Rent Review

[TheGirlinTheFrock]

Posted: 4/25/04 at 11:09pm

ok i saw the RENT matinee yesterday. I thought i'd share my thoughts on the show/scary spice. Since there has been so much speculation as to her performance, ill try to give a detailed review - unbiased as possible.

Overall the show was great. Its one of my favorite shows. I saw it a couple weeks ago so i knew i would love the rest of the cast. Now onto MelB.

She did look older than 19 - as most the Mimis do. but she still pulled off the "mimi look" although no blue pants - tad bit disappointed there.

LIGHT MY CANDLE: she was decent in the number, as someone previously stated her accent made some words come out weird. it almost seemed like she was concentrating so hard on not letting her accent show that it took away from her singing.

OUT TONIGHT: She didnt dance as much as i thought. instead she stayed longer in the different positions on the bars so she didnt ahve to do as much. vocally she just hit the notes. you could tell that she was reaching for them and wasnt comfortable in the range. but not to much cracking or flat notes. there were a few here and there.

ANOTHER DAY: omg, i wanted to cry. This was one of my favorite songs and it was butchered. during the other numbers her voice was raspy and you could tell that she was recovering from a soar throat or something. but Out Tonight took everything out of her voice. She couldnt even get the words out. If she did she cracked on them. and if she didnt crack it was flat or sharp. after hearing LIGHT MY CANDLE i was thinking "ok this might be good" but after this song i def. lost my confidence in her. when the rest of the company joined in with her they were louder than usual, it sounded like they were trying to drown her out.

I SHOULD TELL YOU: it was ok. nothing wrong with it besides the raspiness of the voice. just that it sounded awkward with the harmony.

WITHOUT YOU: she started off good in this song, i think during intermission she had some honey or somthing for her voice because she got better. but in the middle of the song she starting messing up again. it was hard to watch angel and collins and feel sympathetic/empathetic with hearing a flat note every other measure.

GOODBYE LOVE: alot of crackin, flat and sharp notes in this.

her accent was a hinderance to her performaance. it seemed to increaase as the show went on. when she says "if you close your eyes" during la vie boheme, was in a full out british accent. i could see the people around me w/ the same confused expression on their face. "Mimi's british?"

Acting wise i have absolutely no complaints. she wasnt the best actress i have ever seen but i didnt go in thinking she was experienced in that field. But she def pulled off the part in this aspect.

I hope and semi-believe that her vocal problems are due to the fact that she still isnt back to her full health. i would have like to see her w/o being sick the previous week to see if her off notes were just her or due to her sickness. i do believe that over time she will learn to say the lines w/o the accent yet dont kno how long that will take.

i went w/ 22 of my friends from our Performing Arts company in our school. all seemed to agree with me on her performance, accept one who is totally in love with her to begin with. her performance was def. the weakest in the cast yet i think she will improve over time.

[NYCbabe3789]

Posted: 4/25/04 at 11:13pm

Thanks for your UNBIASED review. :)

[TheGirlinTheFrock]

Posted: 4/25/04 at 11:15pm

hey i try ..

[iflitifloat]

Posted: 4/25/04 at 11:17pm

I didn't think it sounded biased. It sounded like she was trying to find something good to say, and wasn't given much to work with.

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 4/25/04 at 11:21pm

There's no such thing as an unbiased review.

[TheGirlinTheFrock]

Posted: 4/25/04 at 11:22pm

of course not .. thats why i said "as unbaised as possible"

[TheGirlinTheFrock]

Posted: 4/25/04 at 11:36pm

just read my friends live journal and this was his thoughts on her. btw he is another huge RENT fan.


"she couldnt hit ANY high note. none. out tonight was a mess. she was beautiful in Light My Candle and the beginning part of Without You...but the rest was just a rhaspy tangle. eddie enjoyed her though...good for him."

[Wicked_Elphie]

Posted: 4/25/04 at 11:42pm

you heard y she doesn't wear the blue pants right...they didn't think she looked good in them.

