WILL ANYONE STILL CARE? Given this blog's consistent and admiring interest in pretty much all things Rent -- though, okay, I wasn't crazy about the film adaptation -- it was pretty much a given that when Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal decided to tour with the company, Jen and I would be there last night. And it's a great production -- it reclaims what the film lacked, a sense of urgency and tragedy, such that even with some references that now feel even more dated than the ACT-UP chant (Pee-Wee Herman? pay phones? Alec Baldwin as hot young star?), the songs and staging sold the story.
Oh, those songs. It's not newsworthy to acknowledge that "Seasons of Love," "La Vie Boheme" and "Will I Lose My Dignity?" are among the best songs modern Broadway has to offer. What struck me most this time that I wasn't expecting was "And It's Beginning To Snow," late in Act I, which just flattens you with its everything's-going-to-shit theme. Moments like that wiped out the cynicism with which Jen and I entered the theater last night, fully prepared to shout "Do what your parents did and get a job ... the bums will always lose!" or "I can make a better movie on my Mac!" while musing openly about whether Mark Cohen should just start a videoblog and move to Brooklyn.
Two final notes: I've never heard louder screams at a touring musical than tonight; those kids love their Rent, and the anticipatory squee! for Rapp on "The Tango Maureen" was deafening. And my goodness, what does it say about where we are as a country that you can see a performance of Rent and there's a charity ask afterwards, only it's for Marfan syndrome awareness and not AIDS?
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