Rent attendance anecdotes — Page 17

the first time i saw rent was a screening on like november 9th so it was extremely packed, the second time i saw it there was maybe about a row empty so yeah that was pretty packed and same with the third. Oh this is in West LA...not exactly a small town or anything...but its seriously AMAZING the best movie I know, friends of mine agree. Thank god you were back from broadway. I think I might have died if yuo hadn't been.

When my best friend told her mom what we were seeing, she was very judgemental. I'm told that the pastor of my parents church even pleaded with the congregation to not allow their youth to see "such filth."

I'm from a small town about twenty miles south of Atlanta, Georgia. So, I was *very* curious to see how everything would be. We went last week, becuase NO WHERE in Atlanta was there a Midnight show! The theatre was quite full. Mostly with younger people, although I did notice people that weren't in their twenties! I would say most everyone love it. They clapped after the film. There was someone behind me who kept singing along. That is frustrating, but even more so, there were two ladies sitting beside me. Everytime scene with Collins and Angel they had to add commentary! In a thick southern accent! Ahem. "Oh no, oh no! Surely they won'...OH MY God! Don't do it don't kiss." They left during La Vie Boheme.

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I saw Rent twice this past weekend.

Once on Wednesday, where I went with my best friends (save the one in California *hugs to Aubrey*). The girls who got me into Rent (yes, feel free to blame them *wink*) sat next to me and we held our collective breaths as previews rolled. Seasons Of Love began and the whole theatre exploded into applause, the same as when it ended. While the credits rolled, people yelled comments about the cast. Someone called Adam 'teh sex', Idina earned cheers, and I may have yelled "Anthony ROCKS!" as his name came up. *grins* The movie was watched in utter silence, no one wanted to break the spell the movie was having on everyone in that theatre.
When the Tango Maureen came and the eyebrows were raised, I shouted "Anthony is a SEXY GEEK!" and one of the girls a few rows behind me replied, "Yes he is!" and I turned around and yelled, "I don't know which one of you said that, but thank you!" Then my friends glared and I shut up and let the scene continue without interuption.
Out Tonight earned absolute silence as everyone gawked at Rosario, followed by Another Day and groans at how Roger is rejecting the gorgeous girl throwing himself on his lips.
We mooed with Idina and made everyone we could do the same.
Then came La Vie Boheme...we sang along, I did the "Marky Moves" that I memorized from watching the clip waaaaaaaaaay too much, we clapped, we cheered, we pumped out fists into the air, I made comments about the completely unnecessary Mark/Roger huggage. And tried to read Adam and Wilson's lips as they complained about having to hold Anthony. Apparently, you Anthony were hurting his hand. *grins* After Mark's "And Roger will attempt to write a bittersweet evocative song", Evie screamed, "Not now Roger!", a NYTW reference. Benny asked, "Do you really want to live in a neighborhood where people piss on your stoop every night?" and I screamed, "HELL YEAH!"
Then came Act 2, the wibby half.
Take Me or Leave Me was amazing, although with the outfit changed from the show, it made my leather pants and white tank make little sense to most people.
Then the tears: I cried when the Life Support people disappeared, when Angel died, I'll Cover You Reprise, Goodbye Love...then I cried at the elimination of Halloween and the Mark/Roger fight (which I LOVE! Why, oh why, did it have to be cut? *pouts*). I even cried when Mimi faded, knowing full well she was about to sit up and talk about Angel and a warm white light.
Despite knowing the show, it was as though I were seeing it, hearing it, knowing it for the first time. The movie really got to me and I adored it.

I saw it again on Saturday, but my friends started crying (issues with one's girlfriend being across the country and one's biological father...not good stuff) and I pretty much had to stop watching and start comforting from "Without You" to the end. So I gave up and just took care of Alex and Evie, I'm sorry I couldn't really pay attention to it. I heard the ending was wonderful and I'll see it when it's on DVD. Sorry again, Anthony, that I had to be the Human Tupperware as always and couldn't make any comments about your performance in that time slot.

Superb job, Anthony. I still wish Halloween had been there. On a only semi-related note, I love Open House. It is so...bizzare, but the good kind of bizzare in which a guy can sing a heart-breaking song about losing his mom (yes, I cried, I weeped like a baby) and his house while pointing a gun at people. And the extras are hilarious...and I have now intergrated the word 'Fantabulous' into my everyday speech as my new favorite adjective. And Sexy Swiper will not leave my head...at all. Great job, Anthony, on both movies. You did fantabulous, bao bei! *applauds*

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Updated On: 12/2/05 at 04:50 PM

My husband and I went to see RENT with some friends on Thanksgiving night at 10:30 in Randolph MA (about 20 mins south of Boston). The theater was packed, and the audience loved the movie. At least half of the audience stayed in the theater or in the hallway outside the theater for about 10 minutes after the credits ended, just talking to other audience members about how great they thought the movie was, and what a wonderful 'holiday experience' it was to be bonding with strangers over a movie.

Oooh, let me tell you. I live in Mississippi, where the nearest theater is in Tennessee, which also happens to be the nearest theater to a certain part of Arkansas. Triple threat! Doesn't get much worse than three blood red states in the same room, does it? I went at night, so there were quite a few young couples there. At the beginning, about five people left because--gasp!--it was a musical! How'd they not know that? Anyway, a lot of singing along could be heard throughout the movie and only one young man was being particular obnoxious about it all. But I happened to know this guy because he was a patient at the hospital I was training at last weekend. He was getting on everyone's nerves (or maybe just mine, but whatever. I matter!), so I politely asked him how he was healing. Of course, he quieted down after that because he knew he had no room to pass judgement at that point. Remind me to tell you the story of his boss's pen one day--it's a real page turner, trust me.

