Before there were Fanadus (Xanadu fans), before there were The Guilty Ones — AKA Spring Awakening fans, and yes, I’ve warmed to the show since I wrote that review — there were the Rentheads. And once upon a time, dear PopWatchers, I was one of them. Well, maybe not a rabid one (though ten visits to the Nederlander Theatre ain’t too shabby), but upon hearing that the late Jonathan Larson’s Rent, currently the seventh-longest running show in Broadway history, would pay the fiddler on June 1st, I couldn’t help but be a little verklempt. After all, this was my generation’s Hair, the musical that proved you could be a total East Village slacker, refuse to pay your bills on time, and turn your staid local diner into Coyote Ugly…just because! Sure, Rent had some clunky lyrics: "You’ll be my Queen / and I’ll be your moat" (i.e., you be royalty and I’ll be brown, crappy crocodile water?). But it was the show’s moving, soulful spirit, and soaring rock score that kept it chugging along for 12 years. Here are my top five memories of the show’s many Seasons of Love.
1. On my virgin trip, immediately after Rent bowed on Broadway in April ‘96, I passed by none other than Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman on their way to the loo. They had orchestra seats, and I was front mezz, and that dude from The Single Guy was in the rear mezz, but the man sitting next to me was unimpressed. ("If it isn’t Barbra Streisand, I don’t care", he carped. Ah, theater folk.)
2. This show turns grown men into wusses. My third trip was with my mom, who observed that both I and the giant, 6′4" football player-type dude to her left, sobbed like babies when rock ‘n’ roll Roger sang "Your Eyes" to a dying Mimi.
3. Maureen’s big ol’ white butt in "La Vie Boheme" — my first encounter with female nudity onstage. And nobody’s butt was whiter than Idina Menzel’s. But what a talented butt it was! See for yourself! (NSFW, though it’s bare for mere seconds.)
4. In 2005, while waiting on the lottery-drawing line for $20 front-row seats — the primary way I saw the show so many times over the years — I overheard the lottery organizer guy describe the show. "It’s a story about these guys…they live together, they’re best friends…one of them is gay, the others are like, hey, you’re a fag, no big deal…." I had to step away after that.
5. When I heard that Chris Columbus (and not Spike Lee, who’s even mentioned in the show!) was to direct the long-gestating film, my reaction was not unlike Molly Ringwald’s in Sixteen Candles when her grandmother suggests that Long Duk Dong accompany her to the school dance.
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After obsessing about the show for so many years, and finally (last spring) going to NYC for the first time, the first Broadway show that I would see had to be RENT. We lined up for the lottery and lo and behold, won the tickets. It was exactly how I imagined it would be. Even though I’d seen the show a couple times with touring casts, it was nothing like being in the Nederlander where all of it went down. RENT is one of the reasons I wanted to become an actor, and will forever hold a special place in my heart. I am glad I got the chance to see it before it closed.
In Jonathan Larson’s defense, the line “You’ll be my Queen/and I’ll be your moat” follows “You’ll be my King/and I’ll be your castle”. Which, given the song’s main point of protecting (or as the lyrics say, “covering” one another), this makes absolute perfect sense. Maybe someone just needs to brush up on the idea of metaphor as a lyrical device…
I fell in love with the music of “Rent” in high school. I was on drill team and we did a very technical routine to a mix of a couple songs. I was captivated by the music, so I bought the 2 cd original cast recording. I loved it even more after listening to it in it’s entirety. I saw it with a touring cast in Lincoln, NE two years ago. I was amazing.
Then I rented the movie. I was more than dissapointed. While it featured some of the original cast, it didn’t stay true to the musical. And I know, neither do most musicals that they turn into movies, but I thought maybe they would stay pure for this one. I’m sad to know that those who have never seen the live show will have nothing else to compare it to but this movie. It’s just not the same. It’s like the difference between eating regular ice cream and then choking down “fat free”. Pretty much the same thing, just not nearly as good. Oh well, I suppose if it touched some lives, then it served Jonathan’s purpose. May he rest in peace.
