Rent's Legacy & Reputation Today — Page 3

HogansHero said: "@soaring, I think you are assuming the opening song is not a prologue. I'd have to refresh my brain to know if that's valid. But in any event, I'm not really understanding the criticism you are looking for. I know this is not it, but we have to remember that the east village was rife with notions of both nihilism and anarchism, in contrast to "selling out" and I'm not sure how we can make moral judgments that are anything but subjective.

@bohodaysbook thanks for all of that. looking forward to catching up to the book."





If you're referring to my most recent message, I was merely expressing my frustration with several articles I have read recently that criticized the character's reluctance to pay rent(https://www.thebillfold.com/2015/12/rent-20-years-later-why-weve-come-to-hate-the-show-we-once-loved/, https://www.buzzfeed.com/andyneuenschwander/dear-characters-in-rent-you-guys-are-slightly-terrible-peopl?utm_term=.jraMmxYke#.mgr3jWl0k). Can you clarify what you mean when you say I am assuming that the opening number is not a prologue?

It's a very important musical that may not have revolutionized the entire Broadway musical artform as was predicted but its influenced is definitely felt. I think I had much more of an issue with it when I was in college and struggling financially than I do now. I think the difference is that I realize these characters don't have to represent every body and I accept they can be real dickheads who thumb their nose at others, especially to actual working people, because that's all they really have going for them to get them by. Anyway, to paraphrase Sondheim, dickheads can be right, selfish self-centered people can be good. I also realized that although I think people should pay rent, Benny really was a slum lord who was evicting them illegally...from what I remember. And Manhattan really has become Benny's vision and totally unaffordable for most people.

Updated On: 8/12/18 at 06:51 PM

HogansHero said: "@Soaring I did not understand your frame of reference. Regarding prologue, I think the opening song was exposition and them, not to be taken literally when it talked about last/this/next year's rent. I sensed you were reading it literally.

@poison as I said before, this was not a happy ending but a happier ending. ("No Day But Today" And these people were NOT abandoned. They had friends and support. The east village was not a conservative town somewhere, and Larson was telling a story he observed. One more point. The haves always disparage the have nots (certainly we understand this in 2018) and the greatest scorn is reserved for have nots by choice."

No, I was listening to the original cast album to check on this more and in the track Tune Up #2, Benny states that he's looking for the "past year's rent that I let slide".

HogansHero said: "ok, so when you were talking about selfish people you were referring to Benny?

I'm not sure how any of this relates to anything pertinent to the show's legacy and reputation. There are people who do silly things, unethical things, immature things, sketchy things. Why would portraying some instances of that be a part of the show's legacy or reputation. It sounds to me like folks who were not there projecting on those who were."

My referring to to the fact that the characters are selfish people was made in a separate comment from the comment that I made regarding the rent dispute between the characters.

When RENT opened on Broadway in 1996, Cats, Phantom, Les Miserables and Miss Saigon dominated the scene. All of them are set in the past and all depend technical effects. RENT, on the other hand, takes place "now" and does not depend on technical effects. It focuses on people. The musical felt like a breath of fresh air. Up until Cats opened on Broadway, musicals were not about scenery; they were about people. In one sense, Jonathan Larson's show is a throwback to the past. RENT can be done on a bare stage and it move the audience; the same can't said about the four imports.

As for the show's legacy, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Tom Kitt have said they were influenced by RENT.

OK thanks. I was not taking it too seriously, just trying to follow what you were saying since you had intelligent points to make. I was skeptical where this thread would lead when you started it, but I think it ended up being an interesting one.