Rent vs. Spring Awakening

[broadwayman17]

Posted: 11/18/07 at 10:53pm

Just wanted to hear a poll of which one people would rather see if they could only see one. I know people constantly compare the two shows, and I'm a fan of both shows.

Updated On: 11/18/07 at 10:53 PM

[homeonstage]

Posted: 11/18/07 at 10:55pm

Usually it's Rent, but i've seen that three times and I'm kind of getting tired of it. I still love it, but right now I want to see SA. (And a lot of other shows.)

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 11/18/07 at 10:57pm

RENT

[ashley0139]

Posted: 11/18/07 at 11:04pm

RENT

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 11/18/07 at 11:05pm

Spring Awakening, most definitely

[nydirector2]

Posted: 11/18/07 at 11:06pm

Really? REALLY? You're comparing a Pulitzer Prize Winning Musical based on a reknowned opera to a dramaturgically travesty of a musical with music that wasn't good enough for the airwaves of a pop artist based on a play that was SO awful it was banned in its country of origin? REALLY? No...REALLY?

[MrAmySpanger]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 12:14am

really, nydirector2? REALLY? Spring Awakening was banned because of how awful it was? Really....REALLY?!


false.


spring awakening, for sure, and by far.

[Dancinqueen123]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 12:18am

Spring Awakening, only because I got too hyped up on Rent at one point and now I'm sick of it.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 12:19am

Rent. Spring Awakening is a poor attempt at achieving everything Rent does so beautifully.

[pab]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 12:20am

Spring Awakening could not even shine Rent's shoes.

[jake6970]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 12:21am

Spring Awakening. As much as I love Rent, I find it VERY flawed and think SA is a much better show. I've never experienced anything like I have with SA....it has affected me more than I thought a show could.
Updated On: 11/19/07 at 12:21 AM

[jake6970]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 12:23am

BUT I don't find the shows similar or comparable at all...to me it's like asking whether you would rather see Sweeney Todd or Color Purple.

[pab]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 12:26am

"Spring Awakening. As much as I love Rent, I find it VERY flawed and think SA is a much better show."

Best joke I've heard in a while.

[jake6970]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 12:29am

Joke? Rent's ending is terrible...I don't care that it's supposed to be a show about life, it doesn't work. A lot of the lyrics are laughable (I'll call, I hate the fall). Yes, you can say how terrible SA's lyrics are like the rest of the world...but they're some of the most beautiful ones I've ever heard.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 12:30am

Spring Awakening. As much as I love Rent, I find it VERY flawed and think SA is a much better show. I've never experienced anything like I have with SA....it has affected me more than I thought a show could.

You're totally entitled to that, but just because something affects you more doesn't automatically mean it's better. How on earth is Spring Awakening less flawed than Rent? Rent certainly has problems, but Spring Awakening -- regardless of how moving -- has some really, really messy writing.

[jake6970]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 12:30am

And as much as Rent has claimed to be a rock show...it's always screamed fake to me. Way more musical theatre than rock.

[jake6970]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 12:31am

Yeah, but it's my opinion that Rent is also VERY flawed. I think it although both have their flaws, SA is an all around better piece of theatre.

[pab]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 12:33am

Spring Awakening was the most overrated piece of tripe that I've seen in years and it had one of the weakest books of a musical since Brooklyn.

[jake6970]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 12:35am

Congrats on thinking that...it's one of those shows I guess that cause strong reactions in people. I happen to think it's my favorite show I've ever seen. Best? No. But, in my opinion, better than Rent, which is what this thread is about.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 12:35am

The thing about Rent's music is that it's not considered as "rock" as it probably was when Larson wrote it. People talk a LOT about Rent being dated, but they talk about the themes much moreso than they do the score. I don't really like to call the themes "dated" so much as "period," just for the sake of connotation, but the music is dated, too, in a sense -- that isn't what's considered "edgy" anymore. It IS a rock show, it's just falling into a certain period of "rock" sensibility. Spring Awakening is a pop score that's been planted into a theatrical story. There's a lot about that score that isn't theatrical. Rent is a pop opera score -- of course it's "way more musical theatre than rock." It's theater with a rock infusion; every one of those songs does what a theater score is supposed to do -- it fuels that story. Spring Awakening is structured in a way that makes a lot of its songs disconnect from that.

Rent is absolutely flawed. Few great things are truly WITHOUT their flaws. I think Spring Awakening is a poorly written freaking mess with a lot of things going for it, but to each his own.

Updated On: 11/19/07 at 12:35 AM

[jake6970]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 12:39am

I understand where you're coming from with that...I wasn't really old enoguh to see Rent when it had its big success. But again, just my opinion, every little choice in Spring Awakening works so well for me that I can overlook the flaws in the book. It just shocks and thrills me as a whole. But, like you said, to each their own. And the music is a very important part of a show, and I like SA's music 10X more than Rent's. Rent relies heavily on the keyboard/electronics, and SA's is very piano based and I think it will be harder to become dated.

[sparkleofenergy]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 12:40am

SPRING AWAKENING.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 12:42am

understand where you're coming from with that...I wasn't really old enoguh to see Rent when it had its big success.

Me either.

To be fair, I think Spring Awakening does a lot of things that are fascinating. And I loe the music. So I don't totally hate the show or whatever. But, I also think that people get carried away by those things to the point that they're willing to make excuses for its problems. But if it moves you, that's cool.

[jake6970]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 12:44am

It's not so much getting carried away with it...as it is that the show works as a whole for me so well that I'm able to overlook the flaws.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 11/19/07 at 12:53am

I didn't mean you -- I certainly have no way to read your mind. I meant people in general.