Welcome Home Rapp & Pascal — Page 16

Any lotto updates? Has it still been really crowded?

Yes, but only Nicolette comes out in the barricades. The rest of the cast filters out the other doors while all the attention is on Adam and Anthony. I've seen most of the cast leaving that way; they don't try to hide, they just realize the majority of people aren't there for them.

---

She is a main character in the show. Troy and Justin have both come out those doors as well.

i really wanted to meet merle.

EDIT: so where are these other doors? it wouldnt be wrong to try and meet the rest of the cast, would it?

Updated On: 8/8/07 at 01:17 AM

well. i live in dallas.
so making it to tarzan just for her signature was kinda hard for me to pull off.

great thanks!
ill get adam, anthony, and tamyra thursday and ill go back another night for the others.

EDITits like im a vampire or something.)

Updated On: 8/8/07 at 01:56 AM

I was at the show tonight (Tuesday). I'm a very big fan of Adam's, so that's who I paid the most attention to, but it was a terrific performance all around.

So... once again I feel so lucky to have been at this show. Their very first appearance was one of the most exciting events I've ever attended, but I realize now that everyone was feeling their way a bit. Adam was incredible tonight, and Tamyra was much better than the first time I saw her. She really nailed Out Tonight, which led into an electrifying Another Day. I can't put my finger on what made it so good, but it just seemed to flow.

The other big standout for me was Goodbye Love. It was incredibly emotional. Some of you may remember a version from 1997 with Marcy Harriell that's been around. Well, Adam had all that emotion, except that he was in control of it. You felt at any moment he might go over the edge, but he never did. I doubt if he's ever performed the line "Mimi did look pale" better. Anthony was equally fine. The scene between them was devastating. Tamyra was very believable and effective as well.

As for the rest of the cast, I liked Troy Horne a little better this time, and Justin Johnston a little less. I agree with those who feel he needs more heart and less shtick. I didn't mind Nicolette Hart's voice last Monday, but tonight it grated on me. I don't know if that was a function of her performance or where I was sitting. Merle Dandridge was excellent, as she was before.

Anthony Rapp at Seth's Chatterbox tomorrow:

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/110180.html

---

I agree that the screaming was pretty much contained to beginning and ends of songs. Wasn't that bad.

People with abnormally high spiked hair and people who lean on the railings are the ones that suck.

---

Warning... Uber review, broken up by character, in case you don't want to read the whole thing...

Okay, so I saw Rent on Monday night and am just now able to collect my thoughts enough to create some semblance of an intelligible review. I actually wrote a hard core detailed review (over 3100 words) but that is more or less for me to be able to “go back and remember” years and years from now… anyways here is the cliffs notes version, PM me if you want to read the whole thing for w/e reason…

Nicolette as Maureen: I’m kind of meh about her. Her Maureen was very aggressive, loud, obnoxious and I found her quite intimidating. There was no real soft side to her character. I thought her Over the Moon was really rushed, I don’t think she paused once through the whole song. One minute she’s in Cyberland w/ the Diet Coke, the next everyone’s mooing. I swear that it was less than four minutes. She rushed in other parts too. During the eulogies, Anthony hadn’t even turned around before she was rattling off her little spiel. Her voice was definitely on the irritating side as well. It seemed kind of strained, her part in TMoLM reminded me of something between a scream and a screech. She’s actually from my home town (Rochester) and I saw her in A Chorus Line a couple years ago (she was the one who sang Dance 10 Looks 3, I can’t remember the character’s name) and I don’t remember her voice being quite that obnoxious.

Merle as Joanne: I loved her, the best Joanne out of the three I’ve seen. Her attitude matched Nicolette’s beat by beat, and I really believed that they were a couple. She was a lot more sarcastic than I’ve seen in previous Joanne’s, and I felt like it really worked for the character. We’re Okay actually seemed to have a point, and really revealed a lot about the character. You got the idea that Joanne was in love with Maureen against her better judgment, and that she knew she was putting herself in a situation that was impossible to control (which seems like the equivalent to hell for Joanne), but she couldn’t help herself.

Troy as Collins: Maybe he was just having an off night, but I was not a fan, not at all. He was utterly forgettable to me. There was absolutely none of the charisma that usually makes me fall in love with Collins. The chemistry was not there between him and Justin. They were just… together, and I felt absolutely nothing for them as a couple. I feel like Troy was going through the motions of the show, and was putting no emotion into his performance. All of his numbers were just… blah. I honestly cannot remember anything about Santa Fe. Even the I’ll Cover You reprise fell flat, I wasn’t even listening/looking at him for most of the song (more on that later).

