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#351

Rent Attendance Anecdotes

Posted: 11/27/05 at 2:48pm

Hooray for procrastinating from finishing college essays...heh..heh.

Anyway, thought I'd post about my experience with the Rent movie the other night.

I went opening night, and initially I thought that the attendance wouldn't be very good. I live in the suburbs of Manhattan, and even though Broadway is only a short ride away, I do not happen to know many people who have an avid interest in theatre.

My friends and I had to go to the second showing at 10:25pm because the first was sold out.

Most of the audience were teenagers and 20-somethings, but it was an interesting atmosphere. Many dressed up - saw a lot of Mark outfits and one Maureen catsuit. Oh, and a group of fairly young teens were singing (offkey) to the end credits when we walked in, which was frightening...though my friends and I ended up singing not only the end credits but through La Vie Boheme (quietly, of course, heh).

I was surprised by the show of support for the movie in this area - there's a generally conservative attitude around here.

The movie was so much more than I expected. Greatness in a few hours, a nearly perfect representation of the show's message - I think I even cried harder in the movie than I did at the show. I know that the rest of the theater felt its impact, too...the silence after the parting shot of Angel could have been cut through with a knife.

Anthony, you and the rest of the cast and crew did a phenomenal job. I don't think I can even express my feelings about the movie much more than I have already. Your love of each other and of Rent itself shone through in a way that I don't think can ever be rivaled. Much love to you and the rest, and congratulations!!!!!!!!

Merrily we roll along, roll along...

Updated On: 11/27/05 at 02:48 PM

#352

Rent Attendance Anecdotes

Posted: 11/27/05 at 3:29pm

This was posted in the broadway community on livejournal:

http://www.livejournal.com/community/broadway/1613333.html

"You just can't win. Ever. Look at the bright side, at least you are not stuck in First Wives Club: The Musical. That would really suck. " --Sueleen Gay

#353

Rent Attendance Anecdotes

Posted: 11/27/05 at 3:40pm

wow.
thats all there is to be said for me.

but i think there was a pretty postive audience in the theater (for me). a huge group came, and all these girls were hugging and crying, and the audience clapped at the end

yeah

#354

Rent Attendance Anecdotes

Posted: 11/27/05 at 3:47pm

I saw RENT with my sister on Friday. We saw it in the theatre of our ghetto part of town in TN. We were one of three groups of people who saw it in the same theatre. It got a good reaction. A pretty normal movie reaction, but they seemed to enjoy it. They particularly liked Anthony's line about "I ask myself why am I still living here? And then they call." That got a lot of laughs. My sis and I LOVED the movie, but that was the only anecdote I have (so far).

"You can't fit in when you stand out." ~ CAMP

#355

Rent Attendance Anecdotes

Posted: 11/27/05 at 4:09pm

I went to see RENT on Tuesday night at a midnight showing in Hollywood CA and from what I could tell it was an extremely positive audience. It was at the Arclight which is a huge theatre and they where showing RENT in 3 different theatres including their huge dome megaplex room and all 3 where sold out. Anyways, upon arrival, the lobby/courtyard of the theatre was packed with people and a whole bunch of them where dressed up (we even saw a few catsuits and BDSM stripper get-ups). My friend and I saw it in the regular sized theatre (which was still pretty huge) and the energy was very excited in there considering that most people who trek out to Hollywood in the middle of the night on a workday/schoolday are probably either previous fans or friends of fans etc. So the usher makes a quick announcement about no singing along (to very loud cheers) and the lights dim and the movie starts. There was this silent anticipation throughout the opening credits right until the first chords of Seasons of Love. It was this total and complete silence and then the minute those notes could be heard everyone in the room started cheering and clapping. There was some clapping for the names as they appeared onscreen and more after most of the songs. Overall, very active, positive audience. Lots of laughs during the Tango, Over The Moon, and other little bits. By the end of Without You over half the theatre was crying. The woman next to us was sobbing so hard she was shaking the entire row of seats. And it recieved a very loud applause at the end, as did the cast credits when they rolled. All in all, a very good experience. And as a side note, my friend had never heard of RENT before that and she could not stop rambling about it after the movie and had spent the second half in tears.

