"No day but today..."

[sarahmichelef]

The upcoming release of the movie version of RENT has gotten me thinking about the show as a cultural artifact...

RENT is so much a product of the mid-1990s. In some ways I've known this for a long time, but the hype leading up to the movie has really driven that fact home. I was watching some entertainment show the other day... because they'd promised scenes from the movie & "the secret of RENT" or something like that.

Guess what the secret was.

Yup, you're right. It was the utterly SHOCKING fact that Jonathan Larson died of a brain hemhorrage on the eve of the show's Broadway premiere. M and I just looked at each other, dumbfounded. How could anyone not know that? But then we thought about it... and we realized that probably there are a lot of people who are going to be seeing the movie who actually don't know that. Which totally blows my mind.

I'm a minor RENT afficionado. monkeydance acquired a copy of the soundtrack for me on a trip home in the fall of 1996. laurakc, Meri, and I quickly memorized the entire thing. In the summer of 1997, I went to see the touring production in Minneapolis and after the show, we ended up at Target so that everyone who didn't already own the soundtrack could buy it. I saw the London production in the summer of 1998 with greydora and our parents; at the time, Adam Pascal (Roger), Anthony Rapp (Mark), and Jesse L. Martin (Collins) were starring in that production. (The first time I saw JLM on Law and Order my first thought was "Hey, it's Collins!") It was mind-blowing. The opportunity to once again see them do some of my favorite roles ever written is one of the big reasons that I'm looking forward to the movie so much. Well, that and Taye Diggs. (YUM.)

Anyway. I foresee a large proportion of the movie-going audience being teeny-boppers who've HEARD of the show but don't really know what it is. And those people won't know that the sad irony of the whole thing is that the creator died of AIDS just when he should have been celebrating his show's success.

But that's not the only reason that the show is very much of the time and place when it was written. The New York of RENT is so clearly a pre-Giuliani (to say nothing of pre-9-11) NYC. A lot full of homeless people? Um, no. Window washers (honest living!) on the streets? Um, no. And CyberArts? Such a dot-com-boom idea. (The ironic contrast between my love of the show and my own academic pursuits is not lost on me, by the way.) I'm obviously not in touch enough with the bohemian artist crowd to know if the Internet is met with the same antipathy today that is portrayed in the show.

I've identified a lot of other elements as I've listened to it, but of course I've now forgotten what they were.

Anyway, those are the thoughts that are running through my mind as I bop around the house singing every word along with my iTunes. I'm still very much looking forward to the movie - can't wait to see so much of the original cast back together. From what I've seen of the previews and various talk-show bits, I think Rosario Dawson did a good job with the role of Mimi. I do wonder, however, if some of the originals are going to seem too old for the roles now...

Comments

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

Jonathan Larson didn't die of AIDS, he died of a brain hemmroge (hemmeroge? vein explode-y thing) that was likely due to a complication with that symdrome that makes people have really long limbs.

Very, very sad, just the same. I love the soundtrack, never took a chance to see the show. So I'm look forward to this too.

[redfishie.livejournal.com]

I don't think he had AIDs either, I remember seeing a whole 60 minutes type segment on him after the show became a hit.

[ellid.livejournal.com]

Marfan's Syndrome?

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

That's the one!

[irihs.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking about the same exact stuff in anticipation of the movie. And as someone who grew up in NYC, I think the whole idea of the show capturing a very specific time in a very specific place is not a new one. I really hope they didn't try to modernize the movie too much, or at all. And while it's funny to think of trying to modernize something that is a decade old, I think it is an issue.

I was actually wondering if the show would lose some of its spark to us in the know about the context, because of the time setting. Then I kicked myself. Other great musicals only gain from the same thing, I think. West Side Story? The Music Man? Two of my favorite musicals, and both very deeply rooted in a specific time and place. Yet both hold up extremely well over time. Maybe it's because their setting is interesting, and the general message is universal, which I think is also true of Rent.

I was a bit worried about Rosario Dawson as Mimi until I saw her on The Daily Show. Did you see that? First of all, the clip was excellent, and I know she can pull off the role. (I don't know anything about her except that she's a famous actress, so I worried the casting would be swayed by a push to get popular, recognizable names, at the expense of someone good for the role itself.) Also, I love that she grew up as a squatter in the lower east side. Wow.

I can't wait to share thoughts on the movie once it's out. Hopefully Alex and I will get to see it on Wednesday. If not, I'm definitely going to see it next weekend.

I had tears in my eyes as Harry Potter started, and through a lot of the movie. I just love book 4 so much, and the movie captured so much great stuff, with style. I know it's going to be even worse for Rent. There's no way I won't cry during the reprise of 1,000 Kisses. yeesh. I sob even when listening to the CD. Also, I will swoon over Jesse L. Martin. I don't care if Collins is gay. Collins is mine.

[irihs.livejournal.com]

And now I realize I'm just going to be a complete and total emotional wreck for the second half of next week. Rent on Wednesday, which will almost certainly leave me emotionally drained. I believe we also get to hear the results of gymnastics worlds prelims for the women on Wednesday morning. Then I basically spend the next few days doing nothing by having my wishes come true and/or my heart broken by the results of worlds. egads. I should get some tissues at the grocery store tomorrow...

[almejor.livejournal.com]

Yeah, g_m_s were talking the other week about how Alphabet city isn't sketchy and bohemian these days, it's up and coming and trendy.

[g-m-s.livejournal.com]

And by "up and coming and trendy", meaning the rent would currently be out of the price range of all of the characters (well, except Benny).

[studentnurse.livejournal.com]

I had similar thoughts, in some ways, after seeing a semi-updated A Chorus Line. ACL's Broadway doesn't exist anymore--the place is different, the actors are different, the shows are different. This production threw in odd updated stuff, such as changing the characters' birthdates and substituting "Johnny Depp" for "Steve McQueen". This seemed to miss the point in so many ways. You can't change these things and expect the audience to accept ACL as a current story, because of the things I mentioned above. I think you have to present it as a period piece--and yet, the important thing about ACL was how contemporary it was. (The Music Man was historical fiction; West Side Story was never terribly realistic, as far as I understand; Guys and Dolls works as a period piece, IMO). I almost came to the conclusion that ACL shouldn't be put on anymore, because it'll never have the same meaning.

Rent is, in some ways, a 1990s Chorus Line--I don't think it'll ever mean as much again. Just as in ACL, the exciting thing about Rent was that it was a musical about Real People Now. I think it has a better chance that ACL, though, of making it as a period-piece musical.

Now, would Rent have gotten as much publicity/success/applause if it weren't for Jonathan Larson's death? I've heard impassioned arguments on both sides.

[xayide79.livejournal.com]

I've been reading a lot of articles at work about it, since there has been a lot of discussion of how outdated the portrayal is of someone living with AIDS. For example, the drug routine has changed completely. There was an interesting article in Poz about how the producers discussed incorporating some of those changes into the script and decided against it. Also there has been some discussion about whether or not Rent glamorizes living with AIDS and how accurate the depiction was for the mid '90s/

[nenie.livejournal.com]

What I find most fascinating about RENT as cultural artifact is what happens when you juxtapose it with AVENUE Q. In many respects, these two are the same show, placed a decade apart and through the doorway of 9.11.

Through all of the depression that is possible in the world of RENT there is this thread of hope that seems absent from Q. In many ways, things have flipped over, we've gone from the facade of gloom to a facade of happiness.

I dunno, lots of things there that I haven't fully unpacked, but definitely things I've been working with for the past year or so.