something that's NOT so horrible
i just went and saw bill murray in broken flowers. it was excellent, but i will not recommend it to anyone i know that likes tidy little stories that wrap themselves up in a nice bow. if you don't want to think about how a story ultimately turns out, don't see it.
but better than the movie was one of the two (yes, only two, i love hollywood hits) trailers before the movie.
the trailer:
-a sweeping, 4 second arial shot of new york city, glowing in the sun.
-quick fade to black
-then the piano kicks in
i literally dropped my m&ms.
i've known the movie was coming for quite a while now, but this was the first thing i have seen for it...
i cannot tell you how excited i am about this. i can, however, tell you how worried i am that it will not be good. a cheesy version of RENT? it could happen. director, chris columbus (that's right, THAT chris columbus) has promised, though, that it will be every bit as gritty and vulnerable as the stage version, if not more. i will breathe easy when i've seen it for myself.
and although, the movie has all but two of the original broadway cast members (who knew lt. green could sing?) i'm still not completely comfortable. rosario dawson as 'mimi' has a world of livin' up to - to do. and the cast is now 9 years older. so forgive me if i'm still a little cautious.
but, when all is said and done, i will still be among the first in line to see it.
but better than the movie was one of the two (yes, only two, i love hollywood hits) trailers before the movie.
the trailer:
-a sweeping, 4 second arial shot of new york city, glowing in the sun.
-quick fade to black
-then the piano kicks in
i literally dropped my m&ms.
i've known the movie was coming for quite a while now, but this was the first thing i have seen for it...
i cannot tell you how excited i am about this. i can, however, tell you how worried i am that it will not be good. a cheesy version of RENT? it could happen. director, chris columbus (that's right, THAT chris columbus) has promised, though, that it will be every bit as gritty and vulnerable as the stage version, if not more. i will breathe easy when i've seen it for myself.
and although, the movie has all but two of the original broadway cast members (who knew lt. green could sing?) i'm still not completely comfortable. rosario dawson as 'mimi' has a world of livin' up to - to do. and the cast is now 9 years older. so forgive me if i'm still a little cautious.
but, when all is said and done, i will still be among the first in line to see it.
posted by cade at 7:22 PM
17 Comments:
didn't Chris Columbus direct Home Alone?
AND mrs. doubtfire. AND gremlins.
What do I say to all of this? I love RENT...five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes....love it. I'm scared, but I'll be one of the first in line on this side of the states. Together we will mourn or celebrate. :)
I'm nervous. I don't know. It'd be really, REALLY easy to eff this one up.
"lt. green's got Aids! chris columbus' got Aids! your commenters have Aids! Aids! Aids! Aids!"
sorry, i couldn't help myself.
jeff, i saw that coming before i even posted this thing.
Okay, I don't want to sound insulting but...
What is it with Rent? I saw it once at a tiny, tiny theatre in Boston. The music was WAY too loud, drowning out the singers. And the singers were miked-they didn't need to be. It was a tiny enough theatre and they all had tremendous speaking/singing voices to project. But everything-songs and speaking parts were so loud that it just sounded garbled to me. I had to put together a lot of the plot by their body language. And from what I saw...well it seemed kind of overrated. I totally blame the soundboard. I have heard parts of the soundtrack on CD and I liked the songs, at least. Maybe I'll see the film and like it better.
it sounds like your question should be "what is it with that crappy production i saw of RENT?"
i've seen two great productions and one not-so-great one (with gentry. sound issues as well. maybe it's just boston.) i understand the concern. bad sound can kill any show.
if you liked a couple of the songs you heard, see the movie. if all goes well, you'll be much happier than your live experience.
CC... also responsible for taking the plots of Harry Potter books 1 and 2 and throwing them to the wind... I hope you're happy CC...
I hope so Cade. It was a professional version, not like some high school production of it. But jeez, for the amount of money I paid...that could have went to the salary of a better sound team.
