Rent attendance anecdotes- Page 17

[MarkCohen II]

Posted: 11/30/05 at 1:05am

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.

[BroomstickBoy]

Posted: 11/30/05 at 1:07am

Hello all.

I went to see RENT saturday evening in Stockbridge, Ga. Not sure of the red/blue status there but the crowd in the theater consisted of some black and white teens with their friends and parents, some redneck looking men , one with a tacky blue jersey and a cowboy hat on (oh yeah I could imagine his reaction during I'll Cover You), and a few others along the same fashion. Not a very big crowd. So there was no applause but plenty of laughs. Of course when Angel and Collins kissed at the end of I'll Cover You there were many inappropriate groans of disgust and some nasty words. I rolled my eyes and kept watching but I was really aggravated because ICY is my favorite song from RENT. Of course those a-holes had NO problem with Maureen and Joanne showing any affection. Typical.

But after the movie I heard a lot of people saying "That was so good!" or "I loved it! That was really good!" Nothing specific, since I couldn't pinpoint any other Rentheads in the room.

I was completely overwhelmed by the whole movie. I have never seen the stage show, but just sitting there during Seasons of Love and Rent in that theater had me with goosebumps. I almost got up and danced during a couple parts (Two of my favorite numbers, Out Tonight and La Vie Boheme) but nah, I was glued to my seat. I teared up when Angel died and all out bawled during the funeral scene/I'll Cover You Reprise. I also shook and cried (I shudder when I cry) during Goodbye Love and especially when Mimi "died". I had one of those laughing/crying moments *spoiler* when she woke up and said "I was heading towards this warm, bright light and ANGEL was there!! AND SHE LOOKED GOOD!!"
And of course I was touched by the whole experienced. I have more of a reason to want to do the stage show.

I'm hoping to see it again SOON.

...and by the way Anthony, amidst your wonderful performance in this movie (another reason I enjoyed the movie , La Vie Boheme looked like it was a blast to do) I noticed you have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. Just thought I'd point that one out.

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 11/30/05 at 1:19am

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.

[spandex_love]

Posted: 11/30/05 at 3:02pm

I live in Nova Scotia, Canada, and I've been to see the movie twice now.

The first time was on opening night, a Wednesday at 9:40, so the attendance wasn't great. Which, I suppose was a good thing for me, since I belted all the songs out along with the movie. But from what I'm told, the showing before that was pretty much packed. Then I went again that Sunday night, and again, it wasn't what I expected as far as attendance goes. It was about half full. But I live in a small area, with a small theatre, and most of us go to the big IMAX theatre, which had much better attendance.

[incendiary_wit]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 4:50pm

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*

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

[AJ--Law]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 5:33pm

Saw it in Ft. Myers, Florida on Sunday the 27th while I was on vacation. Went to the 7:15 show and another was going on at 7:45 I think. I would say there was about 50-60 people in the theater. Reaction from the people around me was good, I heard a lot of sniffling with the funeral scence (including myself). It was a pretty laid back group, a few laughs here and there. My sister commented that the crowd didn't seem into it. I haven't seen the stage version and I really enjoyed the movie. I live in Minnesota and many people I work with and know want to see it and have asked me how it was.

[pasha519]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 6:37pm

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.

[Cugirl]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 9:34pm

Went to the 3:30pm in downtown Toronto today (Thursday afternoon). There were about 10 people there. A few teenage girls, an elderly couple, a couple of grown men, and some single people who went alone. I'm planning on going again soon, probably for an evening showing. La Vie Boheme still gets me soooooo hyped and I'm still bawling over Angel's funeral scene (and I heard a lot of sniffles during that scene in the theatre).

Posted: 12/1/05 at 11:10pm

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

[RENThead414]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 11:49pm

most of the people I saw there the two times I've seen it were college students and choir kids. The second time I saw it, however, there were a lot of middle-to-later aged people there. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, and most of the college kids were doing the "table dance" along with La Vie Boheme and mooing at Maureen (granted, the adults looked really confused when this happened, but hey.). Also, most younger teens who I have seen/my friends have seen at the film have laughed at really inappropriate places, and have generally misunderstood many parts of the movie (hence the laughing...it's sometimes a nervous/confused reaction to things they don't understand, like when Angel removes his wig during Life Support)

[Cugirl]

Posted: 12/2/05 at 12:25am

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.