Anyways, saw it again on Wednesday with a few other RENT virgin friends around 1:00 in the afternoon and since it was a schoolday the theatre was filled with mostly tourists from out of town and a few teens who happened to be out of school. Wasn't sold out but I'd guess that about 3/4 of the theatre was filled at least. Most of the people seemed to enjoy the movie and there was, again, alot of crying in the end (including my friends).

And also saw it at midnight again this past Friday at the arclight again and it was a pretty empty theatre since most people got tickets to the Dome showing but we missed it by half an hour. Of the people I was with, the two who knew RENT previously loved it, the three who didn't know a thing about it liked the music alot and wanted to go purchase the soundtrack, and the one who really didn't like RENT previously didn't like the movie in general but still laughed at points and even admitedly enjoyed a few of the songs.

Anyways so yeah, of the 3 times seeing it, I had a very different experience with each. But overall everyone seemed to accept the movie with a positive attitude. As someone else said, the only quip I heard was that it went a little too fast at the end with What You Own. And a bunch of the RENTheads missed Halloween and Goodbye Love.

Yeah so those where my RENT adventures so far. I'll post if/whenever I see it again.

I wanted to get something that an "ex"-junkie like him would really appreciate and cherish....it's a brick of heroin shaped like a heart. -Scrubs

#356

Rent Attendance Anecdotes

Posted: 11/27/05 at 4:42pm

Well, I just got back from my second time seeing the movie. The first was a totally unique experience at the midnight showing of the Ziegfeld so I was figuring that this would be a lot more average and it was, but it was unique unto itself.

I took my 64 year old mother to see it in a small theater in Kew Gardens (Queens, NY, for those outside the state) in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood. It was the first showing of the day and the bulk of the audience was older, Jewish women (I mention their religion, only because the ones I heard afterward thought that "Mark Cohen" was a lovely boy and the loudest guffaw, by far, was the Scarsdale Jewish Community Center, followed closely by Maureen's mother suggesting Mark and Maureen could get back together). There were some couples in their 40's, about 3 teenage girls, and some older gentleman by themselves. I would say the theater was 1/3 full.

On the way in, I heard the woman behind me mention that by the time she got down to Florida she could see it at the $2 theater with "Morty." I swear, I wish I was making the stereotype up.

There were no reaction to anything accept the aforementioned laughs. The only person applauding was my mother, all by her lonesome. She's not one to care if she stands out in a crowd (and not one to care when she announces very loudly, "wow, I didn't know Idina had such a sexy body" during Take Me or Leave Me). She was bawling and I could see the gentleman in front of me, who looked to be in his 50's was wiping tears away through a good part of the second half of the film.

When it was over there was a smattering of applause, led by my mom, the three teenage girls all had smiles on their faces and one of them said, and I quote "I totally, like, want to be their friends." A cute couple in their 40's danced out of the theater, singing to I'll Cover You and some older women in the bathroom thinks she liked the stage show more but couldn't remember. I was surprised at the number of people who sat through every credit, a good half of the audience did that.

My mother, who hates West Side Story the movie because she is so attached to West Side Story the original production loved it and actually said "I think that may be the best movie I've ever seen and you know I love musicals." Afterwards in the cab ride home she explained the movie to our Muslim cabdriver (a guy that we use regularly and who is still fairly traditional in his ideals) and I was proud of her description, that it was about 8 friends who are struggling artists, who are poor but always have each other's backs and that it's hard to find that these days, because people don't care and the music is phenomenal, and if you have a problem with gay men or women or the issue of AIDS, then she didn't want to hear what he had to say. Go mom!

I was surprised at how easily she kept up with the story having no knowledge of it beforehand other than the commercials. The first time I saw the show I didn't even get the whole Akita... Evita thing, she bust a gut laughing in the middle of the movie theater and had no problem following what was going on during Goodbye Love/What You Own.

I guess the best testament is that she said she could see it over and over again and if I didn't buy the DVD the day it came out, I was disowned.

"Too young to hold on and too old to just break free and run" - Jeff Buckley

Updated On: 11/27/05 at 04:42 PM

#357

Rent Attendance Anecdotes

Posted: 11/27/05 at 4:45pm

I went and saw RENT again yesterday(Saturday) with my buddy Alex(our new tradition of HAVING to see it with each other).

