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No other road; no other way...no day but today.
One cold, snowy March Saturday in 1996: I woke up early, caught a morning train into Boston, and waited outside the Shubert Theater for nearly ten hours in the hopes of scoring a last-minute $20 rush ticket to the touring production of the smash Broadway musical, Rent. I was lucky enough to get a ticket, and I spent the next two hours immersed in Jonathan Larson�s world of early-90s bohemian New York.
Almost ten years later, November 23, 2005: I drove to a movie theater 30 minutes away, paid $20 for two tickets, bought some popcorn, and settled into my seat to finally watch the long-awaited theatrical release of the film version of Rent.
Two very different scenarios, but the end result was the same both times: Rent blew me away.
Rent chronicles a year in the life of eight very different friends: Mark (Anthony Rapp), an aspiring filmmaker; Roger (Adam Pascal), his musically-inclined roommate; Collins (Jesse L. Martin) and Angel (Wilson Jermaine Heredia), an HIV-positive gay couple very much in love; Maureen (Idina Menzel), an outspoken performer; Joanne (Tracie Thoms), an uptight lawyer who also happens to be Maureen�s on-again-off-again girlfriend; Mimi (Rosario Dawson), a drug-addicted stripper; and Benny (Taye Diggs), an old roommate of Mark and Roger who now owns their building.
It�s difficult to describe the story because Rent has always been one of those shows that's much more character-driven than plot-driven. The action, such as it is, begins on Christmas Eve, when Benny reneges on his promise to let Mark and Roger live rent-free in his building, and it ends with the following Christmas Eve. In that time, the characters go through everything from experiencing the bliss of a new relationship to overcoming past issues to dealing with illness and the death of a friend. It can be sad and uncomfortable at times, but in a lot of ways, Rent is really a celebration of life.
I always enjoyed the stage show, but the movie version is really phenomenal. It�s not your typical movie musical�you won�t see Julie Andrews twirling on a mountain or gangs of kids dancing in the streets here. Like last year�s Phantom of the Opera, Rent is almost entirely sung-through, so at times it feels more like a long, but really good, music video instead of a movie. And the music is just fabulous�the new orchestrations give the songs a much stronger rock vibe than the original stage version ever had.
Fans of the original show will be pleased to see some familiar faces in the movie�in fact, six of the eight characters are played by the actors who created the roles on Broadway. The two newcomers�Rosario Dawson as Mimi and Tracie Thoms as Joanne�are amazingly good and fit in seamlessly with the rest of the group. Of all of the recent song-and-dance movies, Rent easily has the strongest cast. They�re all incredibly talented singers and actors, and they�re so much fun to watch�especially Anthony Rapp as Mark and Jesse L. Martin as Collins (television viewers might recognize Martin from the TV series Law & Order).
So, should you see Rent? I can�t tell you that. I can tell you this, though: if you�re a fan of well-sung and well-acted movie musicals, then add Rent to your must-see list. If you enjoy big production or dance numbers (like �El Tango de Roxanne� from Moulin Rouge), then this movie is worth it solely for the �Tango: Maureen� and �La Vie Boheme� numbers. And finally, I�d recommend this film for anyone who likes really, really good music. Rent on stage was well worth my $20 ten years ago, and the movie is definitely deserving of the price of at least one movie ticket.
Performances: A+
Direction: B+
Total: A
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