Rent attendance anecdotes- Page 8

[Tiny-Toon]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 2:11am

I just came back from seeing it (In NYC..)!! LOVED it!
It was in a pretty big theatre, and was about 65% full (11:10PM show). Defenently seeing is again very very soon! :)

[Mandi Moo]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 2:11am

Speaking of all the cell phones going off, one of the girls in the group that walked out was TALKING on here phone during Glory. Holy Shibby. I just remembered that. I was ready to throw my shoe at her.
Updated On: 11/24/05 at 02:11 AM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 2:15am

I would've thrown my very heavy, four-inch-high shoe at her.

[Popular]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 2:17am

Studio City, CA here -

The theater (coldwater/victory if you're familiar) was about 25% full for the 7:25pm showing. There was one girl behind me who would not stop snickering but thankfully she left about 20 minutes into the movie. There were a few kids that tried to start a round of applause after Seasons Of Love ended but I think they soon realized it wasn't the right crowd to do that in. They were a VERY quiet audience throughout but most stayed till the very end of the credits and clapped when it was done so I'm assuming they enjoyed it.

For me personally, I wasn't fully feeling it until the scene where Roger joins them for the Life Support meeting. I don't know why but that moment was so powerful for me that I actually cried and I thought the movie just got better and better after that point.

My favorite scene was Tango Maureen - beautifully done! And Santa Fe on the subway train was lovely as well. Thanks for being a part of this and for handling the wacky ones on this board with such class and style.

This has been the only RENT thread I've bothered to read, let alone reply to.... the sheer thought of keeping up with them was enought to scare me away. But I saw this one was started by you so I wanted to put in my two cents.

Even though it's my humble opinion that this story translates better on stage, it was truly a wonderful tribute and I enjoyed it a lot!

Posted: 11/24/05 at 2:19am

saw it 3 times today! woot! i saw the 10:30 am which had a small audience, the 4:50, which had a good size audience, and the 8:05, which was packed! hehe. and it was a huge theatre, so that's pretty good. yay!

[softershade]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 2:29am

saw the movie four times today (different friends wanted to see it at different times and offered to pay...no complaining here)
at every showing the crowd loved it. my friend mike who had never seen the show or heard any song besides sol stood up at the end and told me "that is honestly the best movie i've ever seen"
so many positive reactions from everyone and considering i live in a very very uptight part of florida where it's basically all red.
and to whoever posted the exerpt about orlando from a review it was very true. people clapped after every song like we were seeing the stage show. it was one crazy night.

[aebi]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 2:30am

Just saw it a few hours ago! I live in small-town South Dakota and had to drive an hour to find a theatre that was showing it. Red state of course, and my area has a fair amount of yee-haw Republicans, so I didn't really know what to expect. No need to fear...7:10 showing, and it sold out! I think they accidently more than sold out, because there were people sitting on the floor. Mainly late-high-school/college people, but a handful of older adults as well. Good mix of already-fans and newbies...you could tell who was who by the conversations beforehand and the scattered RENT shirts. Lots of laughter in all the right places, but also during the Roger-cliff scene (man, why are all the reactions like this? I didn't think it was that big of a deal). There was murmured/whispered singing during "Seasons of Love" and "La Vie Boheme", but it really wasn't annoying at all. Lots of loud foot-tapping during "La Vie Boheme" also! Crying and sniffing during Angel's death/funeral, and everyone was very still for the whole end of the movie. Clapping when the lights came up! I was happy and surprised with the audience reactions...then again, all the liberal-minded folk do seem to appear for things like this (like the mini-foreign film festivals we sometimes have). I just wish they wouldn't disappear again so I don't feel so "single blue person, big red state" all the time. My only complaint is the theatre itself: RENT is only showing on one screen out of ten, and it's the smallest one. I swear, I don't think there was surround sound. It only sounded like stereo...the voices were very quiet, the music sounded tinny, and starting at the middle of the film all the high parts (mainly female singers) sounded scratchy and shaky. It didn't bother me much because I was too engrossed...beautiful film!

