Rent

[AeonToy]

I just saw Rent today at Pantages in Los Angeles and it was AMAZING. I saw the movie a couple years ago and I didn't like it that much, but live, seriously, was ridiculous. I dunno, i just wanted to post to see if there were other fans out there of Rent or musicals.

ps. the voice of the guy who played tom collins is super sexy.

[Bunny]

lol, I think just about everyone on here is a fan of RENT.

[davo-man]

I certainly am RENT = awesome concentrate

[Mana]

I've never seen it live D: I have the DVD though xD

[davo-man]

The live show is wicked awesome...I mean, the DVD is good, but it skips out on heaps of the most awesome songs, such as Happy New Year (A & B) and Christmas Bells, which are my two fav songs of the show

[Steve]

what is this rent thing i always ask but no one ever ansers

[Ronnie92]

Originally Posted by Steve

what is this rent thing i always ask but no one ever ansers

RENT=One of the greatest Musical's Ever.
nuff said

[ricoca]

OH MY DOG!
I JUST WENT TO THE SAME PERFORMANCE LAST NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and I thought the two leads were such awesome singers!
And yes the Tom Collins has a sexy voice
and the cast was good too! lol i wanna be a broadway actor

[interstella]

I feel ashamed that I haven't seen RENT yet...
I haven't seen Milk or Prayers For Bobby either

[Sarah]

I loved Rent! my parents took me to see it when i was in 5th grade. we went to new york to visit my cousin. IT WAS AMAAAAAAZING!!!

[RENThead]

rent is the bestest thing EVER!!!
go and see it... it will change your life...

[Mr Bojangles]

Don't kill me, but I'm more of a Producers fan myself :P

[davo-man]

Well since no-one really answered your question, Steve, I'll give you the run down of the show

It starts off in Mark and Roger's loft on Christmas Eve. Mark is just beginning to shoot a movie and Roger is attempting to write a song when the phone rings; it's Mark's mum, wishing him a Merry Christmas. They start doing their things again, when it calls again. This time it's Collins, their old roommate who went to teach at MIT and who has come to visit them during Christmas. Before they finish their conversation, Collins is mugged by a gang and his coat (apart from a sleeve) is stolen).

Whilst wondering what happened to Collins, the phone rings once more. This one is Benny, their landlord and exroommate, who married Alison Grey of the Westport Greys (a property development group). He has become part of the nouveau riche and has been sent by his father-in-law to collect the rent. When he gets off the line, he cuts the power to show that he means business. And so erupts most of the main cast and chorus in a song about not paying their rent

Next we see how Collins fared. A busker approaches him, introduces himself as Angel (I refer to him here as "him" because he is in mens clothes...at least in the production I saw) and asks Collins if he would like to come to an AIDS support meeting; a proposal that Collins accepts.

Mark then leaves Roger alone in the apartment to go help Maureen (his ex-girlfriend who left him for a lawyer named Joanne) and Roger sings a really annoying song detailing how he used to be a famous rockstar, fell in love, got addicted to heroin and then found his gilfriend with her wrists slit and a note saying "We have AIDS". Then some random chick, Mimi, comes from downstairs with a candle. She seems unable to keep the flame alight and continually asks him to light it for him...This may or may not be a euphamism, I'm yet to decide Anyway, she then loses a baggy of heroin in his apartment and they find it together, and he discovers that she's got the best ass below fourteenth street and she discovers that he has big hands, like her father (take from that what you will )

Mark returns to the department after Mimi leaves and Collins comes through the door. Turns out he was fired from MIT, and now has a job at NYU. He gives Mark and Roger gifts of alcohol and tells them that the reason for their celebration is due to .... *drumroll* Angel Dumott Shunard, a crossdresser in a santa coat, a black bob wig and zebra stockings. She sings about how a woman contracted her to play her drums so loudly that a dog that had been annoying the old lady would jump off the 23rd story to its death. Angel's reward was $1000.