We were at the 4 pm showing in Elgin, Illinois. Not a major city but definitely large enough to have a definitive downtown area and it takes 7 or 8 minutes at 55 miles per hour to get from one end to the other.

Yeah, that had no point.

ANYWHO- we got into the theatre and looked around before the show. It was by no means packed, being a matinee and all, but it was well-filled for being one of the smaller theatres within the movie theatre.

There was about 75% adult couples, some white-haired ones, even, and a few groups of teenagers as well.

They responded generally well, there was some laughter here and there(especially with Maureen's mother). No clapping or mooing, and while there was no audible crying, most people sat through the instrumental Will I? in the credits and walked out of the room teary-eyed.

A group of my friends also saw it Friday night. Complete RENT virgins. They said they cried from roughly Without You to the end. Someone had told them they'd be disappointed in the movie(however, that someone never has anything positive to say about ANYTHING, so his comment is dismissed). They were not disappointed and now say "If he thought the movie version was bad, and we loved it, imagine how awesome the stage version must be!" and now want to see it onstage.

#358

Rent Attendance Anecdotes

Posted: 11/27/05 at 5:01pm

Just got back from seeing it again. I live in Syracuse, NY ya know, and I went to the 12:40 showing again.

I'd say the theater was about half full, and aside from me and my sister and a few others, everyone in the audience had to be 25+, and there were a lot of people who looked 40+.

Everyone seemed to enjoy it a lot. There was laughing, and crying, and I even heard some people saying that they wanted to see the show in NYC now.

#359

Rent Attendance Anecdotes

Posted: 11/27/05 at 5:09pm

I saw it Friday...LOVED it!! I feel like i can die now and i'll be ok. lol but yeah I insisted that i had to see it with my three best friends. All three are into theater but only do the school shows and were RENT virgins. We live in a very small town in Wisconsin that is very conservative but my friends aren't and we had to drive to a nearby city that had a movie theater. It's about 60,000 so not big but not small town. We saw the 7:30 and the theater was about 50% full which is normal because not many people go to the movies i don't think and unless it's a big boy like harry potter the theater never fills more than 70%. Anyways the reaction was quiet the whole time except SPEAK which always got a HUGE laugh. Every time it was really weird. But not to responsive but no walkouts. My friends LOVED it and are all now RENT heads but at the end two of the were shaking from crying and we got some weird looks.

RIP Natasha Richardson. ~You were a light on this earth ~

#360

Rent Attendance Anecdotes

Posted: 11/27/05 at 6:01pm

I've already posted here, but I got to go to the movie for the third time today, and I wanted to post here again.

Anyway, this audience was the best out of the the 3 I have been a part of. There were actually like 3 other RENTheads in there instead of just me. The audience was really respectful, and I think they enjoyed it the most out of the three audiences I have been a part of. They were laughing at all the funny stuff, and a lot of them cried. At the end, I heard people who obviously weren't fans of RENT before the movie say they loved it, loved the music, loved Adam Pascal's voice, and wanted to get the soundtrack to the movie. I was happy that they liked the movie!

#361

Rent Attendance Anecdotes

Posted: 11/27/05 at 7:47pm

I saw it on Friday and I think it was pretty well received at the theater I saw it at it (I live in a suburb of Detroit)...the showing that I wanted to go to was sold out and the next showing, which I bought tickets to, was in (I think) the biggest theater they have and it was pretty full.

#362

Rent Attendance Anecdotes

Posted: 11/27/05 at 8:25pm

City - Jacksonville, FL. NE corner of the state, about 30 miles south of the Georgia border.
Demographics - Population around 850,000; predominantly Republican; in the Bible Belt.

Saw the show Wednesday at 4:10pm. The theater was only about 25% full, but my friends told me that most people were probably still at work or on the road for the holiday. They felt 25% on that day in Jacksonville was good. Most folks seemed to be between 20 & mid-40s. 2 women left partway through the movie, but the rest seemed receptive. Some laughter, in the right places, sniffles (in the right places) and complete silence when the screen went black at the end. We sat through most of the credits, and when we got up to leave, there were people coming in for the next show - before we even got out! My friends and I loved it.