[zilliow]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 2:36am

Los Angeles:

The screener we attended on Monday was insane. My sister and I arrived two hours early and we were twenty people back. The line wrapped around the theatre, down the stairs, and into the lower parking lot. I was rather afraid the line was going to end up doubling out onto Wilshire Boulevard. Needless to say some people were turned away. The audience was unbelievably responsive. There was laughter, mooing, and everyone ended up stealing my tissues. When the credits began to roll, no one moved. Suddenly, the entire audience began singing together, spontaneously (and surprisingly well). My sister hadn't seen the show and was only slightly familiar with the music and when we left, she asked if we could go again immediately.
So we tried to go to the Arclight in Hollywood for the midnight showing in the Cinerama dome--Totally sold out. We ended up going to the earliest matinee in the Dome (11:30) on Wednesday morning. It wasn't full, but a lot of people came in during the previews. I'd estimate about a 1/3 full, but since the Dome is so big, I can't swear to it. What was interesting was that there were very few people in the audience who seemed to be fans, or even have a passing acquaintance with the story. There was a lot of laughter and some sobbing. One woman actually left in a huff after I’ll Cover You, which was truly bizarre. No one mooed, but there was a contingent in the balcony that cheered wildly when Sarah Silverman appeared. There was some scattered applause at the end, but no one left until the credits had rolled.

[Shiksa Goddess2]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 2:37am

I live in a somewhat medium sized town in Ohio, and the audience I saw Rent with was pretty quiet. There weren't a lot of people, but it was Wednesday at 11:35 AM so that's probably why the small number. The reaction seemed very mixed to me. There was a girl in the back row sitting with her boyfriend who sang through the entire thing (I ended up moving during 'Rent' because, well, I didn't want to listen to her, lol). There was an elderly couple in front of me who seemed pretty quiet through the entire film, but I think they liked it. There was a girl who walked out after 'La Vie Boheme'. There were two middle-aged women in the front row who were dancing in their seats and such- defiantly enjoying the music. There was a group of teenage boys in the middle of the theater who I got a distinct RentHead vibe from (actually laughing at jokes, applauding at the end, and I swear I heard a 'moo' from their direction during the protest). As I said, it was mostly silent, but I heard a few negative comments and snickers from the three girls sitting next to me during ‘I'll Cover You’, but the great thing was that those same people cried during the reprise. That was a great moment, because it shows just how much the movie can affect people. I think it's great that even out of a small audience in a mostly conservative town- there were a few people who left the theater with a more open mind.

[Baine]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 2:43am

I saw an evening showing of "Rent" in Tampa, Florida tonight. We were going to see the showing at the local mall [against my better judgement because I HATE seeing movies at that mall with all of the screaming teeny-boppers...], but it was completely sold out! Feeling justified in my glorious "I-Told-You-So," we went to the theater that I had wanted to go to begin with--the glorious Giant Screen/IMAX theater. Ahhh, heaven.

Anyway, moving on. The theater was pretty packed! The front row was pretty empty and there were empty seats scattered about the room like flyaway droplets of paint, but for the most part, we were a full house.

There were only two previews, which was sad, because I was so looking forward to seeing some after being jipped out of previews when I saw Harry on the IMAX last week. Ah well. C'est la vie. The previews weren't the most important part anyway.

I got a heady rush of joy when the logo came up and Seasons of Love began to filter into the auditorium. I held my breath in nervous anticipation, only to let it out once the song ended. My favorite part of that song HAS to be when Jesse Martin belts out "...or the way that she DIES!!" It gets me everytime when I see the trailer and he sings that as they show Angel's coffin. I get shivers every time. Tonight, watching the emotion from his voice reflected on his face....it still gets me. Anyway, yeah. The audience gave a loud round of applause once the school had ended.

Next, I hear a voice-over of the beloved, "December 24th, 9 p.m. EST...." It was so weird! I mean, I knew that parts of the songs would be spoken instead of sung, but every time I heard it....it was such an out-of-body-experience! It made my mind spin each and every time.

I really liked how scenes were added to and fleshed out--for example, I loved seeing all of the burning paper at the end of "Rent" and I LOVED seeing Maureen come onscreen during Tango: Maureen. It gave the song/show so much more weight. It was amazing. Oh, and Anthony--I *REALLY* loved the eyebrow thing that you and Tracie Thoms had going on during this number--it was positively hysterical! The audience was cracking up!

In fact, we had a lot of audience laughter throughout the movie--in all of the right places, too! The only other songs to get clapping afterwards were Santa Fe and Over the Moon, though the clapping for OTM was minimal....maybe people were confused? Nobody mooed, either. If other people had, I would have, but I wasn't about to be the only one mooing. Maybe next time. Oh, the audience also clapped at the end of the movie--really enthusiastically, too.