Benny arrives again, once again wanting rent. He sings about his plans to knock down the tent city which houses heaps and heaps of homeless (as well as Maureen's performance space) in order to build a cyber arts studio. Benny offers Mark a deal: get Maureen to stop the protest she is putting on and Roger and Mark can live in their apartment rent free. Collins, Roger and Angel recommend hard drugs, hugs and Prozac for Benny. Benny leaves

Mark once again leaves the apartment to go help Maureen, but instead of finding her at the performance space, he finds Joannes setting up for Maureen's upcoming show; a big protest against the knocking down of the tent city. The sing about how Maureen is a bit of a slut and gets around, but realise that they both still have feelings for her despite that. They also discover that they are both trained in the tango (Mark was talk by the rabii's daughter at the Scarsdale Jewish Community Centre and Joanne by the French embassador at Miss Porter's dorm) and dance around a bit.

It then cuts to the AIDS support meeting where Collins and Angel have arrived at. The group sings about how hard it is to have AIDS and one in particular sings about his feelings about when his white T-cell count was low. Mark rudely interrupts them but is accepted by the group.

Then comes one of the bigger numbers of the show: Out Tonight. We see Mimi in her apartment, getting all in a tizzy about wanting to hit the town, score some smack and find a few guys...She's a bit of a slurry as well. However, instead of finding her way to a club, she breaks into Roger's apartment and finds him there with his guitar. I think she was trying to be romantic and she pulls out another doggy bag of white powder. Roger gets all pissy because he quit heroin like 3 years ago and feels like they can't be together. He rebukes her claims that "there's only now, there's only this" by asking her why, if she believes this, is she so dependent on smack. This finishes in a very melodramatic blending of her, Roger's and the guys from the support group's voices

It then skips back to the support group where the chorus wonders whether they will lose their dignity when they die and whether anyone will care. Upon exiting the support group, Roger begins filming a couple of police officers commanding a streetwoman to move away from the area. When the policemen are gone, the streetwoman goes off on a tirade to Mark because all of the artists she sees are naive and think they can save the world when really they are penniless and broke themselves, not so dissimilar to her own situation.

Following on from this, Angel ponders that anywhere they could possibly go after New York would be a pleasure cruise. Collins thinks that the best idea would be to pack up everything, move to Santa Fe and set up a restaurant. He asks that Mark brushes the sauce onto the meat and that Angel could drum a gentle beat while he stops teaching and becomes a waiter.

Mark leaves Angel and Collins alone where they begin signing a love song that's really sweet and upbeat. They dance along their merry way and finish the song with a kiss

The light then hits Joanne who is on the phone with a colleague, Steve. She discusses a case until her phone rings; Maureen who needs to talk to Joanne about the upcoming protest. Then she gets another call; her father, whom she wanted to talk to about her mother's upcoming case where Joanne is representing her mum. Joanne wanted to make it clear to her dad that Maureen is coming to the hearing, despite her mother's warnings. Joanne also talks to Maureen about how much she slept around when she was going out with Mark and is surprised by how many men/women there were.

Finally we get to my favourite song, and this one is the most difficult to explain. It starts of with the homeless chorus singing about lack Christmas stuff for them because they have no money. It then moves to Angel and Collins. Angel wants to buy Collins something for Christmas while Collins is simply trying to find a way to repay Angel for how awesome she is. Then Roger and Mark come in. Mark is questioning Roger about Mimi and what happened when Roger spots Mimi in the crowd. Benny wanders in, on the phone his realtor wife, saying that the protest is still on. There are also heroin addicts following a drug dealer, trying to score some smack and Mimi is in this group until Roger shows up and tells the druggie to back off.

They then all start signing at the same time. Angel begins bartering for the coat that Collins realises is the one he had stolen from him. Mark and Roger meet up with Mimi and discuss going to Maureen's show. Mimi forgives Roger for acting like a prat before because he invites her to dinner (doormat anyone?). Benny is still sad, now because his father-in-law will be coming to the protest which is bad news. The number finally ends with Maureen yelling "Joanne, which way to the stage!?!?"

The protest has finally arrived. Maureen begins reciting a poem/song about how cyberland is an evil controlling land where there is no freedom and the only way to escape it to jump "Over the Moon" (protest it, I assume). She then calls Benny a bulldog and discusses how he used to have morals, but now is heartless. She ends off by asking everyone to Moo with her to show their support. Everyone moos, but then it gets ugly and violent, with the police getting involved. Mark has his camera rolling the entire time.

After the protest, we find everyone at the Life Cafe, the group's usual hangout, but the maitre de (sp?) refuses them entry because they never have any money. They do this time (because of Angel I presume) and move the tables together against the owner's requests. They then find Benny sitting at a table and confront him about the tent city, but he simply states they they are living a lie; bohemia is dead. Mark stages a mock funeral for bohemia, the eulogy turning into a funtime party song dedicated to naming all things bohemian.