Whoops, I meant “IT was amazing”, not “I was amazing”.
am i the only one who thought RENT was highly overrated???
A Long Duk Dong reference? Awesome. Will you marry me?
The show’s had a very healthy run, but it’s still sad to hear that it’ll be shutting down in a few months. (By the way, Jason, I’m totally with you on #5…the movie isn’t so much bad, as it is painfully average)
I know the music so well, that I actually got bored and decided to translate as much as I could into Spanish. I live in St. Petersburg, Florida, so I haven’t had quite as many chances to see it as other people have, but I’ve still caught the show seven times (in places like Tampa, Gainesville and twice in New York).
As for my favorite memory. Well that would be about a month ago, when (without knowing that the show would be closing a few months later) I got to see the show on Broadway from the front row for the first time in my life with my girlfriend during our Christmas trip to New York.
(Cheap plug alert: I wrote about it here:)
http://whatjohnceballosthinks.blogspot.com/2008/01/rent-on-broadway-review.html
I’ve seen the show a number of times but nothing will ever top the experience of seeing it in April ‘96 for the first time. I was absolutely enthralled and it was one of my greatest theater “moments.” It is sad to see it close but it certainly had its day and I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of it (that horrid movie should not be its only legacy).
I loved Rent when I saw it ages ago at university. I recently rented the movie and was still just as thrilled, even with Rosario Dawson in there.
I love seeing Traci Thoms and Jesse L. Martin there as well, before they became famous cops. 
I saw the show live about 3-4 years ago, wih a Roger who was just “so-so” at best. So seeing (mostly) the original cast in the movie was actually an improvement to some degree. I think the movie as a legacy is better than no film at all for reference.
I first encountered Rent as a college first-year, so almost 5 years ago, when my roommate would put the cast recording on repeat. I fell in love and seeing it twice since has only strengthened my affection for the show. I know some people think it’s overrated, and it could probably do with some editing, but there’s a beautiful heart and rock and roll spirit underlying the whole thing. I’m sad to see it go, because it was such a seminal musical in modern Broadway.
i for one am happy about this. i think rent needs to take a step away from broadway before it can be appreciated again. it’s been 12 years. it had a huge inpact on broadway. but now? now it’s turned into a stopping ground for former american idol hopefuls and former teen popstars (actually, that could be broadway in general). i for one am most excited by the rent remixed version running in london right now. i would love to see what that is all about, and where broadway could take the show in a future revival. jonathan died before the show was really complete – it’s a somewhat unfinished work that could use a bit of a makeover.
just a rip-off of hair….
I have seen the travelling company production many times. I would like to see it in NY before the lights go down on such a great show!
I first saw RENT in 2004 with my best friend during my first trip to NYC. I have since seen it “on tour” and I was upset when original casts members were back! If I didnt have a job, I would have totally been there! I love everything about the play – acceptance, love, friendship – so great and a great message to those who will listen.
As a side note, my bf’s sister moved to NYC in August and for Christmas, her pick him up some RENT memorabilia for me. By far, the best gift this Christmas.
I will miss RENT.
When I was in college (conservative school in Texas) the show traveled to our town and I wrote an op-ed piece about the importance of seeing this show and the conversations that could result from it. I had already seen the show and obsessed over the music. I got a lot of good feedback from readers, and hopefully some people saw it that wouldn’t have otherwise.
La Vie Boheme still gets my heart pumping. Singing it in my car or where ever, I feel completely free! Where else can you say half the stuff in that song without someone looking at you like you’re crazy?! I will miss Rent. I may have to make a special trip to NYC…
Most overrated crap at this point.
Today For You Tomorrow For Me is one of the worst songs ever. I cringed everytime I had to hear it.
my favorite Rent reference is in Team America: World Police when Gary is the lead in the musical known as “Aids”…and the entire cast sings “Everybody has AIDS! AIDS! AIDS! AIDS!”…pretty wicked…
I have to agree with my fellow poster Paige. Yes, Rent was and always will be overrated. I will say that I found some of the songs enjoyable but I cannot say that they changed my world. I’ve enjoyed other shows much better but I think that every generation falls in love with a show regardless of how good or bad it really might be, (hello, Hair?).