Went back to see it again on Saturday evening. Different theater. This time the theater was over ½ full, which for our town I felt was good. Ages ranged from late teens to late 60’s. Some of the people in attendance surprised me, of course judging books by their covers. One man down the isle from me sure didn’t seem the type to see Rent. I glanced over at him a couple of times, and he didn’t seem to be enjoying it. He left shortly before the end of the movie, but his female companion stayed. I’m looking to the optimistic side that he just couldn’t wait any longer to go to the bathroom.

On Saturday, the emotions seemed more on the surface than the Wednesday showing. Folks laughed more, cried more, pin-drop silence at the end, then applause during the credits. In leaving the theater, I saw eyes that looked like my own - red and puffy.

An acquaintance from another board saw the show twice in Cooper City, FL. (That’s down in the Miami / Ft. Lauderdale area.) Her audiences were much the same as mine, but she said the theaters were pretty much full both times.

And incidentally, I LOVED the movie. I was wrapped into the Rent world by the end of “Seasons of Love”, and was sad when it was over. I don’t remember much of the stage production. It came through Jacksonville during the 3rd or 4th year of the tour. Seeing the stage show, either in New York or when the national tour starts again, is definitely in my plans.

I’ll be seeing the movie again before it leaves theaters.

PS - Anthony, I saw Sweeney Todd at a Wednesday matinee on November 9th. A lady near me, chamber music player in NY and I believe a piano teacher, said her daughter is a good friend of yours. If you happen to know who this is, would you tell her that I so thoroughly enjoyed our conversations. I’ve thought back to them many times since coming back home. I gave her my email address, but, well, you know how that goes.

Ciao!

#363

Rent Attendance Anecdotes

Posted: 11/27/05 at 10:20pm

I saw Rent twice this weekend (suburb of Chicago)
First time- Friday, noon- theater was pretty empty, maybe about 20 or so people? (Could have been more) Went with a theatre camp friend; we both loved it and stayed thru the end of the credits. (I think everyone left pretty much right when the credits started rolling)
Second time- Today, 3pm- theater was much more full than Friday; there were a lot of families and seniors. My grandparents and mom came with me, which was... interesting. For pretty much the whole first half of the movie, my mom and grandma kept asking me if (insert actress here) was Idina Menzel. But other than that, they seemed to like it (my grandma said it was "intense, but good"), as did most of the audience. I was actually kind of surprised that it went over as well as it did w/ the audience that was there, but I guess it's a good thing that such a diverse group liked it.

#364

Rent Attendance Anecdotes

Posted: 11/27/05 at 10:51pm

Well, I saw a noon showing yesterday in Fredericksburg, Va, which is very full of Republicans.

There were like 30 in the theater, 20 older people, 10 or so college kids, and a highschool sophmore (me). Basically i had some guy behind me made a sound like he was grossed out quite a few times, and a bunch of people cried. Half a dozen or so people did get up during "Over the Moon" though and I'm not sure if everyone came back.

Everyone laughed during the "pookie" thing and I sadly just about craked up due to marks masturbation line in LVB thanks to his facial expression. And somehow no one sang!

Oh and does anyone *cough*Anthony*cough* want me to post this over at http://www.forget-regret.net ?
I have a feeling I could get a bunch of reactions...

"Merry Christmas, bitches!" -Collins Also known as Nancy of Forget-Regret Publicity Chicks Rock!

Updated On: 11/27/05 at 10:51 PM

#365

Rent Attendance Anecdotes

Posted: 11/27/05 at 10:58pm

Hehehe don't worry BelleKid, I did too during that part of LVB. :-P And the "pookie" bit made my day.

I wanted to get something that an "ex"-junkie like him would really appreciate and cherish....it's a brick of heroin shaped like a heart. -Scrubs

#366

Rent Attendance Anecdotes

Posted: 11/27/05 at 10:58pm

Hehehe don't worry BelleKid, I did too during that part of LVB. :-P And the "pookie" bit made my day.

I wanted to get something that an "ex"-junkie like him would really appreciate and cherish....it's a brick of heroin shaped like a heart. -Scrubs

#367

Rent Attendance Anecdotes

Posted: 11/27/05 at 11:11pm

Saw it 2nd time in DC, 40 people, very negative reaction. Quiet at times, some older people walked out. I brought a friend who loved the musical, she was not impressed.