In the midst of this song, we see Joanne returning from packing up, at which point Maureen turns her right back around and tells her she's not finished. Joanne comes back a second time, but Maureen tells her she is still not finished (controlling, manipulative bitch). Benny pulls Mimi aside and we find out that they used to be an item during Benny's marriage (Yes, Benny's a player). Roger then pulls Mimi aside and they find out that they both have AIDS. They have a boring love song and find out that they love each other. They kiss. When they return to the group, we find out from Joanne that police have tried to remove the protesters but they just sit there mooing.

ACT BREAK

...Oh yes, that's just the first act

[littledinosaurs]

I've never seen and it don't really feel compelled to see it.

[davo-man]

The first song is Seasons of Love (the one with 525, 600 minutes). It basically asks the question: how do we measure a year. Not content with the traditional minutes, they ask whether perhaps we should measure in truths that she learnt, or times that he cried, in bridges he burnt or the way that she died. I'm content with minutes

The next song is another fav of mine. Basically right after the protest, Benny locked them all out of their apartments and on New Year's Eve they decide to break back in. Mimi decides to give up heroin and go back to school (yeh, right) while Roger gets all angsty about knowing that he should be laughing and smiling but not being able to. Mark arrives and tries to lead them in breaking in, but finds the locks are too strong. Maureen arrives with chips and champagne and dresses in a leather cat costume (because it's apropos for a party as well as a crime). She then rings Joanne to reconcile, because they broke up at the end of La Vie Boheme and Joanne walks up behind her, asking her to get on her knee and beg, to which she complies. Joanne has brought rope in order to climb into their apartment, which she, Mark and Maureen go off to do. Angel and Collins arrive dress as Pussy Galore (in person) and James Bond respectively and Angel whips out a blowtorch to break in, which works.

Finally they get into their apartment and the power suddenly comes on. Mark has a msg from Buzzline, a tabloid like tv show, praising the footage from the protest and asking him whether he would like a job. He also gets a msg from his mum congratulating him on getting his footage on the air. Benny arrives shortly after and they start yelling at each other. It turns out Benny was gunna let them in anyway cos Mimi came around and convinced him, but when Roger hears this, he misconstrues it as meaning that Mimi cheated on him with Benny. It's also nearly revealed to Benny that the dog Angel killed with Benny's wife's. In the end, Angel tries to reconcile everyone and they try to act happy with each other (with the exception of Benny)

A month and a half pass and it's Valentines Day. Angel and Collins are head over heals with each other, Roger has seemingly forgiven Mimi and is living with her, but is constantly talking of moving to Santa Fe. And Maureen and Joanne are fighting...again. This leads to an AWESOME power duet between them, where Maureen says that she has to live as herself and not have to hold herself back because of Joanne (such as not being able to get a nipple piercing cos it grossed her out). Joanne rebuts by saying that there is nothing wrong with wanted stability and being sensible and they yell at each other that it's impossible to live with/without women. They end their relationship

The second half of Seasons of Love comes along and basically it says that someone's gunna die. Mimi sings a song about how life goes on when she's not with Roger, but that it has no meaning. The world may work without him, but she would die

Then comes the sex scene. For some reason everyone apart from Mark has sex: Maureen with Joanne, Angel with Collins and Roger with Mimi. This always struck me as strange since, M and J just broke up, R thinks that Mimi slept with Benny and Angel is about to die (his AIDS is getting bad). Sadly, at the end of the song, Angel dies and has his solo when he passes. Also, when it is staged, they are all in the same bed under one huge sheet, which makes it look like theyre having a huge orgy, but I have been told that it's just to be poetic; they are actually just in couples...and Mark gets none

Angel's funeral comes directly after the sex song and Mimi, Maureen and Mark give small eulogies basically saying how awesome Angel was. Collins stands to sing and sings a reprise of their love song. It's incredibly sad :'( The rest of the ensemble join in near the end with this song being blended with Seasons of Love in a very moving piece, esp when seen live.

After this, Mark has to call Buzzline to let them know that he'll be late to a meeting but realises that that company doesn't care about him or his feelings. He begins wondering aloud how the hell all of this happened and makes the connection that everything revolved around Christmas Eve, when the entire first act happened. He sings about all the coincidences/events that led to loves: Collins using that particular phone booth, Mimi knocking on Roger's door.