Our audience also got really emotional when Angel died. I was shivering like crazy and had goosebumps (I can never cry during movies and such...I know, I'm weird.) and my one friend was crying into a tissue. The audience was pretty somber for the rest of the movie.

I thought that there were parts of the movie that definitely brought closure by fleshing out weaker parts from the musical--and I LOVED the part where Adam Pascal joins Life Support. That was just...perfect. I still think that Mimi's "big scene" at the end is a bit cheesy, but I think that Rosario Dawson did a pretty good job of making it believable--much more so than the Mimis that I have seen on stage.

All in all, we had a pretty mixed audience in attendance. I saw quite a few teenagers, a few students from my university (Go UT!!), a lot of people in their mid-twenties to early thirties and a large group of men that were probably in their forties. It was a pretty good turnout, and I didn't see anybody walking out!!

My big problems with the showing weren't even from the MOVIE. We had to move back a row because the man in front of us had bad B.O. We wound up sitting next to these two girls that kept flipping their phones open in order to text message, which gave the theatre a bright blue hue. The girls in the row BEHIND me were softly singing along to the music....thank goodness that they stopped after the first few songs! If they hadn't, I would have snapped at them. I was surrounded my idiots, I tell you!!!


I had a great time tonight, though. I was so scared to see this movie because "Rent" is so special to me! I was hearing that people hated it or loved it. I was hearing that it wasn't brought to screen well...........but all of my fears were for nothing. Anthony, you and everyone else on the cast were absolutely wonderful. I loved physically SEEING everything. It really brought the story home. [It also made me miss NY...I can't wait to go back next month!!] Thank you so much for helping to make this movie into such a wonderful production!!!! I'm definitely going to see this at least once more this week because there were a lot of people who couldn't go today....I hope we have a great crowd when we go!!


My only question at the end was this--Why wasn't the song Love Heals playing during the end credits? Is it still able to be nominated for best new song if it never played? It's such a pretty song and I was really looking forward to hearing it!!! This was such a disappointment!!! To counter that, however, I loved, loved, *LOVED* the special thank you to Jonathan Larson at the end. That was worth the entire world to me.


One final thing--Anthony, if I am offending you by using your picture on my icon, please let me know and I will take it down immediately. I've made plenty of icons that aren't "Rent" or "Anthony Rapp" related that I can put up here instead of this one. I don't mean to offend you at all...I just felt like making icons to show my love for one of my all-time favorite musicals and to celebrate the new movie.
Updated On: 11/24/05 at 02:43 AM

[StephanietheStar]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 2:44am

Well Anthony, if you are even still reading this thread.

I saw the 10:10 showing in Rockford, Il (about an hour and a half north of Chicago in case you didn't know), which is called a large city (I differ in opinion), and it is pretty theatre/musical theatre DUMB.

But it was great tonight! the show before mine was PACKED and mine was pretty full. Lots of different people (all seemed to have a theatre interest though), different ages (13-60 at least!) and everyone accepted it so well. It was dead silent (save sniffles) during the funeral, and the buzz when the movie ended was fabulous to hear!

Hope I helped!
-Steph

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 3:08am

November 23 11:10pm AMC 25 on 42nd st.

If not sold out--damn near.

Seemed to be a mostly young crowd, though it was mixed ages and diverse.

Audience applauded several songs and at the end.

Much sniffling during the funeral and after the fight after. Also, sniffling during the ending--and relief when Mimi awakes.

4 people walked out during the first La Vie Boheme. I think they were offended. lol

No one mooed.

[Depaultheatrekid]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 3:34am

Hey Anthony!

First of All I just want to say GREAT WORK! I thoroughly enjoyed it alot! I go to school in Chicago at The Theatre School, at DePaul University and all of my friends there have told me the chicago crowds love it and appauled throughout constantly. I am home in Birmingham, Alabama for the holidays and I saw a private screening tuesday night which was packed and the crowed thoroughly enjoyed the entire movie there was tons of applauding after seasons of love,today 4 u, take me, and a few other songs. I saw the movie also twice today at two different theatres here and both were packed houses and your reactions during the proposal scene outside of buzzline got crazy laughs and applaudes today also, maureen's mother line about maureen and mark getting back together after the break up gets TONS of LAUGHS...for a red state down here I think it is going quite well. I am seeing it again tomorrow night on thanksgiving with the parents and more family will post those reactions later.