"Observe how bravely I conceal this dreadful dreadful shame I feel."

#368

Rent Attendance Anecdotes

Posted: 11/27/05 at 11:11pm

I went to go see the movie visiting family in Elmira New York on November 23rd. The crowed was obviously made up of mostly RentHeads, theater people familiar with the show. There was a lot of singing, giggling, over all excitment. Many people (including myself) teared up a bit at the opening, and nearly everyone was sobbing at the end.

My cousin went to the same theater Friday night and found it to be quite a different experience. The crowd was much quieter and during "I'll Cover You", a woman stood up, cursed at the screen, demanded her money back, threw around certain words and was escorted out by the police.

I saw it the 24th in a tiny, conservative, middle of nowhere northern PA town and everyone seemed to enjoy the movie. Plenty of laughter and tears. After the show everyone was quite exited about it and enjoyed it thoroughly.

If you limit your choices to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise."- Robert Fritz

#369

Rent Attendance Anecdotes

Posted: 11/27/05 at 11:30pm

...threw around certain words and was escorted out by the police.

Wow. Just- wow.
So I guess my experience wasn't that bad then. :)

#370

Rent Attendance Anecdotes

Posted: 11/27/05 at 11:40pm

hey, I don' know about what everyone else thought, but all of my friends and me thought that the movie was wonderful, I can't wait till I can buy it on dvd and hold the movie in my hands, and go watch it, (warning to all those at wal-mart the day it comes out) if you hear some one screaming with joy while holding rent, don't worry I'm not insane I'm in love....with a movie lol. :)

#371

Rent Attendance Anecdotes

Posted: 11/27/05 at 11:58pm

I am in a small town in the red state of Colorado. We had to drive an hour to see the movie. The theater was a little over 1/2 full. The majority of people were teenage girls but there were some older couples (30s, 40s, 50s and 60s) and a few families with teenage girls. Interestingly, I overheard the conversation of one family and it was clear that the parents had dragged the teenagers. Anyway - people were pretty respectful throughout except for the girls in front of us who sang with SOL and text messaged people throughout the movie (just a little distracting). There were some chuckles at appropriate times and lots of sniffles. No applause at the end which was disappointing to me, but generally good comments.

BTW - I saw the show in NY a few years ago and liked it a lot, but I didn't love it until I listened to the OBCR. I was confused about what was happening when I saw it on stage b/c I couldn't understand some of the lines. I loved the movie. I think I liked the movie more than the show. For a first timer, I found the movie much easier to follow. That made the message much more clear. My sister said the exact same thing (she liked the movie more than the show ). The Cliff scene in the movie was hokey but didn't bother me too much. Also, I went with someone who knew nothing about Rent except that I loved it. He LOVED the movie and wants to see it again (this is saying a lot for him). He cried for the last 20 minutes or so. None of the things which seem to bother some people on this board and many of the critics bothered him at all. And he loved the Cliff scene!!! Standouts for him were Jesse, Anthony, Rosario and Tracie. Mostly he loved the music and the message. An interesting note - my 65 y/o mother, who is pretty moderate politically, loved the movie too. I wish the movie were closer, but we'll see it again no matter what. One last thing - I thought Adam did a great job and don't understand the crticism thrown his way. I saw him on stage a couple of years ago. I loved his voice then but thought his acting was mediocre at best. What a huge improvement from that!!

#372

Rent Attendance Anecdotes

Posted: 11/28/05 at 12:21am

Okay so I just saw it again today, it was my second time seeing it. I went with my mom, she doesn't know a lot about Rent, I've played some of the songs for her and that's about it. I live in Regina, Saskatchewan in Canada. It's a fairly large city. Anyway there werent many people in the theatre. There were three really young girls sitting right in front of me. They couldn't be more than 12. That's another thing I noticed, Rent is rated PG here, which is strange.

The audience was fairly quiet throughout, no clapping at all, but I didn't expect anyone to clap. Lots of laughs during Tango Maureen and Take Me Or Leave Me. There were no walkouts that I noticed, but alot of people were leaving during La Vie Boheme to go to the bathroom.

