Ever seen a show where you went into intermission feeling like, "Wow, this is a great show. I think I just might like this one," but then you walk out of the theatre feeling totally unsatisfied? For me, Once on this Island comes to mind. Others?
Well, hmm. I went into RENT not really expecting it to be good (all my friends were like, "OMGIT'SBOHEMIAN!"), and by intermission, I was eating my words. Then came the ending. Of course Mimi lives. That disappointed me. I would've liked it if she died. I wasn't totally unsatisfied...just a little bit.
Exactly, timote! When she jerked back to life, I wanted to scream, "No, go back to dead so Roger can mourn and be depressed! It proves that there's no fairytale ending!"
What that ending telling the kids? Take drugs, but as long as you have a boyfriend who can write a song (a good one at that), you're all set? lol. The one flaw in Rent, IMO
You can take drugs, have AIDS, and live on the street! It doesn't matter, because when you die, you'll have a leap of - mooooooo! And everything will be fine.
Once on this Island?!?! NOOOOOOO! I adore that show. And how can you be thinking it's good during intermission? There is no intermission. Unless they added one... illegal...
Once on This Island's ending is similar to what happened in Wicked/RENT; the original source had the character die, the musical had the character live. However, OOTI handled it much better than the others.
love the show Fame...but the ending is still unclear to me... Once on this Island's ending- PERFECT TMM-Love it and the ending
And you think of all of the things you've seen, and you wish that you could live in between ,and you're back again only different than before...
After the Sky.
-Into the Woods (Jack)
RENT's ending...it didnt ruin the experience but it took a lot from the show
WICKED's ending was done a lot better...a simple idea but God does the audience roar when Elphie *SPOLER AHEAD* comes out from the stage!! I thought Wicked's ending was actually very unique
I like the show, I'm a RENTHead, but I'm not going to pretend like it is the show to end all shows sent from the musical theatre gods. But the ending, while it is tacky is A)Not THAT predictable (at least back in '96 when it was still new) because in La Boheme, Mimi dies so the logical conclusion would be she would in Rent also. B)I'm probably not going to explain it correctly, but the point of the show isn't to be a downer, the whole No-Day-But-Today philosophy, and to have people walking out of the show and being depressed, the positive message it is TRYING to convey will get lost...especially with the teen fanbase that it attracts now; the ones who don't look for the deeper meaning and just omg__insert cast member here__ is so hot. In the times I've seen it, I never once thought that it was saying/implying that you can do drugs and have aids be all peachy. But wouldn't it be a downer to go, yeah she has Aids and all Aids victims will DIE DIE DIE?
Look at Angels in America, Prior lives and no one (at least I've found) has complained that that has a sappy ending/it says you'll have Aids and be fine...
My two-cents, and if you understand and can explain it better please do.
-Mike
(And a show I thought the ending was tacky on: Brooklyn. I saw it again this weekend, I liked it the first time I saw it, but this time around I found myself rolling my eyes every three seconds and only staying for the music.)
