RENT

[tallulahgs]

I've been meaning to make an entry about the Rent movie which I got to see on Sunday... and procrastinating.
I know that probably only disks_smilie will be interested, but it's MY LJ, rawr ^^

So...



Stuff I liked:
- The entire cast - all very good, lovely voices and how I'd imagined them - except Benny, whom I hadn't seen as black. Mimi and Angel especially were far better singers than the ones on my soundtrack and Mimi was so cute!
- Pretty much all the song numbers, especially Rent, Tango Maureen, I'll Cover You, Santa Fe (Nik says: SPIN!), and Without You (I, um, kind of cried during that.)
- Roger/April flashbacks! w00t! (Okay, it would've been cool powerful to see her slitting her wrists in the bathtub, but yay flashbacks none the less).
- Roger and Mark's apartment. It was so cool ^^

Stuff I didn't like:
- Over The Moon. This was the only song number I didn't like; mainly because I'd always taken it as a satire on avant-garde performances. In other words, the audience laughs, but the cast should be taking it seriously. Having the cast laugh at Maureen didn't quite work IMO - you weren't sure whether you were meant to laugh or not. Also, if it was meant to be funny, Maureen should have acknowledged that that was her intention. This is the only big thing I didn't like, though, and I did like the TV screens on stage and the giant moon.
- No Happy New Year or Christmas Bells! Philistines! *emo tear* *angst*
- I was kind of unsure about the decision to have Joanne present for La Vie Boheme. Partly this is due to preconceived notions formed about her character from listening to the soundtrack, but it also emphasised the problems she and Maureen were having and how she might have felt isolated from Maureen and her social circle.
- Angel was not dressed as Pussy Galore. She could have easily been dressed as Pussy Galore had Maureen not been in a catsuit that would've looked too similar. (I haven't seen Goldfinger for years so this could be complete rubbish, but eh ^^)
- I don't see that much was added by taking out a lot of the sung-through bits, but I guess it was more practical to do so for a film.

Comments

[disks-smilie.livejournal.com]

Yay, you saw it! <3

Believe it or not--all the actors from the broadway show are the same in the musical except for Mimi and Joanne (which is why Mimi sounds drastically different). So Angel is still the same guy, and Benny's been black since the start! (From what I saw on the DVD bonus features, the man who plays Benny knew Rent's playwriter for a long time--only the man who plays Collins knew him longer, since they both worked in the same fast food deli before Rent was even put to paper.)

The lack of Christmas Bells made me sad, and...um...the song where Angel really dies in, I've forgotten the name. The one where everyone but Mark and Benny are having red hot sex. But integrating those scenes with Without You, which was powerful enough with the Mimi/Roger parts, made it reek of AWESOME.

I never really thought of Joanne being around during La Vie Boheme, but it makes sense now that you say it--out of the eight main characters, only she and Benny aren't Bohemians of some sort. (You could almost count Collins and Mimi, but since Collins lost his job right away and Mimi's probably doesn't pay that well...) I think it was more important for them to establish a stable moment with Joanne and Maureen for the film though, since we aren't introduced to Joanne until Tango Maureen when she appears much sooner on Broadway. (Or we hear from her much sooner. Whatever.)

[tallulahgs]

I did ^__^
Really? No way! I guess Angel must've been having a better day when he sang in the movie ^^
Nik says he always figured Benny was black because he sounded black. I always figured Collins was black but I didn't pick up on it in Benny's voice. Oh well *shrug*
Aw, thanks for the info on those actors. That's really cool.
Contact, right? "It was bad for me/Was it bad for you?" ^^ Yeah, it's a shame that wasn't in there, but I wasn't surprised. But yeah, Without You was... gaaah. Major emotion.
Collins and Mimi have the Bohemian outlook more, though, it seems. Joanne seems the most grown-up, stable and conventional - apart from the lesbianism, of course ^^ Like, she's a professional (I take your point about Collins, but he's also... slightly nuts, so it doesn't count ^^)
But yeah, you're right, seeing as we don't get her part in Rent.

[kai-the-great.livejournal.com]

I've been wanting to see Rent for ages, but never quite got my act together. I know vaguely the plotline, but is it worth seeing, you know I always value your opinion ;)

[tallulahgs]

If you're up for a musical with 80s-rock-style tunes, then go for it! It makes me feel warm and fuzzy and I really like the music. And like I said, the cast is good.

[tallulahgs]

Suicidal Sora! I remember you! You wrote Beat/Yoyo for a while and a story about your character Sora. Hey! *waves* *adds to Flist*