[StraightToHeaven]

Posted: 4/26/04 at 1:32pm

Hey, nice review! I'm just curious how was her chemisrty with Jeremy Kushnier?

[BroadwayBound06]

Posted: 4/26/04 at 1:39pm

Jeremy Kushnier is Rodger?

[NYCbabe3789]

Posted: 4/26/04 at 1:48pm

"Jeremy Kushnier is Rodger?"

No. He plays Roger.

[BroadwayBound06]

Posted: 4/26/04 at 1:52pm

Yea yea, I can't spell. From Ren to Ramades (sp) to Roger, looks like he's following in Pascal's footsteps. He's doing what I wanted to.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 4/26/04 at 1:57pm

After reading your review, memories come flooding back. I can somewhat identify with her vocal problems. It's tough to sing so much when you're trying to recover from throat problems. Especially in such a vocally demanding show. I once played Brad Majors in Rocky Horror. I didn't realize until we were in rehearsals that Brad is on stage for about 95% of the show. During the run, the entire cast was passing around a nasty cold. Janet and I both got sick at the same time and there was no way to try and cover it. We were always on stage, so intermission was our only chance to recoup. There was one performance where we both literally lost our voices and it was all we could do to croak out the spoken dialogue. Perhaps with a week off, Mel B could recover and do a better job, but if she keeps performing with only a day off here and there, it will be a while before she fully recovers. Even with proper support and breathing, if the throat has been injured, it doesn't take much for the throat muscles to simply give out if they haven't had time to strengthen back to normal.

[MelB4Ever]

Posted: 4/26/04 at 2:02pm

I think her best performance was Monday even though I didnt see the show on other days. Many people who saw her performance from tuesday-saturday say that she was better on Monday. I think the reason she was the best on Monday was because she took weekend off and her throat got better. I hope she will only get better as time goes on.

[BroadwayDiva]

Posted: 4/26/04 at 4:32pm

ANOTHER DAY was butchered? NOOOOOO!!!!!!! WHY WHY WHY???

Wicked_Elphie- were you serious about the blue pants thing? The pants make Mimi!! What was she wearing instead?

[TheGirlinTheFrock]

Posted: 4/26/04 at 6:28pm

yeah i did hear about her pants being changed in a previous thread. Truth be told i can see why they changed the color. To put it nicely, her butt and thigh region were a tad bit big, for the part of Mimi. Mimi is supposed to be a frail and thin crack addict. She looked very healthy!

[citylights]

Posted: 4/26/04 at 8:35pm

I noticed the costume change on the Rent taxi photo and I was a little confused. I don't think they should've done that- the blue pants are classic Mimi thing (from Daphne Rubin-Vega's closet on..)

[StateOfJade]

Posted: 4/27/04 at 10:38pm

Is she still having vocal problems? I went to seethe show this weekend Karmine understudied for Mel.

[DAME]

Posted: 4/27/04 at 10:40pm

rents time has come and gone. The message is dated. time for it to go. I know.. I know.. go ahead.. attack me.. I can deal with all you hussys.

Updated On: 4/27/04 at 10:40 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/27/04 at 10:48pm

HOW. DARE. THEY. CHANGE. MIMI'S. PANTS?

[nystateomind04]

Posted: 4/27/04 at 10:53pm

no attack here, just an opposing opinion:
the message is not dated, the idea that one should live each day as if it is your last never will be.
just my two cents... hussy. yea! ive wanted to do that for a long time, sorry im not as good at it as you dame, but then again, you've had so much practice.

[DAME]

Posted: 4/27/04 at 10:55pm

Nystate;
you are too funny. You have the hussy in you. Just let it come out organically

[nystateomind04]

Posted: 4/27/04 at 11:00pm

i've tried to stay in the hussy closet so long, thank you dame, for allowing me to be honest about who i am. we should have a hussy pride parade.

ok i cant even type that without cringing, can you even imagine?