[Tanssia]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 2:15am

Saw RENT tonight for the third time (Delaware this time). Biggest audience i've seen it with so far - maybe 75% full. By some "jump the gun" reactions to some funny scenes, i'm going to assume there were more than a handful of repeat watchers in the audience. Perhaps there's hope for the box office numbers afterall?

[pacificmatt]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 2:27am

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.

[MUNKY]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 3:08am

Reporting Live from San Francisco.

My friend who works in the theatre business says attendance is dropping at his theatre, but then again it's playing everywhere in the bay area.

[incendiary_wit]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 7:09am

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?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 11:54pm

Saw the movie tonight in Times Square with some fellow BWW'ers.

The audience was actually quite fantastic, with one exception. This guy was literally sleepiing BEFORE the movie began. He proceeded to nod off at sporadic parts of the movie, but he was gone for most of it. And he snored, which contributed some giggles to the evening. Thankfully he wasn't that audible, and I'm sure not audible at all if you weren't in his row like we were, and he wasn't snoring toward the end of the movie -- that'd have killed the emotion, huh?

Anyway, it was close to, if not completely sold out. The audience was enthusiastic, and laughed a LOT. Sniffles could be heard after Angel's death, and when Mimi came back to life someone behind us went "yaaaaaaaaaay!" After the movie ended, you could sort of feel tension. Nobody moved for a good ten seconds or so. Nobody said anything, either. Then there was applause. I was so happy to see that.

We sat really close by default, which initially I was bummed about; I hate sitting really close at movies. But I liked being really close; the facial expressions are so much better that close, and there are even more tiny details. For example, Jesse's wearing a MUTE t-shirt in the finale. I didn't cry this time, but I hurt from smiling so much. Now that I know the movie well, I have moments I love, and now it's about seeing and enjoying and LOVING those moments. There are so many great ones to love, too. Tonight was definitely just about how happy I am that I'm satisfied with the movie... and for me to think to myself "God, I was so silly to be worried." Loved it even more this time.

[EverythingIsRENT]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 11:59pm

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

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 12/4/05 at 12:11am

orangeskittles and Fantabulous428.

[EverythingIsRENT]

Posted: 12/4/05 at 12:13am

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??

[Fantabulous428]

Posted: 12/4/05 at 12:15am

'twas fun Em

[alanimal]

Posted: 12/4/05 at 1:17am

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.

[Blue J]

Posted: 12/4/05 at 1:27am

Went again tonight in a suburb of San Fran, Cali. The theater was packed - people were sitting on the floor even! - with mainly teenagers, some adults. From what I could tell, everyone LOVED the movie! People were clapping along during SOL in the beginning, laughing, crying. It was awesome! When I was walking out of the theater, I heard this little boy screaming "Bee-dee-bong!" over and over. LOL! It was cute!

[ontheskyway]

Posted: 12/4/05 at 4:01am

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.

Posted: 12/4/05 at 5:20am

Well, I've seen it twice now and I'm going to see it at least two more times (once more with a friend, and once more with my mom).

I live in Georgia, and while Peachtree City is close to Atlanta, it's like a different world here. Around here most of the people are rich (though, my neighborhood is definately not filled with the rich folk. I drive a 25 year old messed up Volvo, for pete's sake!) so most can't relate to it.

The nearby theater has only three showings, 4:00, 7:00, and 10:00. Both of the times that I have gone to see it there have been very few people in the audience. At least that means that I can sing along without bothering people!

I adored the movie, as that's the closest I've come to being able to see it. Mark has always been my favorite character, and I thought that Anthony did the best job in the movie. I wouldn't have loved the movie as much, however, if it hadn't been most of the origional cast. Because it was most of the origional cast... I can't even begin to describe the feeling it gave me! To actually be able to SEE the people that I've only been able to HEAR on the OBCR before? It was just amazing.

But yes, I'll be going to see it again within the next two days, being as I have both off of work.

[Butter My Muffin]

Posted: 12/5/05 at 1:21am

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)