I skipped a day of school during my senior year of high school to stand in line for tickets with my best friend for that night’s production of the touring company. I’ve seen it several times since, but that first one will alway stick with me.
As a theater major in college and being heavily active in musical theater, I and most of my friends were “Rentheads”. One day, during a particularly boring Theater History lecture, a friend and I texted lines of La Vie Boheme back and forth until we finished the whole song.
After seeing the movie (which, I agree, isn’t so much bad as just another movie), we noticed a huge display outside the theater, made up of blocks with pictures of the cast and stills from the movie on them. We asked the management if we could have it, as the film’s run was well underway and they didn’t need to advertise it any more. “If you can dismantle it, you can have it,” we were told. So, after calling a friend with a truck, we transported it, in many pieces, to our apartment, where we later held a Christmas party in honor of the display. Everyone dressed up as the characters, made Rent-themed decorations, and sang along with the Broadway cast album. It was universally acclaimed as the party of the year!
I loved it, and have several very fond memories of it… no it’s not the best broadway show ever, but no other soundtrack takes me through so many favorite haunts when I listen to it and let my mind wander. I’ve only seen it in the theatre twice, but hope to do so once more before its final bow.
yes antoinette and this generation is Spring Awakening… i’m so scared to watch it just in case i have the same feelings… i guess im just not into those types of musicals…and before you start thinking i’m a lion king junkie (which i havent seen) i must say the revival to Company with Raul Esparza was brilliant in so many levels.
Very sad to hear that Rent will be leaving Broadway. I am a huge fan and will miss it dearly. I am open, however, to Spring Awakening taking its spot. I just saw the show and am completely in love with it and cannot wait to see it again.
I never saw the musical but I have heard really good things about it. The question on my mind is that from the above picture there seems to be more characters than the movie version. Was there a reason why the cast was downsized for the movie?
BTW: Spring Awakening is AMAZING!
Donner, I hate to be one of those people that corrects other people’s posts…but the name of the musical in “Team America” was actually “Lease” (you know, because the South Park guys wanted to make absolutely sure we knew what they were making fun of).
Still, I’m with you in that it’s a hilarious scene (“there’s a hero inside all of us/I’ll make them see everyone has AIDS”). I mean, I love the show with all my heart, but I don’t take it (or myself) so seriously that I can’t see that it’s a hilarious spoof.
Have to agree with everyone who found Rent overrated. I saw it five or six years ago with a couple of good friends. After it was over, their faces were streaked with tears and they kept talking about how good it was. I kept my mouth shut as long as I could cuz I really didn’t want to ruin their moment, but I hated that show from the very first song. “We’re not gonna pay…” Ugh, I wanted all of them to die. Seriously, I cry at everything, but I didn’t even get a lump in my throat for the brats in Rent. Luckily, a friend who was in another part of the theatre confessed her hatred for it the next day. Guess which friend I’m now closest to?
Stephanie T.
The picture above includes the eight main cast members and the people who play the various background characters in the show (the drug dealer, the ornery homeless lady, Mark’s mom, Alexi Darling, etc.)
Best Rent memory is when I saw it for the first time – with the second national tour in La Jolla many years ago (staring an amazing Neil Patrick Harris as Mark Cohen, BTW). I had just been dumped, and my friend took me to the show to raise my spirits. It did the trick – and I was an instant Renthead. The show’s message of love and friendship struck a cord and I went onto see the show over 25 times throughout the years.
It is far from the perfect musical and it has been years since I’ve seen it, but when I heard the news today that the show was ending on Broadway, I shed a tear.
Viva la Vie Boheme!
I am so sad that Rent is closing! I’ve never been able to see the play before, but even the sub-standard movie made me a fan of the amazing music! I’m spending the summer in New York City, and hoped to see the show then, but now I’m not going to be able to! *tears*