Throw down the key

[zannafan]

Posted: 12/19/03 at 12:38pm

I was curious...in RENT, they drop the key into the audience. After the show is over, someone comes out and gets the key from the audience member. I was wondering if anyone has ever gotten out of the theater with the key (or bag that the key is supposed to be in). I think that for the person to be able to get out before the stage manager comes out, they would have to high tail it out of the theater. Let me know.
Nick

[localonecrew]

Posted: 12/19/03 at 12:41pm

People take it all of the time. I would say once a week. They don't have to run out of the theater. Most people just deny having caught it. The guys can't search them. Alot of time though the guys in the lighting booth watch where it goes and once confronted with this info the person attempting to keep it fesses up and returns it. Not always though.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/19/03 at 12:41pm

Yes, and they should be playing banjo escape music on their Ipods as they run down the street with their precious booty. And the key. Sure they miss Act Two, but it's totally so worth it. Especially if they have on Rent nail polish.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 12/19/03 at 12:43pm

Updated On: 7/9/04 at 12:43 PM

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/19/03 at 12:44pm

those rentheads that do that stuff need therapy

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/19/03 at 12:48pm

No they don't. They need banjo music and Rent nailpolish, silly!

[zannafan]

Posted: 12/19/03 at 12:48pm

Thank you for the quick response. I think the thought of people leaving early just to take the key is SO funny. Thanks :)
Nick

[sheekala]

Posted: 12/19/03 at 12:57pm

I've been off the boards(for work-not a self serving exile mind you!) but a quick glance at Namo's banjo/i-Pod line had me spitting up my lunchtime merlot! "I Am The Keymaster!"

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/19/03 at 1:30pm

It's just the adoration of loving fans. No different than the drag queen who keeps a vial of ABBA poo on a chain around her neck.

Nothing I would do, but if it causes ecstactic thrills for the collectors, then I'm happy for them.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/19/03 at 1:43pm

And I'm happy for you that you're happy for them! We're so happy you're so happy! As long as you stay happy, we'll stay happy!

[BrdwyThtr]

Posted: 12/19/03 at 1:49pm

On tour, it's dropped on the floor of the stage. I was in the front row and it never hit the floor.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/19/03 at 2:27pm

TOTAL RIP OFF! You should have asked for your money back. Just another one of the egregious cuts that happens during non-Equity tours. The producers probably charge the actors playing Mark and Roger if they need to replace the key.

[localonecrew]

Posted: 12/19/03 at 2:39pm

knowing kevin and jeffery i dont doubt that.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/19/03 at 2:43pm

RENT has ridiculously CHEAP producres.

[localonecrew]

Posted: 12/19/03 at 2:45pm

and they are cheats too. One cast member asked for a raise and they agreed to give him $35 more a week. He got his new contract in the mail with the raise on the front page and signed them and sent them back. The next week there was no raise in his check. When he inquired about this they they showed him his contract where on the last page, in small print it said that all raises mentioned previously in the contract were null and void. Updated On: 12/19/03 at 02:45 PM

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/19/03 at 2:46pm

DAYUM. SLEAZE

[GirlfriendFromCanada]

Posted: 12/19/03 at 4:14pm

Well, of course, there is the cane man. He is the guy who sticks his head out from under the stage right after the key is dropped and pats the cane around searching for it and then pulls it down into his little hole.

Once, I saw a fight break out for the freaking key. While the show was going on, of course. There was even squealing involved. Craziness.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/19/03 at 4:20pm

Finders keepers, losers friggin weepers.

[broadwayguy2]

Posted: 12/19/03 at 4:20pm

well maybe the "Cane Man" needs to beat some sense into a RENTHEAD or two..........

[CourtneyM]

Posted: 12/19/03 at 4:25pm

yes that might be a good idea lol

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 12/19/03 at 4:33pm

I love RENT, and might take the key if I caught it only becuase I frame playbills and that would be a cool thing to go with it. But if a SM asks me for the key, I would give it to him. Why steal it? If they don't want you to have it, then they don't want you to have it!

Updated On: 12/19/03 at 04:33 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/19/03 at 4:48pm

If Jonathan Larson did not want audience members to have the key, he would have written a door buzzer into the show. It does a great disservice to his memory that they ask for the key back.

[StateOfJade]

Posted: 12/19/03 at 5:02pm

That new contract thing is bull****. The reason the cast is so terrible now is that the producers weren't paying certain people the salaries that they deserved, and and so they replaced them with cheaper people who were just happy for the chance to be on broadway...the producers are cheap bastards.

[StraightToHeaven]

Posted: 12/19/03 at 6:02pm

back on track---Didn't you once get the key?

[BrdwyThtr]

Posted: 12/19/03 at 6:06pm

That same thing happened at RHS. Dr. Scott threw his glove into the audience and during intermission, some woman would come looking for it.