially since he looked kind of tired and probably just wanted to get the hell home lol.
Adam Pascal: looked like he would have rather had his toenails pulled off with pliers than been on that stage. When Mimi (almost) died, the look on his face when he was like "nooooo!" was like....to steal from "How I Met Your Mother," it was like a cat sitting on a porch swing idly swatting at a fly. His voice was okay, even great at times, but he was fo shiz phoning it in. Disappointing. He did not stage door, which I was expecting (expecting him not to, that is), and I saw a few people run after him when they saw him walking down the street (he used a different exit).
Justin Johnston: possibly my favorite performer of the night! Not to sound harsh but I've always found myself caring more about the other characters in RENT than I care about Angel, but tonight he definitely caught my attention more than any other Angel has. His dancing, singing, and acting were spot on, and some of the things he did were just hilarious. I wish we would have caught him at the stage door too, but oh well.
Mimi: I'm really sorry I'm too lazy to look her name up haha but she was the best Mimi I have ever seen! This girl can actually sing while doing Mimi's choreography, a feat, and sounded pretty damn great while doing it. Her acting during the death/final scene was so/so, but overall she was fantastic. I caught her by the BC/EFA table after the show (more on that later) and told her just how fantastic I thought she was haha but we missed her at the door also.
Maureen: eh. I?m so torn. Her acting was great, her ?Over the Moon? was HILARIOUS, the best I?ve seen, but I feel like she just didn?t have the vocals to pull off the role. Maybe it?s just me, or maybe she was having a tired night, who knows. She was hilarious, though, and (imo) looks kind of like Amy Poehler lol. She was the only one besides the actor who played Benny and Anthony Rapp who we caught at the stage door.
Joanne: another eh. Her acting was okay, her singing was okay. Nothing spectacular, not horrible, jush normal I suppose.
Collins: again, sorry I?m not looking up people?s names, I?m exhausted from being out of the house all day lol but he was awesome! This is the Collins that closed the show on Broadway and he was great.
What else am I missing... Gwen Stewart (the soloist in ?Seasons of Love?) was fierce. I was really sad that Telly Leung was not there, he was Boq in Wicked: Chicago for awhile and LZ and I really wanted to bring him some more jelly beans lol. Whoever did Mark?s mother didn?t get the laughs some of the lines normally get, whether that was her or the audience I?m not sure.
Oh, one other random/bizarre thing I noticed was that the band seemed to be having some issues. Maybe I was just hearing oddly, but there were times when the actors and the band seemed to be one or two beats off from one another, and times when separate instruments seemed to come in on the wrong beat when they should have been together. I know how this sounds haha obviously not all of the band are playing the same parts in unison for the entire show, but something just seemed off. Who knows. For the most part it wasn't noticeable at all, and may just be my perception.
Oh, and I didn?t really like what they did with the funeral scene having some parts/words spoken in unison. I think I know WHY they did it, but I just didn?t like it.
Also, for anyone who's interested, they are selling Playbills for $20 and posters for $100 that have been signed by the entire cast, proceeds going to BC/EFA. They are collecting donations in the lobby on the way out and also held an auction tonight to get a walk-on role in the show one night while it's here, 2 people bid $3,000 each and so the stage manager said they would do it 2 nights so apparently these 2 people will be rehearsing with the cast and then having their own walk-on role/curtain calls sometime later this week. Not sure how they're going to manage that but they raised $6,000 for BC/EFA so more power to them! lol not sure if they're auctioning things every night or not. Anyone?
In conclusion: I?d give it an 8/10, a solid and enjoyable performance by most with some notable weak links. And sorry this is so long :)
"You don't just stop posting horse s*** on the web!"-The [Title of Show] Show
Updated On: 4/4/09 at 01:47 AM
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