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Rent (1996 Original Broadway Cast)
By Jonathan Larson, Jonathan Larson, Tim Weil, Jeff Potter, Anthony Jackson, Daniel A. Weiss, Ira Siegel, Kenny Brescia, Dominique Derasse, Steve Skinner, Adam Pascal, Aiko Nakasone, Anthony Rapp, Byron Utley, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Fredi Walker, Gilles Chiasson, Gwen Stewart, Idina Menzel, Jesse L. Martin, Kristen Lee Kelly, Rodney Hicks, Stevie Wonder, Taye Diggs, Timothy Britten Parker, Wilson Jermaine Heredia
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I went to see the 12:00AM screening of the movie "RENT" this morning - the movie I was waiting for all year.
So I get to the theatre and there's like a million people there (as expected), but I manage to get a decent seat near the front, and I'm quite excited.
After a few previews, the movie finally starts, and when the prelude of "Seasons of Love" starts playing, everyone in the audience starts cheering and its like, really awesome.
And so the movie begins with the main cast on some sort of stage and they start singing "Seasons of Love." At this point, I am totally ecstatic - and so is the rest of the audience.
Little did I know that this was the peak of the movie.
I don't want to disclose too much details of the movie, because I still do want people to go watch it, but there are just some things I need to get out of my system concerning the directing of this film...
1) I now know how the Harry Potter fanatics felt when Chris Columbus directed The Sorcerer's Stone. I feel tremendous sympathy and understanding towards them. And I don't even like Harry Potter.
2) Some of the dialogue consisted of talking out the lyrics of the songs. If you are a religious follower of the musical, it just sounds so cheasy and wrong. Retarded might be an adequate word. And I wasn't the only one who felt so because there was a mocking laughter coming from the audience when these "lines" were spoken by the characters.
3) There was a certain addition in the storyline (or maybe character line?) that didn't make sense at all. Unnecessary to say the least. Especially because the story is supposed to be set in 1989-1990. There were questionable subtractions as well; like "Goodbye Love," which I believe is the big tearjerker number of the musical. But then again, I guess you can't fit everything. Yah. Right.
4) The biggest wtf moment for me, however, was the portrayal of the song "What You Own." At this point, I'm sure no one has continued to read my rantings, but if you have, I'm happy to welcome you into the world of the RentHead. Back to the song. It somehow became an 80's music video of some wannabe rock star. You know, the ones where the dude with the long hair has his shirt unbuttoned and arms spread open, and is singing on top of the Grand Canyon about how he'll never get over his girlfriend? Yah, thats the one. Pure horror. Or humor, I guess, because again, the audience was laughing.
5) What made me really sad was the fact that the guy next to me (who's never seen the original musical), said that he really liked the movie, and he wanted to buy the soundtrack. Don't buy the movie's soundtrack; buy the originial broadway soundtrack. Even though most of the singers are the same, there's so much more wierd arranging in the songs. Too much unnecessary vibrato arrangements to make it sound more "funky and edgy" than it already is. And watch the musical. Please. It's still a hundred times better.
And I don't fully blame Chris Columbus, because somewhere inside me, I knew that it wasn't going to be possible to morph the Rent experience into a movie anyway. But I'm really sad to think that people who've never seen the musical is going to think that RENT is all about what was shown in the movie. I've read a New York Times critique on the movie, and the critics certainly dont think too highly of Jonathon Larson and his work, thanks to Chris Columbus. How can they say that its Jonathon Larson's fault, when its actually Chris Columbus'? |
statue of liberty 
manhattan
the sky was funky-- 
yes, i totally missed camera mesen.
a sign i found while walking to Broadway