Tuesday, October 26, 2004
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Rent (1996 Original Broadway Cast)
By Jonathan Larson, Jonathan Larson, Dominique Derasse, Kenny Brescia, Gilles Chiasson
see relatedI was just watching that PBS special The American Musical last week, so you'll have to forgive me for being so psyched about these last two that I finally get to talk about.
Number Two: Rent (1996 Original Broadway Cast)
Music by: Jonathan Larson
Performances by: Anthony Rapp (You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown), Adam Pascal (Aida), Jesse L. Martin, Taye Diggs (The Wild Party), Fred Walker, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Daphne Rubin-Vega, and Idena Menzel (The Wild Party, Wicked)
Yeah... Listen, this is The Cast. Anyone who has a soft spot for this musical knows that a good way to find great new music is to follow this group's collective career. This was one of two absolutely flawless casts in musical history. Something like that doesn't just require talent, which they've got boatloads of, but it also demands that they have chemistry. There may never be a group that performes together as cohesively and perfectly as these guys did ever again. But there will always be Rent.
This industry suffered perhaps its greatest loss when Jonathan Larson died of heart complications just days before his magnum opus opened. This is the only musical he created that actually hit Broadway, but that wasn't because his other two works didn't deserve it. It just happened that way. If you've ever listened to Tick, Tick...BOOM!, you know exactly what I'm talking about. This man could have churned out this kind of stuff for decades to come.
Nevertheless, what he left us all with is something truly spectacular. Rent is basically an adaptation of the opera La Boheme (which Baz Lurhman redid and brought to Broadway after he finished Moulin Rouge) only set in late-20th-century New York City's East End. It is the tale of seven friends (eight, if you want to include Benny) who come together on a haunted Christmas Eve night, and discover throughout the course of the next year that the only thing that matters in life is love, in any form - how much of it you give and how much you receive. In other words, friends who come to realize that you can actually measure the significance of your life by how much love you put out and by how much you get back from those you care most about...even if you know you're going to lose them.
With probably the most significant story-line of any musical ever made, it would be easy to place it second all-time even with mediocre music. Luckily, it has the best rock score ever written for a musical. Songs like "Rent", "One Song Glory", "Light My Candle", "Another Day", "Seasons of Love", "What You Own", and "Your Eyes" are all show-stoppers that will have you either swooning or dancing in the ailes. And the lyrics are on-par with anything The Master himself, Stephen Sondheim, ever did. Just listen to "Halloween". And then there's the act one finale which includes "Christmas Bells", "La Vie Boheme", "I Should Tell You", and "La Vie Boheme B", which is my favorite series of numbers ever in a musical: seriously...chills for the entire twenty minutes of the end of the first act, and I've heard this so many times, I could probably get up on the stage and do it with 'em. I just can't say enough for how this group sang together, infused so much passion into their characters, and made life seem to utterly significant for all walks of life, no matter who or where you are.
This musical is so close to being my number one favorite, that it has actually been known to swap back and forth from time to time. I think it's personal nostalgia that keeps it one step below. I certainly would not feel a twinge of anger for anyone who wanted to make the case that this is the best there ever was or will be. It's just phenomenal. It has and will continue to mean so much to musical theater as a whole that this musical was made and has enjoyed the successes that it has. It is further proof that great music will always allow a production to reach the top, even if its content is not what some people what to hear about. If you haven't already seen or heard Rent, I demand that you purchase it right away.
...I'm not kidding.
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