#1
Posted: 4/11/06 at 11:37am
My wife loved the movie and made it known that Rent had to be on our agenda for the week. We went to last Monday night's performance and sat in the front row of the Mezz. I saw the show in 2000 in NYC and was floored by the cast then. I even saw a very solid touring performance a couple of years ago. My wife loved the show, but I was a little less impressed.
Matt's take on Mark wasn't bad. At times I really liked his performance, but there were other times I thought it seemed as though he was just going through the motions. I really liked his singing in "Rent" and "What You Own," but I thought he was a little less than up to snuff in "Tango Maureen" and "La Vie Boheme" (which happens to be my favorite song from the show).
I thought Tim stole the show with his Roger. He has a much more angsty and tortured Roger than I've seen before. His voice was absoultely amazing on "One Song Glory" and his voice really mixed well with all of the cast on the duets, ensemble pieces, etc.
Justin had great energy as Angel and probably was the most solid overall performance of the night. He's a very charismatic guy and he really played Angel to the hilt.
Destan's Collins was pretty good as well. He plays it in a different way than I've seen the previous two times, but, to me, it seems a little more poignant. His voice is very controlled and when he really decides to blare out singing, it almost overwhelms you.
Antonique as Mimi was good as well. Her singing voice is really good and I thought her and Tim had a very good chemistry.
D'Monroe as Benny was just, well, flat. His singing voice was okay and his acting was passable, but he did seem as though he were enjoying himself.
Haven Burton as Maureen was one of the best performances I thought. She had an energy about her on stage and she totally played Maureen over the top, which I believe is the way she should be portrayed. She has a very good singing voice and is very easy on the eyes as well. And just something about the blonde hair-blue eyes makes her really stand out when she's on stage.
All of the cast can sing, that's obvious, but I'm not sure how well they can act. The songs and everything sounded great, especially "Seasons of Love" (as always), but it just seemed that the parts didn't add up to a strong whole. I thought there were parts of the show that moved along really well and were very entertaining, but there were other times where it seemd as though the show was just kind of stumbling along. A solid performance, but I'd probably rate it fourth out of the four shows we saw last week.
Matt's take on Mark wasn't bad. At times I really liked his performance, but there were other times I thought it seemed as though he was just going through the motions. I really liked his singing in "Rent" and "What You Own," but I thought he was a little less than up to snuff in "Tango Maureen" and "La Vie Boheme" (which happens to be my favorite song from the show).
I thought Tim stole the show with his Roger. He has a much more angsty and tortured Roger than I've seen before. His voice was absoultely amazing on "One Song Glory" and his voice really mixed well with all of the cast on the duets, ensemble pieces, etc.
Justin had great energy as Angel and probably was the most solid overall performance of the night. He's a very charismatic guy and he really played Angel to the hilt.
Destan's Collins was pretty good as well. He plays it in a different way than I've seen the previous two times, but, to me, it seems a little more poignant. His voice is very controlled and when he really decides to blare out singing, it almost overwhelms you.
Antonique as Mimi was good as well. Her singing voice is really good and I thought her and Tim had a very good chemistry.
D'Monroe as Benny was just, well, flat. His singing voice was okay and his acting was passable, but he did seem as though he were enjoying himself.
Haven Burton as Maureen was one of the best performances I thought. She had an energy about her on stage and she totally played Maureen over the top, which I believe is the way she should be portrayed. She has a very good singing voice and is very easy on the eyes as well. And just something about the blonde hair-blue eyes makes her really stand out when she's on stage.
All of the cast can sing, that's obvious, but I'm not sure how well they can act. The songs and everything sounded great, especially "Seasons of Love" (as always), but it just seemed that the parts didn't add up to a strong whole. I thought there were parts of the show that moved along really well and were very entertaining, but there were other times where it seemd as though the show was just kind of stumbling along. A solid performance, but I'd probably rate it fourth out of the four shows we saw last week.
