La Vie Boheme

Rent

Can I tell you just how psyched I am about Rent the movie? I can't. Words alone will not come close to how excited I am to see this movie. I haven't been this excited for a movie since The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Jay may be a geek, but I'm a Rent geek.

Now, I'm not a true Rent head. I haven't seen the show over 50 times (I've only seen it five times) and I couldn't tell you the cast differences between the Angel touring company and the Benny touring company (but my friend Bryan could). But I did get to see it on Broadway with most of the original cast intact and I stood outside the doors after the show and got everyone's autographs.

A lot of people don't like the show. I mentioned it to Jeff and he practically threw up at the mention of it.

But to me, it's just amazing.

Why?

In my opinion (I could be wrong on this one), it's the first Gen X'er musical ever written. I mean except for Jesus Christ Superstar most musicals are written with blue haired ladies in mind. They've got soaring melodies and beautiful arias. Even Tommy, a rock musical by The Who, sounded like elevator music when it hit the Broadway stage.

But Rent had guitars and drums and a keyboardist and that's about it. It managed to have awesome melodies but with a kick to them.

Not only was the music more intense than the typical Broadway fare, the content was really racy for its day (it opened on Broadway in 1996). The lead characters had HIV/AIDS, were prostitutes, had sex, were gay, abused drugs and generally weren't the nicest people in the world. But they were written in such a way that you really cared about them.

Although I'm not big on romantic story lines (they're so damned cheesy), I love the relationships portrayed in Rent. One of my favorite songs is sung by Angel (a drag queen) and Collins (a college professor). It's called I'll Cover You. Although the lyrics read sappy, they're really sweet when sung:

Live in my house
I'll be your shelter
Just pay me back
With one thousand kisses
Be my lover -- I'll cover you

I took Kevin to see it once. The week after we saw it, he had 1,000 Hershey Kisses delivered to my office. How fucking awesome is that?

The movie comes out the day before Thanksgiving. I might be sick that day (just kidding Buddy). I hope they don't screw it up. I'm happy that they brought back the entire original cast (well everyone but Mimi and Joanne). The movie soundtrack is much harder--guitars and drums have been kicked up a notch, but they cut some songs and altered others. It better work damnit!!!

Here's the Original Broadway Cast singing the opening song, Rent.