We're Not Gonna Pay Rent

Rent is an ingrained part of me. I remember when it opened, when there was all kinds of buzz about "WHAT is this show?" I saw the original cast, with my friend Kristen in it, even before she moved up to play Maureen. I've probably seen it, including the live and movie versions, over 20 times, and the lyrics have blocked out enough of my brain space that I'll probably never perfectly do the journal entry to release TRNA correctly the first time, but I can spout every word of La Vie Boheme.

And I've brought up a daughter who feels the same way, and who has seen the movie and a live production. And who puts up with me every time I explain to her what the AIDS epidemic was like, or how much it meant to have a trans character like Angel as a lead, or even what it means to have a cast of a musical that were POC and just people, nor in specific roles like Porgy and Bess. She's been to New York a few times, but trying to describe NYC in the 1990s is probably still something I don't do correctly.

We've never seen any of the live musicals on Fox (we don't even really have a TV), but this one seems like an exception, so Patrick rigged it up, and we all settled in with excitement.

And when those first notes began to play, I was on the edge of the couch. I love this music. I love sharing it with her. I love artists creating. I love the idea of live musicals. We were all so excited.

The first number seemed restrained, but hey, my expectations were high. And did I mention that I love the show.? But then they announced that the person playing Roger had broken his leg, and so the scenes they were showing us were pre-recorded. And then it just kind of went downhill; I don't need to go into the snark about the missed notes because the performers were marking for the dress, or the mis-casting of Mark Cohen, or the added/changed dialogue to "explain" things, or the strange situation that, while they are playing the pre-recorded version on TV, it's still running live in the studio with Roger in a wheelchair.

On the other hand, the choreography is totally on point, and the costumes are a nice nod to the originals.

I'm just sad. I wanted this to be special for Beatrix and it's not. I think she loves it anyway, so there's that. And damn it, even in a lame-ass version, it's still so powerful. It was never going to be what I saw in 1996.

Thank you, so much, to Jonathan Larson, and the original cast and creators, for this gift. For being an us for once, instead of a them.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

What Do We Mean When We Talk About Race?

New Year's Eve 2023

Desk Set