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listersgirlRENT! YAY!
Rent is one of my favourite musicals. I'm not obsessed, and I know it's not perfect by any means, but somehow it always manages to sneak onto my Top 10 lists. I'm sure the fact that I saw it in New York in 1995 (?), with the original cast (except for Adam Pascal [Roger], who was replaced by his understudy that day, if I remember correctly) makes a difference in how much I love it, too.
Taken without reference to the stage production, I loved the movie. I really did. Sure, the cast was probably far too old for the characters, but it was just so incredible to see them again. Also, I adore Jesse L. Martin and Anthony Rapp. ADORE.
Good things:
-Rosario Dawson made an excellent Mimi. Ok, she didn't look 19, but that would have been weird if she'd been 19 and everyone else was waaaay older than their characters.
-I loved the staging on two of my favourite songs, "La Vie Boheme" and "Santa Fe".
-I found that it translated well to the screen, that they managed to open it up without losing the smaller moments, and work with the staginess without ignoring the fact that it really is a musical and people really are singing while walking (or biking) down the street.
-The costumes! I loved that they kept so many of the same costume ideas from the original version.
-Maureen's performance piece was awesome.
-I liked that they didn't pretend that people weren't singing, that when someone started to sing everyone looked at them. Nice.
-Mark and Joanne tangoing. Hee.
-Mark constantly filming things. I mean, obviously, yes, that's what he does, but the visual of it was a nice reminder.
Quibbles:
-I missed all the singing bits they took out, or turned into spoken dialogue. I mean, it worked, but I was sad. Without the singing, Angel meeting Collins lost some of its resonance, and the New Years scene felt like it was missing something.
-The whole engagement party scene before "Take Me or Leave Me" was weird.
-They were definitely trying to make Benny more sympathetic, which, although probably more logical, since he had been their friend, kind of undercut some of the lines and made a few things not make as much sense, I found. The Benny/Mimi thing was played way down, too.
-Why don't I ever end up on subway cars with charming singing boys? Oh wait, I think that's more a quibble with my life.
Bad things:
-The hair on the extras in "La Vie Boheme". I realize it's 1989, but really.
Whatever, I still loved it. And I still cried pathetically (just ask![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
starfishchick).
Rent is one of my favourite musicals. I'm not obsessed, and I know it's not perfect by any means, but somehow it always manages to sneak onto my Top 10 lists. I'm sure the fact that I saw it in New York in 1995 (?), with the original cast (except for Adam Pascal [Roger], who was replaced by his understudy that day, if I remember correctly) makes a difference in how much I love it, too.
Taken without reference to the stage production, I loved the movie. I really did. Sure, the cast was probably far too old for the characters, but it was just so incredible to see them again. Also, I adore Jesse L. Martin and Anthony Rapp. ADORE.
Good things:
-Rosario Dawson made an excellent Mimi. Ok, she didn't look 19, but that would have been weird if she'd been 19 and everyone else was waaaay older than their characters.
-I loved the staging on two of my favourite songs, "La Vie Boheme" and "Santa Fe".
-I found that it translated well to the screen, that they managed to open it up without losing the smaller moments, and work with the staginess without ignoring the fact that it really is a musical and people really are singing while walking (or biking) down the street.
-The costumes! I loved that they kept so many of the same costume ideas from the original version.
-Maureen's performance piece was awesome.
-I liked that they didn't pretend that people weren't singing, that when someone started to sing everyone looked at them. Nice.
-Mark and Joanne tangoing. Hee.
-Mark constantly filming things. I mean, obviously, yes, that's what he does, but the visual of it was a nice reminder.
Quibbles:
-I missed all the singing bits they took out, or turned into spoken dialogue. I mean, it worked, but I was sad. Without the singing, Angel meeting Collins lost some of its resonance, and the New Years scene felt like it was missing something.
-The whole engagement party scene before "Take Me or Leave Me" was weird.
-They were definitely trying to make Benny more sympathetic, which, although probably more logical, since he had been their friend, kind of undercut some of the lines and made a few things not make as much sense, I found. The Benny/Mimi thing was played way down, too.
-Why don't I ever end up on subway cars with charming singing boys? Oh wait, I think that's more a quibble with my life.
Bad things:
-The hair on the extras in "La Vie Boheme". I realize it's 1989, but really.
Whatever, I still loved it. And I still cried pathetically (just ask
starfishchick).![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Whee!
Date: 2005-11-30 06:35 pm (UTC)We saw it in June of 1997. I could probably even find the day, because I kept the ticket (but don't feel like searching for it)! It did still have most of the original cast, but Daphne Rubin-Vega had left, and we had understudies for Roger and Mark. Our Roger was Norbert Leo Butz (love!), but I forget the name of the Mark.
I loved most of it, too. I totally missed some of the cut singing stuff. I didn't mind not having most of the answering machine messages, but I missed "Happy New Year".
My least favourite bit of staging, the more I think about it, was the wide open New Mexico vista during "What You Own". I thought that looked silly, and Roger leaving and coming back within the space of one song didn't really work for me.
I cried like a baby.
Can we go to New York again, please???
Re: Whee!
Date: 2005-11-30 07:15 pm (UTC)The coming and going within one song wasn't great, true, although I did like that they didn't add entire scenes just to show that he'd gone and come back.
Hey, is there a song on the soundtrack that wasn't in the movie? I don't remember seeing the whole part about Roger leaving (the fight with Mark) and Mimi going into rehab, but I just heard it (the second part of Goodbye Love). Or maybe I was still crying and distracted. :D
Re: Whee!
Date: 2005-12-01 02:23 am (UTC)Hey, is there a song on the soundtrack that wasn't in the movie? I don't remember seeing the whole part about Roger leaving (the fight with Mark) and Mimi going into rehab, but I just heard it (the second part of Goodbye Love).
I definitely don't think all of that is in the movie, but now I'm not sure. I just listened to it-I think part of it was there, maybe? But not the "Mark hides in his work--you live a lie...you're always preaching not to be numb...perhaps it's because I'm the one of us to survive." I loooove that bit, and I remember being annoyed after the movie that they'd left that out.
I don't remember all the Mimi "Goodbye Love, just came to say..." stuff either. Huh.
Since it's on the Soundtrack, i guess we can hope for Deleted Scenes on the DVD! (which I'm so buying, omg.)
I'll call.
I hate the fall.
Re: Whee!
Date: 2005-12-01 02:35 am (UTC)I saw some icons that someone had made with quotes from the Broadway production, and it made me realize how many excellent throwaway lines were left out of the movie.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-30 07:38 pm (UTC)I agree about the Angel/Collins meeting losing some of its resonance. I really missed the line, "This body provides a comfortable home for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome." The fact that Angel would choose those words, that phrasing, to tell someone about his disease says SO much about his character. Her character.
And the engagement party just pissed me off. Which you probably read on my journal, or can read now.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-01 02:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-01 08:00 pm (UTC)