CMU School of Drama


Saturday, September 06, 2008

‘Rent,’ Like ‘La Bohème,’ Appears Ready to Endure

NYTimes.com: "The opening of Jonathan Larson’s “Rent” at the New York Theater Workshop in February 1996 coincided almost to the day with the 100th anniversary of the premiere in Italy of “La Bohème,” the enduring Puccini opera that inspired Larson’s musical. The coincidence, though unplanned, was very meaningful to Mr. Larson, as he told me in an interview late in the evening of Jan. 24 that year, after a dress rehearsal of “Rent” in the workshop’s 150-seat theater."

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

the 'legend' of Rent wont be fading any time soon. my one hope is that in 15 years no one pulls a 'chorus line' move and tries to revive it using the exact same costumes and set. when a show runs this long it needs time to breathe and collect new meaning before it gets revived with a new set of expectations and social/political/economic/whatever reasons.

AllisonWeston said...

I agree with Elize. Most productions do not withstand the test of time when they are revived with the exact set and costumes. What I love about theatre is its ability to evolve and to change with the times. It allows the show to touch different kinds of audiences in diverse ways. What I love about "Rent" is its sincerity. A carbon copy of the production every year would rob the show of its honesty.

arosenbu said...

What struck me most in this article is that the author was probably one of the last people to speak to Jonathan Larson. Although he spoke to him for the first and last time the night of his death, it brings this article more meaning and sincerity. I tend to agree that it will lose the popularity it has today, but it won't fade out. Just as musicals like West Side Story were once super popular, they have subsided to make room for the hip new ones coming to town. (Even if its only Shrek for now.) I believe that Larson will never be forgotten.

Hjohnson said...

Rent's popularity definitely isn't going to be declining, since it has a following of musical theater geeks as well as preteen groupies--too groups that get pretty crazy about the things they love. I'm very excited to just let Rent chill for a while; as much as I love it, I hope the revival will feel like a completely different show.

Anonymous said...

Looking at the New York Times this morning (Sunday), I was rather disheartened to see that they did not mention the closing of Rent. Knowing that they had talked about it earlier in the week makes me a little relieved. The show had an astronomical impact on musical theatre that absolutely cannot be ignored. I do not see the show getting revived at all in the near future, but somewhere down the line, this would not surprise me. It would probably be modernized, because the story is fairly timeless. The show was getting somewhat dated already anyway, to be honest.

Chris said...

Rent is an amazing commentary on contemporary society and its effects on our culture. Rent talks about what makes us human. Our love, hate, desire, and despair. Without these emotions to remind us of where we are in the world, life would not really be worth living.

The closing of Rent on Broadway is by no means the end. It has worked its way into the hearts and memories of several generations of theater goers and artists. Now, the show will be able to travel to the less populated regions of the country and spread its message to those who can afford to see it on Broadway or on tour.

As has been previously stated by Elize and Hannah, I hope that if they produce a revival (and I hope that they do) they do not try to reproduce the show. Lightning rarely strikes the same place twice and the social/economic/political characteristics of society in the future will be different which will make the show resound differently in the hearts of the audience.

aquacompass said...

I'm with others on this. The one thing I really did appreciate about the feature film version of the RENT was its differences from the original show -- its discontinuities, its different approach to bringing the same story line and characters to life. Now this is a bit tangential, but the same things that intrigued me about the cinematic version, I look forward to in revivals of the staged show. RENT has always been a rather minimalist show as production value is concerned -- perhaps we will at some point see a version of the show with much greater production value -- maybe we'll like it, maybe we wont. The story line is nothing new -- we all know it stems from La Boheme, however, seeing yet another contemporary version of the show in say...2020 would be an interesting spectacle.