Rent attendance anecdotes — Page 11

Well, I just got back about from my second RENT viewing. Although I come from a very liberal town I figured I'd post about my experience(s) just for the heck of it just because it was so incredible.
The first time around:
Due to a rather weird schedule at my school I was able to get out 8th period and head into town with a friend of mine. I somehow wound up being in charge of buying nine tickets for people just in case when they got there the show was sold out (I ended up buying 18...). So when we got into town we found out that our good 'ole fasioned theatre doesn't open till a half hour before the movie starts; we got there at 12:00, the movie started at 4:00.... So we ended up taking turns guarding my first spot in line at the theatre and running off to get double shots and ice cream (yes even in November). We managed to meet up with some of the people who I was buying for, and luckily one of them had a guitar, and knew how to play many a RENT song! So yes folks, we sat outside the Garden Theatre for three hours singing RENT songs -completely off key of course- in 30 degree weather, and dancing around like absolute idiots. Yes, the cold did eventually get to us, and we wound up forming some what of a human dog pile just to keep warm, lol. Then finally the people got there to open up the theatre but wouldn't sell us tcikets for about another half hour! In the meantime more people showed up, and we figured it'd be quicker just to buy all of the tickets at once (hence the 18 tickets). How'd I end up dealing with the mathamatical end of things? I suck at math! Anyway, we were on the verge of a moo-ing riot for them to let us in out of the cold, but no such luck. As for the reaction of the crowd, the theatre was pretty well filled but being that Princeton is an extremely liberal (well for the most part) town, everybody loved it and there were no homophobic comments to be to be had at all. Two women behind me were absolutely all-out sobbing during Angel's funeral, and I have to admit I was pretty close. Unfortunately I got really sick/disoriented during the movie, so much so, that one of the theatre staff asked me if I was high, lol. At the end, the entire theatre clapped and cheered and had an incredible time! (And I went home and collapsed on the couch in my room for the rest of the evening hiding from all bright and loud things)
Repeat Offe- I mean second time around...
I went out to see it with my mom and dad. I know my mom absolutely loved it, Collins in particular, sorry Anthony! I still have yet to truly find out what my dad thought of it. He's no overtly homophobic, but being a small town boy raised in that sort of way, he's not exactly comfortable with it either. The crowd this time around was much smaller, but still lots of laughing, and sobbing to be had.
This movie is so incredible, I really can't thank you all enough! I'm also grateful to Anthony for reaching out to the community of RENTheads and getting into discussion with all of us!
Paz a todos!
-Dri
Btw.. Njgirl, I saw that you were in my corner of joisey, which theatre did you go to?

Edit: "My corner of joisey" is Princeton.

Updated On: 11/24/05 at 10:41 PM

At my last count, there were 19 people in the theatre upon the end of the film. Not counting the three groups that walked out. (During Today 4 U, Over the Moon, and Take Me or Leave Me, to be exact.) Granted, it IS Thanksgiving, and it IS the "armpit of California," but still... depressing. Oh well. At least we got good seats!!

I went again tonight, and it was considerably different considering that this was not a fan audience as it was at the midnight screening. The theater was about two thirds full, which I would call pretty good considering it's Thanksgiving. The audience was mostly older, although there were a fair number of twenty-somethings there as well.

It was obvious that this group was not familiar with the material. I could hear them asking each other questions throughout the first few songs. At the end of I'll Cover You, there was some sn*ing. Also during La Vie Boheme. But by the time it hit Without You I could hear people throughout the theater sniffling and crying as I could on Wednesday. When the screen went black at the end, there was absolute stifling silence. The kind I haven't heard since the end of The Constant Gardener. Then someone started to clap. The entire audience gave the film a good five minutes of applause, and I promptly started sobbing again because it was obvious that it had in fact gotten through. In a way that almost made me feel better than seeing it with 200 other fans Wednesday night.

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this one girl infront of me was out of control crying. She was hysterical. Her friend was trying to calm her down.

two girls behind me were also sobbing uncontrollably

Illinois- right on the Mississippi River. Pretty liberal area.

First time- 4:20pm, Nov. 23. Half of my group and I got there at about 3:30, and the theater was already half full. By 4:00, there were only a few scattered seats here and there. You could feel everyone's anticipation during the opening credits--I didn't know there were so many RENT fans around here! Everyone was completely respectful throughout the movie. Really good audience, after a moment of silence, a lot of applause at the end.

Second time- 1:10pm, Nov. 24. Not that many people- maybe 30. From the chatter I could hear pre-movie, not many people knew what it was about. The older ladies in front of me- "So what's this about?" "I'm not sure, I know it's a musical-I think for the younger crowd." They seemed to enjoy it. A few people walked out during La Vie Boheme, though.