But still, I have to ask, What is it with Rent that's so great? I mean, it's just about a bunch of people who are friends and friends of friends, living in cheap grimy places with crappy landlords, have relationship and money problems, and one or some die of AIDS. How is this any different from the lives of hundreds of people who weren't lucky enough to have a play written about them? Or is it the tragic story of the guy who wrote the play, then died on its premiere night that gave it street cred? Or is it the music? The actors of the original production? Or something else I'm missing altogether? (If this comes off as sarcastic, I do apologize. I really am curious for explaination.)
thanks for your honesty, BG.
it's basically everything you just said.
here's my take:
it's the story of a group of friends trying to figure out what they are doing with their lives (not strictly in the "career" sense, but in the broader sense as well.) on top of that, they are trying to figure out how those people around them fit into that life...plus, some of them are dealing with limited means (money) and a limited time to do this (ie. AIDS.)
that's really the story.
as for the draw of it. it's as you said, it's not "any different from the lives of hundreds of people who weren't lucky enough to have a play written about them." i don't have the answers, but people relate to the characters, at least on some level.
for me, it's the characters' struggle, but it's mostly the music, and by that i mean, the lyrics. jonathan larson has some heart-breaking themes in his songs, and he pulls them off with a moderate amount of catchiness. i can only imagine what he would have brought to the world of theatre had he lived.
i'm not saying it's for everybody (i would rather die than sit through it with my parents,) but for those of us that DO connect with it. it's pretty irreplaceable.
anyone else have any ideas?
btw. was it the WANG center where you saw it. if so, that's where we saw the "bad sounding" version as well.
but, i wouldn't consider it a small venue.
just curious.
I loved the soundtrack before I saw the show.
I saw the show on Broadway and it was utterly ruined for me by dumb girls sitting behind me who talked the whole way through.
I did, however, see Frenchie in Rent.
I am very excited about the movie.
I also loved Broken Flowers.
For me it's easy...It's the music.
I'm a pretty conservative Christian male living in the middle of the country. I can't say I entirely relate to nor approve of the lives of most of the characters. So, before I even saw the show I had a prejudice against it. By the end of the show I was hooked on the music. Can't really pinpoint it, but its similar to Aida in that its fantastic, modern, very singable music. That's really all I need. Maybe it's a lack of great music in today's musicals that sets this one apart, but I love it. Therefore, I'm pretty sure I'm going to love the movie. It will be tough to mess it up for me since most of the original cast is singing.
I can't put my finger on what it is for me. Part of it may be the nostalgia - the first few times I saw it, my best friend and I "rushed" all day to get front row, and it was amazing. I know it's the music, and the story behind it regarding Larson, or the emotion I can't help but be taken over by when I hear the first few notes of any given song from the soundtrack.
Despite the first performance I saw of it being the best, it still just gets better every time.
Thanks Cade, for the explanation. Now it makes sense to me and I'm also glad that I wasn't as stupid as I thought I was. And also, thanks to the others who put in their two cents on what draws them to it as well, it helped illustrate what it does for people. I do feel badly that the writer died-who knows what else he might have produced. I can't remember where I saw it, actually, I just remember being squished high up in tiny seats with no leg room (no small feat considering I'm only five feet tall and I had no leg room). I do still like the music though-some songs do give me goosebumps. Maybe I'm just going to have to see it again at some point.
I am more of a "Phantom" fan, I guess.
krista,
you are very welcome. trust me, if you get goosebumps from some of the songs, the movie should suit you just fine. besides, you'll be able to follow it. a lot better.
it's similar to 'evita' that came out in '96. i had friends who had seen the musical and didn't like it, but then saw the movie and understood everything a great deal more. it should be similar to that.
speaking of webber...since we here at the "annex" strive to include everybody, i won't go off on my "phantom/webber" tangent here. i respect that people like his shows (i DO like a couple of them) but, give me sondheim anyday.
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