"Rent" is coming to a theater near you, again

I spent 6 months as an exchange student in Boston 8 years ago, and Rent was all my friends could talk about and listen to. Sadly, it wasn't playing anywhere near us at the time (as far as I know), and I went home with the album, and knew all the songs by heart long before I ever saw the show on stage. I've seen it on stage twice since, once with professionals, and once with amateurs, and both times it's been amazing, and I saw the movie at least 3 times in the theatre, but I've never seen it on Broadway, and gosh, I would love to. And I would love to see that film... (almost makes me wish I'd chosen the US over New Zealand for 'Great Autumn Trip of '08', but not quite. Xena filming locations, here I come!)

at the theater where i work! tickets are kind of expensive, but we're running the show on our brand new, top of the line digital projector! we just ran cirque du soleil: delirium, and it looks amazing! definitely worth it, so if you live in or around philadelphia, definitely come down to the Ritz and check it out and say HI!

i can't wait to see it! 

and i love this show to death. i've seen it once on stage, and the movie countless times. i have the whole show memorized, and this musical is the reason i came out :) 

anyway .... i'd have to say that my favorite song is "I'll Cover You (Reprise)" .... that song is SO moving. and anything involving Angel is just really fun. "Take Me or Leave Me" is amazing on stage and in the movie, and it's impossible not to sing along ..... the banter right before the song, between Maureen and Joanne, is priceless: "you know what, miss Ivy League? I can't take much more of this. This obsessive compulsive, control-freak paranoia."

Why didn't you mention Idina Menzel?! She's f**king priceless!

Go here for my view on all things lesbian: http://allthingslesbeau.blogspot.com

AS SOON as I purchased my plane tickets to NYC (I went this past May) on orbitz, I IMMEDIATELY went and bought my tickets to rent....best $200+ I've ever spent in my life...it was UH-MAZING...better than the movie, hands down.

Tracie Thom rejoining the show sounds like it'll be that much more amazing, because as much as I loved all the current actors in the play, it didn't compare to Thoms' (Joanne) and Menzel's (Maureen) performances.  Menzel and Thom are hot, and a bit more realistic as lesbians...

Tamyra Gray was great (and HOT) as Mimi, so check that out...I loved her performance too...all in all, I say see it if you can, and I'll certainly be at the theaters when it's released on film again here in California =)

This news was on broadwayworld a couple of days ago. And if you are at least trying to cover it then give it the attention it deserves and actually talk about the broadway cast. you mention the 2005 movie more than the actual show here. sorry i get defensive about my broadway plays...if you at least try and write about it then try and write about it correctly. there are so many more things you can say about it than just ooo rosario dawson, hot.

I'm reluctant to call myself a renthead since i've only seen it 3 times--paltry by renthead standards. But i will say, without exaggeration, that Rent changed my life.  It's how I first fell in love with theater, and it's probably my first glimpse of loving but complicated same-sex relationships.  And it introduced the world to Idina. After buying the OBC recording, I listened to it 3 times a day, every day for a solid year and half.  "La Vie Boheme" was the anthem of my high school years, and I stood in line for hours when the movie cast appeared at Virgin Records in Times Square.  Will be really sad to know that Rent won't be there the next time I go back to NYC.

Here's to Jonathan Larson.

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Bridget: Are you really crying because you're not lesbians in real life?  Is that why you cry?

Eden Riegel: Well, wouldn't that make you cry?

Somehow I managed to get through high school and college without getting THAT into Rent - I saw the tour a couple of times, and of course the movie, but I never really caught the bug until this summer.  Fortunately, though, I live in NYC and managed to see the show three times in the past three months. (Hooray for ticket lottery - $20!)

So, if anyone needs MORE encouragement to go see the filmed version, the current cast is AMAZING.  Eden Espinosa (a former Elphaba in Wicked, like Idina Menzel) and Tracie Thoms are incredibly believable as Maureen and Joanne, and they've both said some really great things about how they approach the roles and how it doesn't make any difference to them whether they're kissing guys or girls onstage.

I'm excited for the film showing!   Everyone should see it, if possible. :-)

Check out Idina's site to follow up on her latest projects.  I believe she was performing in Denver yesterday for the Women in Congress event.

http://www.idinamenzel.com/

I'd comment on RENT right now but Obama already has me tearing.  RENT contemplation would just have me balling.

Twenty bucks does seem pretty steep. I paid sixty to see a touring version live at my local theatre.

They should have just done what they did with the Legally Blonde musical. They aired it on MTV a million times on Thanksgiving (except they would have to show Rent on Christmas of course)

Sorry to nitpick but that's not how the stage version opens at all - "Seasons of Love" doesn't come until the beginning of the second act. I think you're remembering the movie version.

The stage version opens on Mark setting up his video camera and introducing himself to the audience. The first song starts with, "December 24th. 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. From here on in I shoot without a script...".

True happiness, we are told, consists in getting out of one's self, but the point is not only to get out, you must stay out; and to stay out you must have some absorbing errand. -Henry James

i saw it on broadway twice, and i would have gone many more times if i had enough money, but i still definitely consider myself to be a renthead. it's my favorite show on broadway and one of my favorite movies, and i know the entire soundtrack by heart and will periodically randomly burst into song with my friend and go through the whole show. i am very depressed that it's closing. my dream job, if i could sing and act, is to play maureen on broadway. oh well.

i actually have been lucky enough to meet some of the original cast, mostly just by chance. i met idina menzel (maureen) while she was still in wicked, i bumped into anthony rapp (mark) at the u.s. open 2 years ago, and i hung out with daphne rubin-vega (mimi) on rosie o'donnell's family cruise this past summer (and i got to sing light my candle with her--greatest moment of my life).

i don't know what my favorite part of the show is, there are too many to choose from. if there was one person in history i could sit and talk with it would be jonathan larson; i would love to be able to tell him how much i love his work and hear from him how he wrote such an amazing show.

Yet another bonafide RENThead here. RENT was such a vital part of my college years.  It's the thing that most of my college friends associate with me, and I'm sure I'll rope a few of them into going with me (hopefully -- $20 is a lot though). 

I saw the show on Broadway, after the leads had left, and some of the minors had filled in their roles.  I believe Kristen Lee Kelly had taken over the role of Maureen.  Wilson Cruz was Angel.  Later, I flew to LA to see Daphne, who was my Rent crush.  My junior year of college, Rent came to town (Seattle) during my birthday, so a huge group of my college mates and I went to see it.  And then there was the time that I flew to London with my evil step-mother, just to see Anthony, Adam, Jesse, and Wilson in their original roles.  Saw it twice, once from the second row.  It was beyond amazing -- and I fell in love with Krysten Cummings, who played Mimi.  Even got a kiss from her!

Of course, nothing at all beats the 10th anniversary concert (tho the kiss from Krysten is damn close).  I paid a very pretty penny for it, and never regretted it.  Makes up for the fact that I won't be there at the last performance.