danatheb (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} danatheb) wrote,@ 2008-01-26 11:20:00 |
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One song, glory.
The last time Nicole and I saw Rent, it was 1999. I wasn't yet 30, Nicole was just about 22. It was winter, in New York, and we took the train down for the day. I knew about it, but not exactly, and neither of us were entirely sure what we were going to experience, and after it was over, we both felt overwhelmed with love for our city, and (at least I) was notstalgic for the life I'd lead before I moved up to Connecticut. A few days ago, we decided we wanted to go out on Friday night and realized that Rent was playing at the Schubert in downtown New Haven. We made a big date plan and went last night.
From the onset, it was totally different and wrong. I mean, the music was still exactly the same as we'd remembered, but for me, the pivitol character is Angel (more die-hard Rent people may disagree), and as soon as this touring cast member Angel took the stage, we both turned into grumpy old women, because s/he was just WRONG. I'm not sure if it's because we're both 9 years older, but the whole play struck us the wrong way. An example--when Mimi is getting ready to go out, and is all done up in her tight pants and singing about how she never pays to get in anywhere and does a very acrobatic dance through some fencing (see here), Nicole leaned into me and said "Well, GOOD FOR HER!!" as I had been sitting there thinking "ooh, be careful! you don't have health insurance! And you're HIV positive!" The scene at Life Cafe (which made me feel super old, because I used to go there, often, in college) just pissed me off.
It also didn't feel relevant anymore. Maybe not relevant is the wrong word, but not fresh or contemporary, and seeing in in New Haven, surrounded by people who would drive their Range Rover through a protest to get to an organic farmer's market for brown eggs seemed sort of creepy, like OH, MILDRED LOOK AT THE FUNNY CHARACTERS, BUT DON'T ENGAGE THEM THEY WILL JUST ASK YOU FOR MONEY LOCK THE DOORS LOCK THE DOORS!!!
For me, what made Rent so moving was the whole experience of seeing it in New York, in the dingy Nederlander Theater, with the uncomfortable seats and hearing traffic noise from outside. Seeing it in the ancient Shubert, in the heart of Yale didn't give it the same grit or depth of emotion. This isn't to say the cast wasn't good, because they were (except for Angel, who was barely comprehensible both singing and talk/singing). I guess when you start to identify more with the bad guy character (Benny) than the kids who are out there singing their hearts out and wanting to hold demonstrations in the empty lot and need to heat their squatted apartment with garbage cans filled with paper, (Me: "GOD, it would be annoying to live next door to those assholes. They'd be banging on empty plastic containers and leaping on and off tables when I was trying to sleep!" Nicole: "Why the FUCK don't they all just get jobs? JESUS!"), it's time to realize that any bohemian leanings I'd ever had are years since long gone.
I blame Angel. And the Shubert. And maybe also in the years since I've seen it, I've become a completely different person. Not better or worse, but just different.
The last time Nicole and I saw Rent, it was 1999. I wasn't yet 30, Nicole was just about 22. It was winter, in New York, and we took the train down for the day. I knew about it, but not exactly, and neither of us were entirely sure what we were going to experience, and after it was over, we both felt overwhelmed with love for our city, and (at least I) was notstalgic for the life I'd lead before I moved up to Connecticut. A few days ago, we decided we wanted to go out on Friday night and realized that Rent was playing at the Schubert in downtown New Haven. We made a big date plan and went last night.
From the onset, it was totally different and wrong. I mean, the music was still exactly the same as we'd remembered, but for me, the pivitol character is Angel (more die-hard Rent people may disagree), and as soon as this touring cast member Angel took the stage, we both turned into grumpy old women, because s/he was just WRONG. I'm not sure if it's because we're both 9 years older, but the whole play struck us the wrong way. An example--when Mimi is getting ready to go out, and is all done up in her tight pants and singing about how she never pays to get in anywhere and does a very acrobatic dance through some fencing (see here), Nicole leaned into me and said "Well, GOOD FOR HER!!" as I had been sitting there thinking "ooh, be careful! you don't have health insurance! And you're HIV positive!" The scene at Life Cafe (which made me feel super old, because I used to go there, often, in college) just pissed me off.
It also didn't feel relevant anymore. Maybe not relevant is the wrong word, but not fresh or contemporary, and seeing in in New Haven, surrounded by people who would drive their Range Rover through a protest to get to an organic farmer's market for brown eggs seemed sort of creepy, like OH, MILDRED LOOK AT THE FUNNY CHARACTERS, BUT DON'T ENGAGE THEM THEY WILL JUST ASK YOU FOR MONEY LOCK THE DOORS LOCK THE DOORS!!!
For me, what made Rent so moving was the whole experience of seeing it in New York, in the dingy Nederlander Theater, with the uncomfortable seats and hearing traffic noise from outside. Seeing it in the ancient Shubert, in the heart of Yale didn't give it the same grit or depth of emotion. This isn't to say the cast wasn't good, because they were (except for Angel, who was barely comprehensible both singing and talk/singing). I guess when you start to identify more with the bad guy character (Benny) than the kids who are out there singing their hearts out and wanting to hold demonstrations in the empty lot and need to heat their squatted apartment with garbage cans filled with paper, (Me: "GOD, it would be annoying to live next door to those assholes. They'd be banging on empty plastic containers and leaping on and off tables when I was trying to sleep!" Nicole: "Why the FUCK don't they all just get jobs? JESUS!"), it's time to realize that any bohemian leanings I'd ever had are years since long gone.
I blame Angel. And the Shubert. And maybe also in the years since I've seen it, I've become a completely different person. Not better or worse, but just different.
