No Day But Today: Thoughts on RENT Live

Photo from The Stranger

Anyone who knows me knows what a huge Rentaholic I am. I can't always remember why I walked into a room, but I can sing the entire soundtrack...if you let me. I've seen the show many times, the last two being somewhat more amateur productions at a community college and a community theater. I saw the movie in 2005, but was disappointed with how many songs they took out. So while the prospect of a live-televised production was exciting, I also had some reservations. I knew I would watch it either way. (And thanks to Fox.com's difficulty with streaming, I had to wait until the next day to watch. The upside was very quick commercial breaks.)

Overall, I was impressed. Rent is a hard show to pull off really well and the energy and camaraderie from the cast was prevalent throughout. This is the first time I cried over a significant character's death since I first saw it on stage (after seeing it so many times, I became more desensitized to it). I enjoyed it for the most part and smiled and laughed a lot, as well. I think a lot of people are being too hard on it. I just had fun watching for the nostalgic feel it gave off.

If you have never seen Rent before (it's only been 23 years, what are you waiting for?), you may want to first watch the filmed Broadway production. That one has the best feel for the musical.

Some other random thoughts, in no particular order:
*I felt that everyone fit well into their parts. Mark's mom seemed a bit over the top, but she was funny.

*Angel's voice was weak, but her personality and style made up for it in spades. I couldn't help but love her. She looked like Adam Lambert without the elaborate costumes on.

*Tinashe was cute as Mimi. I thought she sang well, despite what everyone else has been saying.

*I didn't buy into Roger on an emotional level, but he had a good voice.

*Jordan Fisher was adorable as Mark. I've never seen any Mark crying during "Halloween," but I love that he did that.

*Brandon Victor Dixon was amazing as Collins. He balanced out Angel's voice when they sang together. (Side note: I love the part in "I'll Cover You" when they're climbing the playground equipment and she jumps into his arms.)

*I loved that aside from the "Seasons of Love" soloist, Keala Settle (from The Greatest Showman) was also the support group leader and Roger's mom. She has a wonderful voice and such great stage presence.

*I thought the "Seasons of Love" blocking was interesting. It was a new way of thinking about the song.

*They left out a LOT of lines in songs and changed wording when it wasn't always necessary (i.e. the very beginning). I was especially annoyed that they didn't include the two lines that Mark and Roger yell at each other at the end of "Halloween." They also omitted the "Seasons of Love" reprise.

*I was surprised they didn't change certain words in "La Vie Boheme" and that they performed "Contact". My 13 year-old son didn't hear the words in question and didn't really understand what was happening in "Contact," thankfully. He said it gave him more context for what happened next.

*The set was cool. It took on the feeling of NYC really well. What was weird was that it was sort of in the round and if they put up a wall on stage, half the people couldn't see it. The same is true for any above-the-audience action. They kept filming things in a circle, which was hard to watch sometimes.

*I thought it was weird when people who didn't have AIDS sang part of "Will I?".

*I didn't like that people were screaming for the actor who played Roger when he was singing "What You Own." It was distracting. And Jordan should have gotten more audience love too. Just saying...

*I have to wonder how much was pre-recorded and how much was done live? They had to show scenes from the dress rehearsal if Roger was in them because he broke his foot. However, they all came together on stage at the end.

*I thought it was strange that they set it in 1991, since it came out in 1996 and that's closer to the "end of the millenium." In the stage production, they don't mention years.

*The actresses playing Maureen (Vanessa Hudgens) and Joanne (Kiersey Clemons) were perfect in their roles and really gave it their all during "Take Me or Leave Me." I loved Maureen's cow hat in "Over the Moon," but didn't think it was necessary for her to fly above the audience during the "mooing" part.

*At various times, they included little monologues about AIDS and homelessness. That was different from the stage production.

*I enjoyed the tributes and nods to Jonathan Larson. It's still so sad to think that he never got his own glory of seeing the success of Rent.

*The "Easter egg" of Mark's original shirt was so funny and awesome.

If you saw Rent Live, what were your thoughts? 

Stick it to the man: My thoughts on School of Rock

I saw the movie School of Rock back in 2004 and enjoyed it at the time. I saw it again about 10 years later with my kids and still thought it was a lot of fun. I had no idea it would be turned into a musical and wasn't sure what to expect from it. However, I was really impressed!

This past weekend, my husband, kids and I saw School of Rock at the National Theatre in DC. It was a surprise for the kids and my oldest figured it out after a while. My younger two thought we were seeing a movie. We got the tickets through TodayTix back when they had their Cyber Monday sales. The only drawback is that you don't get to pick your exact seats. They had us over on the far right of the orchestra section. We could see, but with some heads blocking our view, it was hard to get in the full stage.

My husband forgot he wasn't seeing Newsies :)

Here are my thoughts:

*I was surprised at the amount of swearing with kids around, both in the show and in the audience. I feel like the stage production was marketed as being family friendly, so I didn't see that coming.

*I enjoyed the music. Some of the songs were from the movie and some were written for the musical. Out of the new songs, I especially liked "If Only You Would Listen," "Time to Play," and "Stick It to the Man."

*While I love that they played "Edge of Seventeen" at the bar, Rosalie's song afterward ("Where Did the Rock Go?") felt kind of slow.

*The kids were fantastic! They had lots of energy and talent, great voices, and were funny. Billy said my favorite line from the movie: "You're tacky and I hate you." The girl who played Summer was adorable!

*The ensemble cast was strong, but it got confusing when some people played three different roles.

*We had an understudy for Dewey, Liam Fennecken. He did a great job and fit the part well. He was very likable and used a lot of physical comedy.

*The set was cool. There were a lot of different parts to it that moved around nicely to fit each scene.

A glimpse of the classroom, from The New York Times

*There were a lot of laugh-out-loud moments. Of course, some of those went over my kids' heads. I especially love that Dewey improvised a line about the government shutdown.

*At one point, Billy brought out a costume he designed and the mannequin was wearing a Rocky Horror shirt! :)

*The ending was slightly different, but it was still good. I would have not noticed the difference if my husband hadn't pointed it out.

*My daughter had the best time and was rockin' out by the end. She said it's her favorite musical now.

Overall,  it was a great show that my entire family enjoyed. It was hard not to clap along with the music! I recommend it for a fun day or evening out when it comes to your town.