One thing that bothered me, right before Without You started, when Roger and Mimi were argueing and he walks away, one of the girls in front of me was like "Roger's a jeeeeerk" and they all giggled, ahh I wanted to be like "shut up!" By the end of I'll Cover You:Reprise I could hear the same girl sobbing VERY loudly and obviously, like she wanted everyone to hear.

Anyway, when I asked my mom what she thought, she said she liked it, but she wouldn't want to see it again, but she was glad she went with me. When I asked her who her favourite character was, she said Roger because he seemed to be the most normal one, lol.

Something that bothered me was that it was extremely LOUD, almost too loud, it wasn't that loud when I saw it at another theatre the first time. It was almost unbearable at times. And this is from someone who saw the stage show and didn't think it was too loud at all.

#373

Rent Attendance Anecdotes

Posted: 11/28/05 at 12:25am

I live in San Antonio, weird to me that i live in a red state now, as my home all my life was Pennsylvania and NY as my home away from home. But I went opening day to the first showing I could find and it was in this tiny theater in the back of the facility. It was ALMOST sold out, but the entire theater was silent through the whole movie. I laughed out loud at some of the parts and cried through the end, but the theater was silent. And the people I went with (Co-workers, since I haven't made real friends here yet) were very stiff.

I clapped at the end and was wiping away tears. When we got out of the theater I expected a littler banter about ya know, did ya like it, oh yeah, this was good that was good, but I got, "Well, are you happy now? You saw it, we went with you, now you can be normal?" I was like, uh ok?

I had to go see it again by mtself b/c I was so nervous throughout the first showing about how they would react to the homosexuality themes in the story, they aren't very open-minded people, but I thought Rent would open them up a bit, I was wrong. But when I went again last night, still in a small theater, but people were cheering and crying and clapping, so that was an improvement.

The only comment that I got from my co-workers later that evening was that it was weird to see Jesse L. playing a gay character and that they thought Idina Menzel could kick their ass. And that they didn't like to see a movie where everyone had AIDS, and I was like, well that's the story, it's based on the musical and they were like, why would anyone want to see that?

Ugh, so frustrated! I need to find non-coworkers to be my friends, and people that don't think my love of Broadway makes me retarded. I should have known they would be like that as they are always like, oh God, Kim is listening to that **** again...

#374

Rent Attendance Anecdotes

Posted: 11/28/05 at 12:43am

My first experience with the movie was great, at the Symphony Space screening Tuesday night. Wednesday night I attended a 10.30 show in my town, Secaucus, NJ (just through the tunnel!). About half of the crowd was excited from the minute we entered the theatre, humming songs and mumbling excitedly about the characters that the OBCR has made so familiar. The rest seemed to be in an eager state of anticipation as well.

Was there a dry eye in the house? Nope. And about twenty people (including the group I brought) stayed to the end, to see the "THANK YOU JONATHAN LARSON". I didn't hear one negative review.

The only downsides? After "Seasons of Love", a guy behind me (who I would assume was there because his girlfriend wanted to see it) sarcastically announced how "touching" it was. Someone shushed him and he stayed quiet--until Angel takes the garbage can to open the padlocked door.
Collins: "That's my girl!"
Guy behind me: "That's not a girl!"
More shushing followed.

You'd think people would, even if they don't agree with the film, would be considerate of their fellow theatregoers. But whatever. Aside from that one audience member, I witnessed two great screenings with VERY positive feedback. I even brough a Rent-virgin who went out and bought the soundtrack the following day.

"It's not for sissies, contrary to popular belief." - Tommy Tune, on musical theatre.

My avatar: Yummy, no?

#375

Rent Attendance Anecdotes

Posted: 11/28/05 at 1:13am

I brought a RENT virgin with me, he was totally and COMPLETELY hooked by the end, which was the final icing on the cake for me. One thing that no one has mentioned here yet, that I found happened during both times I saw it was that during that one shot, with the WTC the entire audience, although already silent, became even more so. I mean, you could've heard a pin hit the floor, I mean there were gasps and I think I might have even teared up during that bit, it was just so- no words really.

Updated On: 11/28/05 at 01:13 AM

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