(Another fav of mine) The group minus Collins then reconvenes and Mimi asks whether it's true that Roger is moving to Santa Fe, which it is. Benny then asks why she is talking to Roger, because she said that she never would again (Strange since they had sex a few songs ago ) Maureen then yells at Benny saying it's not his place to say who she can talk to and Joanne yells at Maureen for getting into a fight that's not her own. Joanne and Mimi yell at their respective loves about giving and never getting anything; they both want what Angel and Collins had, which was love. Collins enters and yells at all of them for disrespecting Angel, who they were here to remember.

Roger and Mark are then left alone (and Mimi returns soonish just to the right of the stage). They sing about him just leaving Mimi even though she's getting sicker by the day. Roger says that it's not Mark's place to tell him what to do, esp seeing as Mark never really engages in the group, preferring to observe. Mark retorts that that's because he's the only one to survive (he doesn't have AIDS, whilst Roger, Mimi, Collins and Angel have AIDS). Roger storms off but not before Mark reminds him that he's always been let down and now he's doing the same. Roger reminds Mark that Mark's always wanted a community but feels the need to hide behind his camera.

We discover now that Mimi has heard everything. Despite this, Roger still goes and Mimi for the first time realises how dire her disease is. Benny comes and Mark suggests a rehab for Mimi, which Benny will pay for

Then we get to another angsty song. Mark's all sad that his work is not what he wants to do in life and is waaay too commercial. Roger has moved to Santa Fe, but realises that he loves Mimi and she is his muse. Roger returns and Mark quits his job

We discover that Mimi has become missing, by hearing a voice msg by her mum. This also contains msgs from Mark's, Maureen's and Roger's mums, wondering what they are doing at Christmas time.

Finally, a year has past since the beginning of the show. Mimi is still missing, Roger and Mark are living together again and Collins has come to visit. Collins again has cash to burn but this time it's because he hacked an ATM to give out money when the code A-N-G-E-L is used. They again discuss opening a restaurant where they overcharge the rich people, but before they go into details, Maureen yells at them from downstairs they she has found Mimi

She was huddled in the park in the dark and she was freezing and begged to go to Mark's place. She's close to death and Collins rings 911, which puts him on hold. Mimi tells him that she didnt do anything with Benny. He tells her that he didn't leave because of him and she tells him that she loves him. While she is passed out in his hands and needed dire medical attention, Roger sings the song he has been working on all year to her that was inspired by her. Amazingly that wakes her up. She reports a bright and seeing Angel. And she looked good.

And that's about it...They end in a biiiiiiiiiig medley of most of the songs and it's a real feel good ending...even though Angel died, half of them have AIDS, Mark is now unemployed and Benny still owns the lot

And after all that, it's still my favourite musical of all time!

PS I did this at night after a looong day from memory, so sorry if there are slight mistakes

PPS I did the synopsis of the SHOW, not the MOVIE...The movie cuts out a lot of the stuff here, so you might not recognise some of the songs/events

PPPS Hope you enjoyed and sorry if my writing wasn't incoherent

[ricoca]

WOW.... you're WAYYYY more than DEDICATED or LOVE the play dave
good job

[dragonscale333]

Oh, the wax - it's dripping. I like it between my...fingers!

[Greggers]

Every time i feel lonely, depressed or angry...

I watch / listen to my Rent DVD / Soundtrack. It instantly makes me feel better! Its my favorite musical for sure, just because it ALWAYS gets me on my feet dancing and singing and in such a good mood. I feel SO deeply for the characters that its almost like i am one of them o_o if that makes any sense. It feels like my entire body is being consumed by the slums of new york, and every song flows through me like i AM that song...

Its literally my anti-drug

But Chicago soundtrack, sadly, gets me dancing more. I cant NOT dance to Chicago. I still love my Rent though, and ill always treasure how much its helped me

[Amy]

Originally Posted by davo-man

Well since no-one really answered your question, Steve, I'll give you the run down of the show

...Oh yes, that's just the first act

Holy crap.
<3

[AeonToy]

Originally Posted by littledinosaurs

I've never seen and it don't really feel compelled to see it.

at first... i was like that too. cause honestly i saw the movie and i didnt like it that much. but the show is ridiculous.

i keep singing "i'll cover you" under my breath