This Saturday marks the 10th Anniversary of RENT's move to Broadway. Yesterday, what they did was make all the tickets to the show $20. Guess who got to go :o).
I generally don't go see Broadway shows more than once because they cost so much money and I certainly don't stand for the whole thing. However, this was a different circumstance. I got an SRO ticket and I stood at the back of the orchestra, peering through a window-like opening. It was actually pretty cool. I could see the whole stage. I didn't have anyone tall sitting in front of me. But I think to stand for a whole show, you have to be riveted. Which I was.
The actor that played Mark, Matt Caplan, was incredible. He played up Mark's innate dorkiness, while still making him empathic. He and Roger's best friendship and later disappointment in each other was palpable. I wondered if the happy-go-lucky Mark from the 1st act could become the sad Mark in the 2nd when things unravel. And he did. He did it by changing his physicality from standing up straight to being sort of slumped over while he watches his friends fight at Angel's funeral. He did an over the top announcer voice to exagerate how ridiculous he thought working for Alexi Darling was.
My only complaint was there were a couple transition moments that the cast didn't milk enough. The moment after "One Song Glory," they launched right into "Light My Candle" without taking so much as a beat to let the power of the song sink in. And I liked the guy who played Collins, but I think his biggest problem was that he was not Jesse L. Martin...he didn't quite have the voice for Santa Fe since he was more tenor than bass...however, he sold me during "Without You" when he was nursing Angel. He wasn't even singing but if you were watching him, you could see that he had a moment of realization that Angel was not going to get better.
I had been wanting to see RENT again since I saw the movie and now I remember why the show was so much better than the movie...I did enjoy the movie. But. The show had something the movie did not: it felt spontaneous and exuberant. The movie was just too polished. Watching the show, you get a feel for Roger's pent up passion for his music and his frustration with his failure. His voice was raw and more of a growl than Adam Pascal's ever was, but when he sang "One Song Glory," he sold it with his voice and his body. In the movie, the actors sounded and looked good but since they were on the screen, their performances were much more muted. They didn't use thier bodies hardly at all while singing, except when there was actual choreography.
The crowd last night was a great crowd and even drew the cast out for a second bow. I feel like they had a talk beforehand and said, "Not much money will be made from tonight's performance, but it's the most important one. Most of these people have seen this show before. Make this time the most memorable."
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