Rent is a musical I'm sure you have heard a lot about. I had before I saw it. And yet sitting there five mintues before the show was to start I opened my Playbill, and read a summary of the show. I was surprized to say the least. Lets just say this was a school band trip, a CATHOLIC school band trip. And Rent is a no-holds-barred view of life in New York, which I had been seeing first hand myself for the last two days before I saw this. I was there, in NYC and if I hadn't seen Rent before we left I never would have understood what it really was. I found real New York in a theatre.
Mark and Roger's old roommate want s to tear down the building they have been living in Rent-free for a year, that he owns. They, duh, protest, as does their friend, Mark's ex girl-friend Maureen, who left him for another woman. The highlight of this Act is when everyone moo's together, and the singing of my favorite song, One Song Glory by Roger.
I think this Act is better, as it follows their lives the year after the previous incident. They grow, learn, try to get by in their own way. Their relationships get rocky, Mark sells out by taking a commision for his work, and someone dies, from, you guessed it, Aids. Highlight of the Act, the grande final, 525,000 Song, and the background of a projection of candid shots of the cast in character. Leaves you wih a good feeling.