There were a few other groans and quiet comments, but overall, everyone seemed to enjoy it. There was probably 25 or so people there, ages probably ranging from about 16 to 30-something. I was pleasantly surprised to hear a bit of applause at the end and several people talking about how great it was. I was fully expecting a room full of rednecks who would be throwing things at the screen and gagging all the way through it (I'll never forget the Evita riot).

This was my first exposure to Rent, so I guess my opinion doesn't really count for much. I'd never heard the music or seen the show. It was here recently and I wanted to see it, but the ticket was roughly the same price as a stethoscope I needed for clinicals, so I had to make the responsible choice, unfortunately. I loved the movie! It's risky to make a musical for the big screen nowadays, but this was just fantastic. The acting was wonderful, the music was brilliant, and the storyline held my interest all the way through (not a small feat!). One character kind of annoyed me at times, but I think that was more of an issue I have with hairstyles than anything else.

But y'know, honestly, Chris Columbus can do no wrong in my eyes. He could direct traffic and I would be positively enthralled. I adore that man.

Updated On: 12/1/05 at 11:10 PM

I know this isn't exactly a Rent theatre experience, but I was just talking about the movie with my friend and when we got to the Cat Scratch Club scene in "Out Tonight", my friend said that he never really understood the appeal of those clubs in real life, but when he saw Rosario dancing, he wanted to give her a dollar too.

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Rent has been part of my wife's life for years and so we were pretty excited for the movie to come out. My parents and sister came into town (Sacramento) for Thanksgiving and the 5 of us went to an afternoon showing...we went early to get good seats. Imagine our surpise to find there were only 4 other people sitting there. Eventually the theater filled to probably 60-70% capacity. I was surprised to see older couples (50's-ish), a few couples our age (early 20's) and mid-30's...we both expected to see "theater people" there, but everyone seemed to be the average "movie goer". My parents who are trying to become socially liberal (they live in Texas) really enjoyed the show. My dad even cried, which I couldn't believe. For most of the show everyone was pretty silent, though as soon as Angel died I heard sniffles all around--literally every single person I could see was crying. Glad to see the movie really connected with people.

Anyway, this is my first post on here, probably last. I need to get back to studying. But, great job with the film, Rent people. Not sure how it will play in the more conservative areas of the country but the "blue" people, so to speak, will enjoy it.

Was it just me or did the end (after the credits had rolled) when the screen was blank and "Thank you, Jonathan Larson" appeared make any one else emotional?

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aw Em, who'd ya go with? I wanna come next time!

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we should get another gathering - I want to meet more bww'ers! Who's up for a late screening sometime in the next week or so??

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I went tonight in Ottawa (Canada) and let me just say that the behaviour of certain audience members made me so angry I wanted to scream, or cry. They giggled and made sarcastic comments throughout, which I could sort of live with...after all, I'm no Renthead and if you aren't a musical person either then it can be a little hard to buy. But at the end a few different groups of girls starting laughing about the characters having AIDS. Okay, I don't care if you didn't like the movie, or the music, or if you had trouble relating but you don't EVER laugh at something like AIDS. It's real. People die from it everyday, they die awful deaths just for loving who they love or being born of the "wrong" parents or for what they do to themselves when they're alone and that is terrifying and wrong and incredibly sad. It's still out there, people are still getting sick and there is still no cure, don't people know that? I keep thinking that there might have been someone in the theatre who had AIDS or knew someone who did and how awful that would have been. As I said, I was horrified. I know that here I'm preaching to the choir, but I just wanted to get that out.

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I saw the movie for the fourth time tonight with my best friend and her sister, who had already seen the movie (and loved it!), and then her sister's two guy friends (who knew nothing about Rent). Both of the guys loved it.

There were, however, a group of six girls about fifteen or sixteen years old sitting in front of us who would not stop talking, text messaging, giggling, etc throughout the movie (at least, for the time they were there- they left after "I'll Cover You"). They must have not known that the movie was a musical, because when "Rent" started, they made comments to each other like, "No way..are you kidding me?" I happened to read one of their text messages; it said "I'm in a boring ass movie." Well, excuse me, if you do not like the movie and you're going to be obnoxious about it, then LEAVE. Their behavior was so distracting (especially the cell phone backlights) and so rude to the rest of the audience . I clapped when they left.

Other than this group of girls, the audience was great. After "Without You" ended, it was silent, and you could hear people crying through "I'll Cover You: Reprise". I think most of the audience loved the movie - many people stayed in their seats afterward just talking about it.

I'd seen the movie three times before this viewing, and there were no major problems with the audience. A few people walked out at one viewing, but that's about it. The audiences that stayed throughout the whole movie seemed to love it - at least, that was the vibe I got while leaving the theater.

Hello, hello, first post!

After two weeks of my friends and good-for-two-things-boyfriend saying, "We'll see it tomorrow, okay?" I finally figured, screw it, and went by myself tonight. There was only about nine other people there, but that's above average movie attendance for a Sunday night around here. Let's see...well, it was actually pretty quiet. Which I guess is good, right? Everyone was paying attention to the movie and I did notice a couple of people mouthing the words of some of the songs. As we left the theater, I got into a conversation with a few other girls about who the best character of the movie was. I don't think we settled on anything other than the fact that Rosario is too gorgeous to have all that talent and Mark was probably the saddest character in the whole movie.

In retrospect, I'm glad I had to see it without the boyfriend, because I am *ugly* when I cry.

(This was in Memphis, by the way)