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Saturday, September 15, 2007

Rent, Broadway (2007)

Cast: Adam Pascal (Roger Davis), Anthony Rapp (Mark Cohen), Tamyra Gray (Mimi Marquez), and the rest of the cery talented cast
For info, see the official Rent site.

Everyone who knows me knows I love Rent. I even planned an entire trip just to see Rent with Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal last month. I had seen them in the roles they originated in the movie (which I own, clearly) many times, but I'd never seen them live. I'm still kicking myself for allowing the fact that I had just moved to San Diego keep me from seeing the Original Broadway Cast of Rent. When they extended their run to include my originally planned trip, clearly I bought a ticket to see them in it again!

I'm so glad that Adam and Anthony decided to go back to their roles of Roger & Mark at the same time. They extended their run through October 7th, so if you still haven't seen them in Rent get tickets now! It's even been at TKTS, which is shocking to me, but clearly this is a slow time for Broadway with kids just getting back to school, etc.

The reception for Adam and Anthony (on stage and at the stage door) was not nearly what it was last month, so I'm really glad I planned that trip to experience the rock concert atmosphere at a Broadway musical. I doubt I will ever seen an audience so excited to see a musical in my life.

Clearly, it was amazing to see Anthony Rapp as Mark and Adam Pascal as Roger again. Tamyra Gray was amazing as Mimi. Definitely the best Mimi I've seen out of the 12 times I've seen Rent. I was a bit bummed that she didn't have long hair, since I love that part of Out Tonight, but it was worth it to hear her singing Mimi's songs.

I was surprised how much the cast had changed in just one month. The Benny I saw this time around (Rodney Hicks) was better than D'Monroe was on Broadway. Not sure why he changed his performance so much from how he did on the tour, but Rodney Hicks was definitely an improvement. Tonya Dixon isn't as good as Merle Dandridge, who was probably my favorite Joanne Jefferson to date. Everyone else was about the same as the last cast in performance levels.

I also noticed that they added Lisa (subtracting Sue) from the Life Support meeting. I wonder who Lisa is... I'm guessing she's someone who recently died of AIDS and I'm sorry to hear that. Initially, they say that Jonathan Larson had planned that the names of the Life Support meeting attendees would change with each cast and they'd be friends of the cast who had died of AIDS. When he died just before the opening of Rent Off-Broadway, I think that froze the show in many ways and no one wanted to touch it. I can understand that and I find it interesting that they did allow another name to break in to the meeting.

If you have a chance to get to see Rent on Broadway before Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal leave, do it! I'd still love to see the entire movie cast do the Broadway show, but I'm guessing that will never happen. At least I got to see Adam and Anthony. It's a moment I will cherish forever!

It's been over 11 years and Rent still rocks! I definitely recommend seeing it on Broadway if you haven't yet. The theatre was renovated specifically for the show, so it's definitely part of the experience. I was surprised to see that after 11 years some people still left the show, since they were offended by the content. It really makes me sad that there are still people who are that closed minded in today's day and age, but at least they wasted quite a bit of money, which is nice to know.

Unfortunately, they were still having problems with the microphones. I really think they need a new sound design guy. This should NOT be happening on a Broadway show - especially one that won the Tony award for Best Musical (even if it was 11 years ago). They were cutting out from time to time in the first act, so it sometimes seemed like someone had missed a line, but if you were watching them you could tell that they were on cue, but the mic just wasn't on (or wasn't working). Disappointing, but NOTHING could ruin the experience of getting to see Adam and Anthony in Rent. It was sad to be watching Anthony singing something then checking his mic to make sure it was plugged in properly, since no one got to hear the "I think we've met" or whatever else was being sung at the time... Very sad.

Grade: A+++

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Reviewed by Kat at the 8:00 PM show | 0 screams

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