Rent: Overrated or Revolutionary?

State your opinions here.

When I was 17, the score really spoke to me. Now, after listening, most of it leaves me cold, and I find myself finding more fault in the show than anything else. I know there are a lot of Rent lovers on this board, but just wanted to open up a discussion for all opinions of this show.

SO the question is:Is Rent Revolutionary or is Rent Overrated?

Updated On: 8/27/05 at 12:12 PM

I agree with Enjorlas. Both and neither? I've always found it's a show that plays really well and every time I see it really enjoy it, but if I'm just listening to it or thinking about it, its flaws become glaringly obvious.

Perhaps, as BobbyBubby alluded, something about it has to do with age. I was 22 when it came out and thought it was the best thing ever. Perhaps because of youthful naivete of the show (or us as viewers/listeners) or because the show is so rooted in zeitgeist, it's harder to accept it as unflinchingly once we become older.

For me, it becomes almost impossible for the separate the show from where I was in my life when I was really into it. There's personal nostalgia that the show evokes for me, so even though I recognize (and point out) all the flaws I see in it, it still manages to get to me. I'm curious to see what sort of reaction I have to the movie.

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Updated On: 8/27/05 at 12:26 PM

Like everyone else I would have to say both. I was only twelve years old when the show came out. I was in NYC with a theatre company I was in at the time and we had tickets to see the show during it's first few months. I had heard the story about Larson and was touched but I recall going into the theatre and being so moved by what I saw that I cried. Now I was always the Jock kid who also loved theatre so crying was a no no but I was so moved I coul dnot help myself. When I listen to the score it alwaysbrings me back to highschool a time where I had so much fun with that score and seeing the show. I mean I skipped a biology final so I could rush for the tour. As I get older I have come to kno wthe faults of " RENT" but for some reason or another I can look past that and thing of all the fun the music, and the story gave me. I am getting excited about the movie and while it is not my favorite show there will alwaays be a special place in my heart for the world of " RENT"

Revolutionary.
At least in my life, and that's the most I could ask for. It touched me so deeply, and just the opening sends shivers down my spine. It opened me up to musical theater and whole new side of music I never knew existed. It changed my idea of Broadway, reached out, I can't talk about Rent without getting completely sappy. It's one of those things I love so much I have to show to the people I really care about, let them experience it.
My arguements are all personal, I suppose that isn't the point of this thread. Oh well.

Question: What would you all consider its imperfections? I'm not saying there aren't any, I'm just curious.

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It's not a bad show by any means, but it's not nearly as good as many of its fans think, so I'm in the overrated camp.

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Totally OVERRATED, It is good but it is not what people make it out to be. I can honestly say it was the worst theatrical experince of my life, i called my friend at intermission to see if she could sneak me into the show she was ushering, but alas i was stuck in that theatre!

I think it's overrated only if one insists on saying that it's revolutionary OR one of the all time great musicals. It's good.

But it's nowhere near being as groundbreaking or influential in the history of theater as was initially stated by it's most fervent champions.

A friend of mine who is totally in the overrated camp, says that it's nothing more than a young suburbanite's idea of slumming in bohemia. And he hates what he sees as a romanticizing of abject poverty.

Updated On: 8/27/05 at 03:19 PM

I think it depends on how you look at it. I would say it's revoluntionary, not necessarily based on the creative and technical aspect of it, but the effect it has had and continues to have on the audiences who see it. I think if you ask a large number of young people what show got them interested in theatre, they're going to say Rent. So I think it's revoluntiary in the respect that it has done things that many other shows would not have been able to do. It's almost been like a doorway to the world of Broadway for a lot of the people in my generation, and you have to give it credit it for that no matter how much flawed or imperfect it may be.

I would say both.

I think most shows are "overrated". If you hear a show is the best thing since sliced-bread, I personally think you're going to be disappointed after seeing it... b/c very few things ever live up to hype.

I LOVE this show, though it is flawed, but I think "revolutionary" is a very strong word. I wouldn't say its purely revolutionary, but I would say that it was at least a little revolutionary.

LOL. I'm not good at making sense.

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It's me, performing a scene at my thirtieth birthday party.

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Sarah Schulman can say all she wants, and I would have taken her points much more seriously if she had referred to points in the musical correctly. There is a time in her book, Stagestruck, where she incorrectly describes a character who, even amidst the wrong details, is Collins, but she calls him Benny. If you're going to write a book, you really should make sure you're referencing what you're trying to disprove correctly.

After reading the previous posts... I'm going to have to jump on the "both bandwagon." I really think its a matter of preference.

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I've always felt RENT is overrated, but there's no doubt in my mind that it was revolutionary. I just happen to think its being revolutionary is a bad thing. Part of the reason I find it overrated is that in the end you're left with a sense of hopelessness; a sense that, yeah, life sucks, but it's all we have; that life lacks a purpose, which is something I do not believe to be true.

This idea that life has no goal worked its way into the RENT revolution (so to speak). Many (dare I say most) who saw the show subscribed to this philosophy and live accordingly. RENT fueled the exsitentialism, cultural relativism, and "tolerence" ideals of today's society. None of which I find particularly encouraging.


On another note, I think Schulman -- despite problems with other things she said -- hit the nail on the head with this one:

"It's constructed like a Benetton ad: There's the homeless Puerto Rican drag queen who's HIV-positive, the black upper-class lesbian, the straight white guy from the suburbs who's HIV-negative. And they're all presented as equal; they're all bohemians. This is a standard conceit of a dominant culture: to look at people who have different levels of social power and equalize them in a false way that removes the specificity of their experience."

I always bothered me how the shows diversity seems so contrived. But I haven't yet fleshed my thoughts out on the matter, so I'll stop there before I confuse myself. LOL

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