[notsovirginmary]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 4:44am

I had the unfortunate experience of sitting behind a group of irritating teenage boys. They covered their eyes and squealed every time that Collins and Angel kissed. And then proceeded to laugh when Angel died.
"Yay! No more fag."- I died a little inside.

But I heard lots of happy-buzz from a lot of the audience, and people did clap at the end.

I'm not sure how I feel about the movie itself yet..

Updated On: 2/6/15 at 04:44 AM

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 4:47am

notso--I am thankful to God I wasn't sitting with you--I would be in jail right now.

[loridunn]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 6:11am

I live about 70 miles East of LA and I loved the movie. There weren't many people in the theatre but it was late so I understand. I was sitting in a really diverse group. In front of me was an elderly couple with 3 tween girls in front of them. To my left was the cutest gay couple I've seen in my life, behind me were the annoying (singing off key and tempo) teenagers. We moved after One Song Glory because it got to be too much but then we landed next to some really awesome high school kids. Well the theatre was in tears after Angel died and most of the people sat through the credits. When SOL came on, during the credits, the audience sang along which was noticable when the track skipped and left 15 people hanging. But everyone enjoyed it! Such a great film. Whiteboy Spice - you were amazing, Congrats!!!!!

[Feathah]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 8:29am

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Most of what I was going to post was already stated by others so I'll keep it brief.

Went to the 7pm showing last night at the Zeigfeld so the crowd was made up of 90% remtheads. But that was the way I wanted to experience the movie for the first time. Seems the crowd reacted much the same way the midnight crowd did. We cheered, laughed, cried, clapped and mooed. :o)

And damn you guys for saying "the cliff is a magical place." LOL! That was all I could think of during What You Own.

I was 19 or 20 when Rent came to Broadway and this show has been in my life ever since. I just accnot be objective in any way. I LOVED it. I loved every single moment of it. I loved the performances, the cinematography, the spoken dialogue, the costumes, the new bits and pieces EVERYTHING. As the movie began to wind down all I could think was - "NO! It's almost over!"

It far exceeded what I thought the movie was capable of while also living up to all my hopes for it.

I know this is a gushing, fangurl type of review. But I truly loved it that much.

Brought my parents with me btw - Mom has seen the show 3x, Dad only once back in 98. They loved it too!

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 9:21am

I saw RENT last night (My review is in the "All RENT review" thread) and there were about 40 people there. When "Seasons of Love" started the whole theater got quiet and afterwards one guy behind my clapped which made me laugh. When Angel and Collins kissed I was expecting a couple of "Ew's" and snickering, but the only thing that I saw was a husband whisper something to his wife. I was pleasantly surprised. Speaking of lauging, people laughed in the right places and at the end EVERYONE was wiping their eyes and sniffling. One the credits began to roll everyone stayed in their seats and I mean you could hear a pin drop. Then slowly they got up and walked out. There was one girl a few rows down from me that was all out bawling. Her friend was rubbing her head and telling her it will be alright, while she herself was wiping tears of her cheek. When I walked out a group of teens were standing outside and I heard a girl say, "I don't know how much more I could have taken" while she was blowing her nose into a napkin. So, I think RENT majorly succeeded in capturing the hearts of those people in Sumter, SC. Hopefully they will tell their friends and word of mouth will spread like wild fire.

[RobbO]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 9:39am

11/23/05 4:55 p.m. showing in Bucks County, PA (just outside of New Hope).

crowded theatre - mostly with tweens, a few parents, an occassional couple AND me and my partner. the crowd was so quiet during the entire showing - the best audience i've had in years.

some crying during angel's funeral (mostly my own) and some applause as the credits rolled.

when we left the theatre (the lights were thrown on before the credits finished so the theatre staff could clean-up), i noticed that there was a huge line of people waiting to see the show.

[xoxRogue]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 9:40am

"And at the end of the movie tonight, everyone was completely silent after Angel's final frame "

That happened both times yesterday.

I forgot to mention that there was no mooing (well, that I could hear). And there were people whispering a couple lines...but that was it.

I'm wondering what happened between the 11:30 showing and that one (7:30) because workers from the theater were walking up and down the aisle (how DO you spell that)--including one of the managers (Well, I assume he was because he was in a suit and had a nametag). And one of them told everyone to make sure their cell-phones were off. Maybe it was because of the amount of people.

