Feb. 1: Viva La Vie Boheme

You’ve undoubtedly heard me rave about the Broadway musical Rent. I kinda can’t shut up about it and I’m not even going to apologize for that. Get ready, because here’s more.

Rent opened on Broadway in 1996 and quickly became a huge hit. My first exposure to Rent was watching the movie, which was released in 2005. My sister had seen it as a stage musical on tour and said she really hated it, so I wasn’t looking forward to it all that much, but because I’m a bit of a Broadway freak I forced myself to watch it. And also, um, Taye Diggs is in it. I know! TAYE DIGGS! This was my quickie review back then: sad story, decent music, left me depressed, Taye is yummy and Jesse L. Martin is pretty dreamy too.

The next time I talked to Kathy about it, I was all prepared to tell her I totally agreed that it was a depressing story and did not even come close to living up to the hype. But she said she’d been listening to the soundtrack and loved what she called “The Lumberjack Song” (no, not the great Monty Python song, but the one that Maureen and Joanne sing to each other at their engagement party—“Take Me Or Leave Me”). And because my sister is very wise when she’s sober, I took her advice and listened to the soundtrack. I don’t always agree with her musical tastes (Rascal Flatts? Hell-o, Kath???), but y’know what? That song is rockin’. Proof:



That’s when I discovered that the rest of the soundtrack rocks too; it just took listening to it a few times. The opening song of the movie, “Seasons of Love,” is phenomenal. “Today 4 U” is fun and cute. “I’ll Cover You” is sweet and romantic. “La Vie Boheme” is definitely the highlight of the show. “Without You” is haunting and sad but captures the mood of the moment perfectly. And the reprise of “I’ll Cover You” can make me bawl my head off, and usually does. Jesse L. Martin’s voice… lord almighty. I do loves me some brown boys.

What Kathy and I figured out is that Rent is a story that can draw a lot of different reactions. For us, I think, this group of young people that lived lifestyles so completely different from ours made the story feel foreign and hard to relate to. But breaking it down to its core, you can see that the story of Rent is love, learning to live with our choices, and following our dreams. And who can’t relate to that?

The other thing that helped me love the musical was watching the special features and commentary on the DVD. The story of Jonathan Larson (its creator) is life-affirming and heartbreaking all at once, and it makes the story of Rent all the more meaningful.

My mom fell in love with Rent immediately; it’s a social worker’s dream, she says. And while some viewers may think this is not a movie for kids, I have (with a bit of censoring) allowed Katie and Jack to watch it. I want them to understand that not everyone is just like them, and being different doesn’t mean they should be treated differently or have fewer rights.

One example of this is the very affectionate relationship between Collins (Jesse L. Martin) and Angel (Wilson Jermaine Heredia). Both characters are likeable and together, they’re so perfect—and quite pretty, too. I love their story. I love that, regardless of their HIV-positive status, they don’t wallow in their misfortune. I love that during “I’ll Cover You” Angel buys Collins a coat to replace the one stolen when he was mugged—a lovely little metaphor for the song itself. I love that Collins is carrying Angel’s drumsticks in the cemetery scene—it’s so very, very tender and sweet. This movie is exactly why I have become a fan of Law & Order reruns.



Probably the hardest thing for me to get used to was the character Maureen, played by Idina Menzel. Maureen is incredibly self-centered and obnoxious. This is so different from Menzel’s better known character—Elphaba in Wicked—that I had to watch Rent many times before I could see her as a totally separate, very different character. I love Elphaba; I do not love Maureen… and yet the movie/musical would be incomplete without her.

After 12 years, Rent closed on Broadway this past fall. It’s on tour now, but otherwise your only chance to see it is in its movie version or on a new DVD that’s coming out Tuesday. Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway is complete footage of the last Broadway performance; it was shown in movie theaters soon after Rent closed. Vic and I saw it then and found it a bit unusual—it was edited like a movie with close-ups and different angles and in that way, it wasn’t like sitting in the audience of the stage performance. Still, it’s very different from the movie version. It’s probably the closest thing you can get to actually seeing the stage show without, y’know, actually seeing the stage show. If you’re curious about how it looks, Amazon has the first 8:44 on its DVD page.

For those of you in the Portland area, Rent is coming for a week in June. Anthony Rapp (Mark) and Adam Pascal (Roger) are starring in their original roles, and if that isn’t enough reason to go see it then what’s wrong with you anyway? It’s a “special engagement” in the Broadway in Portland series but as subscribers we’re able to get tickets before they go on sale to the public. Let me know if you want some—your prices may not be any better than Ticketmaster, but the early seat selection can’t be beat.

And, 4 today, that is all I have to say about that.

Anything to add, Kath?