Saturday, January 10, 2009

I'm a RentHead....

I got to cross something off of my bucket list today. I went to see Rent with my dad, which I had never been able to see on stage before. I've seen the movie about a million times and have always wanted to see the musical. The music is amazing and the plot is awesome. When it went off-Broadway, I was so incredibly bummed. But today, Dad and I braved the ice and snow to make the trek up to Cleveland to see this show.

As much as I've wanted to see Rent, seeing the show was not the thing on my bucket list. I've always wanted to see a show with the original cast. So, if any of my readers are RentHeads, this next picture may send you in a whirlwind of jealousy.
When I found out that Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp  were going to be playing in this show, I about screamed. I was so stinking excited. When Rent opened on Broadway in 1996, these two played the two main roles in the show. Cleveland was the first stop on the Broadway Tour , which has three people from the original cast- these two and one of the members of the ensemble who plays a homeless woman. I think this may be as close as I will ever get to seeing an OBC show, and I'm good with that.

The first time I had ever watched a show on stage that I had listened to the soundtrack over and over again was Mamma Mia!.  When I saw it on stage, it was a huge, huge letdown. This was because the voices were ingrained into my mind to be what Sophie, Donna, Skye, and so on, were supposed to sound like. They were all British. And I saw the show minus accents. I still loved it, but that kind of took away from it.

Now, with Rent, I have seen the movie a million times, listened to the music over and over and over again, and am completely obsessed with it. If I ever go to see this show again, it probably won't be worth it. Because now I have seen the show with the actual actors and the actual voices in person, which is a surreal and amazing experience. I love Broadway, and if possible, I think the show today made me fall in love with theater all over again.

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