How can you be a person who likes theater and you've never seen Rent, you ask? Easy. I was angry angry teenager when it came out. I was living in New York City. I was going to NYU film school. I was serious. Very very serious. I wore black and Doc Martens because I was a film student people. I took my art very seriously.
I shot black and white movies about the homeless. (Footnote: I was actually chased out of a vacant lot where I shot a movie not about the homeless by actual homeless people who lived there...and you know where that vacant lot was...uhm Union Square where the Virgin Megastore used to be...yeah a vacant lot people...old school...anyhoo).
And here was this "new" musical about the East Village that was clearly not using the current music of the East Village to express something...And Mike Nichols was seeing it downtown before it moved uptown and as far as I was concerned that meant it had jumped my shark already. How downtown gritty can it be if Mike Nichols is calling up for house seats?
It was Broadway bound before it even had downtown cred...so I shunned it. You know so it would feel the burn of my shun. #selfaborbedmuthafuckafilmstudent
And then Amen it closed and I could pretend it never happened.
And now it is back. Opening tonight. And I kinda want to see it. Because I am a hypocrite. I am no longer and angry teenager and want to feel like a teeny-bopper girl sometimes. But I am also mentally rolling my eyes at myself as I type this so in classic Mildly Bitter fashion, the teenager of my heart will possibly love it, while the adult of my brain will probably find 800 different things that are wrong with it (and maybe I can even squeeze in a Foucault reference to be really douche-y)...including things about the 90's that will probably enrage me.
Although I have been listening to Hair a lot lately and I swear there is a riff from Hair used in its entirety in that song about 96000 seconds of a minute of a year. But maybe I am crazy. (Footnote: I know nothing about riffs, music, or 96000 seconds and in all likelihood I am crazy).
But break a leg kids. Have a wonderful opening and maybe I'll check you out.
xoxo
MB
I shot black and white movies about the homeless. (Footnote: I was actually chased out of a vacant lot where I shot a movie not about the homeless by actual homeless people who lived there...and you know where that vacant lot was...uhm Union Square where the Virgin Megastore used to be...yeah a vacant lot people...old school...anyhoo).
And here was this "new" musical about the East Village that was clearly not using the current music of the East Village to express something...And Mike Nichols was seeing it downtown before it moved uptown and as far as I was concerned that meant it had jumped my shark already. How downtown gritty can it be if Mike Nichols is calling up for house seats?
It was Broadway bound before it even had downtown cred...so I shunned it. You know so it would feel the burn of my shun. #selfaborbedmuthafuckafilmstudent
And let's face it, it didn't need me or my ticket. (Footnote: I have this thing for shows or movies or TV shows that NEED me and if it's so popular and doesn't need me I figure I can give my love to something else more needy. #issues).
And then it became this thing teeny-bopper girls went to. Yeah I said teeny-bopper. #dealwithit So I let it go. We were developing the movie at Miramax when I worked there, so I knew it really had gone beyond anything I ever wanted to see.
And now it is back. Opening tonight. And I kinda want to see it. Because I am a hypocrite. I am no longer and angry teenager and want to feel like a teeny-bopper girl sometimes. But I am also mentally rolling my eyes at myself as I type this so in classic Mildly Bitter fashion, the teenager of my heart will possibly love it, while the adult of my brain will probably find 800 different things that are wrong with it (and maybe I can even squeeze in a Foucault reference to be really douche-y)...including things about the 90's that will probably enrage me.
Although I have been listening to Hair a lot lately and I swear there is a riff from Hair used in its entirety in that song about 96000 seconds of a minute of a year. But maybe I am crazy. (Footnote: I know nothing about riffs, music, or 96000 seconds and in all likelihood I am crazy).
xoxo
MB
OMG. Now you HAVE To go see it. Because I want to read your review. Especially if you go all Foucauldian on this bitch.
ReplyDeleteI saw it the weekend it closed on Broadway, mostly out of obligation as a theater fan, but also because I <3 Mahandra from Wonderfalls--I mean Tracie Thoms. I was so bored. I hated every character but Angel and Tom Collins. (How can you hate a guy named after an alcoholic drink?) I mean, I really wanted every character to stop whining and just DIE already.
So, yeah. For the good of the Internet, please go see this show. Also, the casting is waaaaaaay lolzy.