Oh, Happy Turkey Day!

[NYC_or_Bust]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 9:53am

I saw the movie a couple weeks ago in Charlotte...but I decided to use another audience I saw the show with.

Teays Valley, West Virginia-

Hardly 75 people there, most probably between 13-25 years old. They hardly responded to it at all. If it weren't for "SPEEEEAK" to actually get a laugh out of these people, I would have figured it was a dead crowd. When I saw CHICAGO just a couple years ago in my hometown, it made for one of the best movie experiences I've ever seen. They responded to the movie as if it were an actual LIVE show! They appluaded LOUDLY after each song. And even did a Standing Ovation deal during the credits. I'm pretty sure for RENT, you could have heard a pin drop (or at least heard the two teenieboppers down in front who chatted THE WHOLE MOVIE!)

No Mooing in my theatre! Thank God. But you know, now that I think about it, I might have actually prefered it....at least it would have stirred SOMETHING in that audience. My best friend did cry after Angel's death, and there were a few sniffles from up at the top (but of course, it is cold and flu season).

Nobody caught the dog's death bit at the Life Cafe.

I think another reason why there may not have been a great response....many of the songs are hard to understand if you're not a RENThead or at least familiar with the show. The LVB number is a complete mess! I'm sorry, but I've seen farm animals run out of barn in a more choreograped fashion. That's definitly the hardest song to understand.

Idina Menzel...YOU SUCK
I must laugh..(as I did at the movie), during her Protest scene a guy from the middle row, yelled out "What the fu(k is this?!?"

Sorry Anthony.....Just not a great response...I think there was actually more of a response towards the " THE PRODUCERS " trailer, than RENT.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Updated On: 11/24/05 at 09:53 AM

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 10:32am

LVB isn't supposed to be an overly-choreographed number, it's supposed to be a bunch of friends dancing around having fun. I doubt your gatherings are Fosse-worthy performances.

[justagirl2]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 10:42am

So, my second time with RENT (with my mother) went very well. She loved the movie, which, to say the least, I wasn't quite expecting. The whole way home she kept asking questions about what shows/movies the actors have done since then. Her favorites? Anthony, of course ("He was just so funny!"), Rosario ("That girl did such a good job with the role...normally I don't like exotic dancer/junkie types."), Tracie (My mom's new favorite singer), and Jesse ("That man from Law and Order should go back to Broadway sometime. He's so attractive, I'd pay good money to see his show.")

As for the audience? I live in an upper middle class, small city in Michigan that is fairly conservative. The audience was a lot bigger than when I saw the movie the first time, which was surprising because although it was at night this time around, we went to a different theatre that is a lot less centrally located. Normally, it's the theatre you can go to where nothing is EVER sold out.

Most of the demographic were teenagers, but there were a good number of adults as well. Actually there was a group of sixty-ish ladies who LOVED the film. Go figure. Lots of laughter at the appropriate times (f*cking weird followed by the entire Tango:Maureen, the entire Over the Moon sequence, La Vie Boheme, etc.) Actually, the part that got the most laughs every time it happened? "SPEAK". My mother thought it was hilarious.

There were, however, no lack of obnoxious kids. Right after "I'll Cover You", when everyone is thinking, aw, cute, this kid screams out..."but she dies later on, right?" Way to ruin a mood. When Mimi was sick, everytime she would close her eyes for JUST A SECOND, they'd shriek "oh my God, did she die?" The time she actually did, "She'll come back to life, right? RIGHT?" Hey, at least they were generally worried about her, lol.

Good responses, clapping at the end, sniffles, everything you would expect. I told myself I wouldn't cry this time, but I did, at the EXACT same moment. My mom, who isn't a crier at ALL and normally makes fun of me when I lose it in movies told me she was pretty close to tears herself. We'll see how my third time goes. (That's really sad.)
Updated On: 11/24/05 at 10:42 AM

[NYC_or_Bust]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 10:52am

I'm not saying LVB is supposed to be a solid dancing number (as far as standard musical choreography). But it looks like the choreographer went to the cast and said, "Just start dancing around and we'll see what happens"....

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 11/24/05 at 10:56am

Yeah, that's what LVB is supposed to be like. Have you seen it on stage at all? It's really not that different. Wilson Jermaine Heredia called it "inspired movement" or something, it's supposed to look natural, not choreographed.

And just for the record, there was a standing ovation after the credits when I saw Rent.