All the
reviews on this page (all 1 of them at the moment) are of Rent London.
23rd December 1998 Matinee (aka The 1st Time I Saw Rent)
OK, so before I begin this review, I'd just like to say 1 thing:
I really love Rent and I think it's the best show I've ever seen.
But, the first time I saw it was a complete and utter disaster. Not
because of the performance or anything, but because I had no idea what
was going on. I staggered out of the theatre thinking "Well, at least
I'm never going to have to see that again!" (Ironically enough, I
went on to see it a further 8 times, but I wasn't to know that at the time).
I suppose it didn't help that my friend and I were up in the dress circle,
so everyone looked kind of... small and far away. Or that neither
of us knew anything about the plot or heard any of the songs before.
(Well, hardly any of them). Or that we didn't purchase that programme
with the helpful plot synopsis and pictoral guide showing who loves who.
So, I could just about figure out what was going on during the Tune Ups.
But then it got to the song Rent. And it was LOUD. Loud to
the extent that I couldn't hear a single word. I just sat there thinking
"Why are all these people running around on stage and what on earth are
they talking about?" Things continued in that vein throughout the
whole of the 1st act. I missed a lot of the lyrics, which probably
explains why I missed half the plot. The whole bit about Maureen
protesting Benny's plans to build a cyberarts studio in the lot next door
completely passed me by. From Christmas Bells onwards I'd pretty
much given up completely.
Things didn't help in the interval, either. The people behind us
(obviously true Rentheads) were having a deep philosophical discussion
about Rent's portrayal of the homeless (or something along those lines).
Meanwhile, my friend and I were saying things like "Is Angel a man or a
woman?" and "Oh, I didn't realise Roger has AIDS! Well, that makes
a lot more sense now."
Actually, I found Act 2 a lot better. Partly because the whole Benny
and cyberarts studio plot seemed to have disappeared, and it now seemed
to entirely concentrate on all the different relationships. Which
made it a lot easier to understand what was happening. And I really
was moved by Angel's funeral and the bit where Mimi nearly dies.
But I still figured I'd never see it again.
Favourite songs
at that time:
Light My Candle
(It was the quietest - I could actually hear most of it).
Seasons Of
Love (Absolutely beautiful).
What You Own
(I'd heard it before, so at least I knew what they were saying).