Justin as Angel: He put on the exact same performance that I saw last summer. There was no change, no development, absolutely no character growth. He’s a good dancer, has a crazy range, but is totally safe. He found what “works” for his character, and he’s not going to change or explore any alternate possibilities. That being said, I thought his Angel was good, a little flaky, but still good.

DMonroe as Benny: Same as Justin regarding the exact same performance from over a year ago. It was still solid, but it was the same old thing. Oh well, whatever works I guess…

And now onto the good stuff…

Tamyra as Mimi: After reading all of the mixed reviews about her, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I absolutely loved her. I thought she was infinitely better than Karmine and Krystal Brown from the tour, in the role. Her voice was flawless and made the vocals look effortless. I loved the way she looked, the way she sang, the way she moved, pretty much everything about her. She did a great job in the first act portraying the feistiness of her character, but can that girl angst. Her Without You and Goodbye Love were the most emotional I’ve ever seen. You could actually feel her heart breaking. I was more caught up in her performance during the I’ll Cover You reprise than in Troy’s. I don’t think either of the Mimi’s I’ve seen ever lined up during that scene and acted as sick and weak as she did. That was one of my favorite things about her portrayal. The one thing that irked me a little bit was the first part of her verse in Another Day. She was completely zoned out, staring off into somewhere in the audience when she sang, instead of directing the lyrics at Adam. It wasn’t a big deal, she realized what she was doing before the end of the verse and fixed it. It was just something I noticed. I felt like the chemistry was definitely there between her and Adam, I don’t know if it was as strong as it should be, but I’m sure it will build as they get used to each other. Their voices blended perfectly, the harmonies in I Should Tell You were definitely the most beautiful I’ve heard. Overall, I was very impressed with Tamyra’s Mimi, and I hope she continues on Broadway after her stint in Rent.

Anthony as Mark: Absolute perfection. He was everything I’ve ever dreamed Mark should be. There is nothing to critique. He was the perfect spazz, the perfect narrator, the perfect Mark. During Goodbye Love when Roger was confronting him about detaching, you could just see the emotion building into his eyes and then exploding in the “Perhaps it’s because I’m the one of us to survive…” line. I actually got chills. I loved his performance. There were so many little things he did throughout the show that made him the best Mark I’ve ever seen.

Adam as Roger: I’ve never seen Adam live before and have heard a lot of good things, and was probably looking forward to his performance the most, and he did not let me down. Every line, every gesture revealed something about his character. The other two Roger’s I’ve seen (Declan and Tim) portrayed him as completely withdrawn when he wasn’t busy blowing up at someone, but I did not get that from Adam. There wasn’t so much anger in Adam’s Roger as there was utter desperation and fear. At the end of Out Tonight when Mimi enters the apartment, Adam gave a little smile, which quickly disappeared when he saw what he wanted. You could see how torn between giving in to Mimi, and resisting her, and it absolutely broke my heart. I loved this new “softer” Roger, I feel like Adam played him with a lot more emotional depth than either Tim or Declan, and he brought something new to the character. I’m usually terrified and intimidated by the Roger’s wild unpredictability, but Adam made me feel compassion for the character, while still maintaining that wildness. I can only hope that future actors recognize this and maybe steal a little bit of Adam’s Roger for their own.

Wow, that was a lot longer than I meant for it to be, sorry. I ended up not stage dooring, I didn’t want being crushed or bruised or kicked to tarnish my perfect memories of this show. I ended up waiting across the street and watching them come out and sign, which is kind of creepy in retrospect, but I wanted a picture or two of them, so I stuck around. Thanks to everyone patient enough to read this and for advising me on the stage door situation all last week, I really appreciate it!! ?

---

Thanks!
Hopefully Troy was just having a little bit of an off night, but I could not get into him as Collins at all... he just seemed so flat, I saw absolutely no dimension whatsoever.
I think the fact that I was totally overwhelmed by Adam's stage presence to the point where my eyes were just stuck on him whenever he was on stage, made me miss a lot of the little things Troy may have done to enhance his character, but yeah, I was just not feeling it.

---

I'm glad he sang the reprise well last night. As much as I try I absolutely cannot remember him from Monday... I was just completely so sucked in by Tamyra standing in front of me all sick and feeble looking that I stopped listening to the song. Troy may have sang the piece beautifully that night, but I honest to god cannot remember it for the life of me.

---

I know! the song is one of my favorites and usually moves me to tears, I was just taken so aback by Tamyra that it just made everything else irreleverent. I didn't even look twice at Adam haha. You should definately check her out during that song if you're going again, I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

---