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Went again today (Friday the 25th). The theater was pretty packed, only a few scattered empty seats. This time you could tell it was mostly the average audience, not many RENTheads. They were a very respectful audience, there were laughs, crying, the works. No one laughed at the Cliff. One girl next to me was like "OMIGOD!" when Angel walked in for Today 4 U, but other than that, nobody was rude or walked out. One thing that made me happy was at the end, a 50 something year old guy sitting a few seats down from me said to his wife (i think it was his wife) "Wow, I really liked that. I'll have to get the DVD".

Just got back from seeing it for the second time. Anyways, I live in Avondale, Arizona, which is a pretty conservative city lying in a conservative state.

The first time I went, on Wednesday, the audience turnout was about 3/4. It was a diverse group of people, aging from about 5 year olds to 50 year olds. They were a respectful audience for the most part, except during the "Tango: Maureen" when Maureen kissed the woman. Somebody yelled "Ewwww!". That was pretty much the only disrespectful thing that happened during the film. I am actually pretty sure that by "Without You", the people who had made that comment were crying, though it was somewhat hard to tell since I was sobbing myself.

Today, the audience turnout wasn't as good (only about half the theater was filled), but I think the people liked it more. They laughed a lot more than the first audience, and they were a respectful audience throughout the whole movie. There were no rude comments or anything of that nature. And there was more people crying...I think. I was crying yet again. But overall, I thought this audience was much better.

Unfortunately, none of the audiences clapped at the end. I was the only one who did.

I saw it again today for the 2nd time. Just as packed as when I saw it on the 23rd. Also, still amazing as the first time. I didn't have to go to the restroom this time to miss SPOILER Angel die. The people today I found a lot more respectful and more into it. Less teenagers could be one reason. Once again it was awesome.

I saw it today for the first time, and loved it. There wasn't much of a turnout because today was the biggest shopping day of the year, and I was at one of the largest malls in the area, so most of the people were in the stores, not the theatres. Also, the movie was playing in three theatres there so maybe the theatre I was in had a small turnout while others didn't. It was mostly teenagers, with a few older women. There may have been one or two older men, but as I said, the turnout was quite small.

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Well, I wasn't really going to post about my Rent movie experience, because I am horrible at writing reviews, but since you specifically asked for cities besides NY and Chicago, I feel that I should let you know about my experience in Warren, Michigan.

As far as the movie goes all I can say is WOW! I literally cried through the whole movie! I was definelty nervous before it started, because I wasn't sure what to exactly expect, but I am so happy that this musical has been documented forever for everyone to enjoy. I am bringing my mom and my friends this weekend, and am pretty sure that I am going to go broke since I will be at the theatre as often as possible, becuase I LOVE it so much!

As for the "Michigan" theatre going experience, unfortunatley I can not speak as fondly about that situation. There were no mid-night screenings, so we went to the first showing on Wed. and I was a maniac and pre-purchased my tix, and thought the lines would be crazy, but unfortunatley that was not the case. Before we went into the theatre I asked the box office if it was sold out and she said there were still 200 seats left!

I can say that I think most of the people in attendance really loved the show. The only thing I was really disappointed about it that NO ONE clappped between songs, or showed any real enthusiasm during the show, well except me of course. It just seemed wrong without clapping for some reason, eventhough we were in a movie theatre. I can say that I don't think there was one dry eye during the Angel death scene.

I guess overall, I wish I was in NY for the mid-night screening, so I could have had a "real" fan experience, but overall I am at least happy that I got to see this wonderful movie!

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I went to a preview screening on Tuesday where the audience was mainly members of the Academy [Oscars] and their guests. It was more or less older folk and the theater was small, sparatically filled. This one woman in front of me who must've been 70-something years old clapped after "Take Me or Leave Me" - she was so in awe by Idina and Tracie's performance there, and everyone in the theater was crying (including the men that I saw) by the end. I talked to a woman who had never seen RENT before and didn't know what it was about, but she really enjoyed the movie. Everyone there seemed very impressed.

I also went Wednesday in L.A. at a matinee showing. The theater wasn't incredibly full, but most of the people there were groups of teenagers. Some girls behind us were about 12 or 13 and were sobbing loudly like the entire movie. It was sweet, haha. But they did let out a loud gasp of "Oh God!" during Rosario's dance in Out Tonight. I brought my extended family with me to the movie - almost all fans of RENT and some who saw the original cast. Everyone LOVED it, most of us cried, and all of us were extremely pleased with how it turned out. My cousin said she would want to see it again because she spent the first time comparing so much between play and movie that she'd want to solely concentrate on the movie her second time around. Personally, I've seen it twice so far and know that I'll see it many, many, many more times.

Updated On: 11/25/05 at 08:34 PM

I saw it this afternoon at a great theater in a not-so-great part of Brooklyn. There probably weren't more than 30 people in the audience, and most of them seemed to be in their teens or 20s. I got the feeling that most of the audience was not familiar with what RENT is about given the less-than-positive reactions to the Angel/Collins and Maureen/Joanne kisses. I think someone walked out towards the end of Take Me Or Leave Me.

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