Rent: Again For The Third Time
Ms. L and I are huge fans of Rent, so when we found out that Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp, the original Roger and Mark respectively, were going to be reprising their roles on Broadway for a couple of months we figured we’d go. Then, with Ms. L’s work schedule and the whole “we’re going to need like six thousand dollars to move pretty soon” thing, we kind of decided to let it go. Then, her sister decided that she wanted to go see it, so that gentle push was enough to get us to go. As an added benefit, Tamyra Gray was on the bill as Mimi. Second bonus: it turned out we got tickets to the last night that Pascal and Rapp were going to be there which told us two things: 1) there wouldn’t be understudies… everyone in the cast would be there for the last show and 2) the crowd would likely be split 70/30 between people who were Rent fans and tourists… with the balance being in the Rent fans favor for once.
One of my favorite parts of going to a Rent show is searching the crowd for people who will be offended and leave before the second act. Usually people with kids under 10 are a good bet. Without fail, there are a couple… and without fail, they usually leave. The second are obvious tourists… after being down here for a while you are able to sniff them out. These are usually the folks who decided to see Rent because they were going to New York and they’ve heard of it… but they have no idea what it’s about. These are the folks most likely to be put off by the… er… explicit parts.
All that said, I’m really happy we decided to drop the money for this show. It was the best version of it I’ve seen so far. The cast was really into it and the crowd, which really turned out to be more 80/20 than 70/30 knew their cues… they knew where to start cheering and Mooing and such. I made excellent time to the bathroom at intermission and hit it without having to stand in line (MONEY!). All-in-all, I had a fantastic time. It’ll probably be the last time I go to this for quite some time since I can’t imagine it being any better. Might as well go out on top.
Unless I somehow swing some of the $20 front row seats… but as I have a job I don’t see that happening any time soon.
I swung $20 front row seats to Rent the only time I’ve seen it. I don’t think I can go back now.