Official RENT Blog contributor Nicole Wright saw the 2005 film version of RENT before seeing the Broadway production at the Nederlander Theatre. Read more about her first experience at RENT through Kids' Night on Broadway!Christmas morning, 2006.
Unwrapping the box and seeing a RENT T-shirt, while wrapped inside that, a ticket to the show! My sister, Michelle, and I were jumping up and down screaming, as she had received the same thing. We were both finally going to see the musical whose movie soundtrack blasted throughout our house ever since we received it. Counting down the days, it was finally time for us to see the show on January 30th.
Kids' Night on Broadway is an event when theatre attendees age eighteen and younger see a Broadway show for free when accompanied by a full-paying adult. There’s a pre-party event (for 2007, it was at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum) full of fun freebies, activities, and the opportunity to meet performers from various shows. The combination of RENT being offered as part of this deal and the fact that she now knew the story (thanks to the movie) allowed my mother to be okay with bringing two of her children to this Broadway show.
Even though I knew of many of the songs and much of the story previously, I walked into the Nederlander Theatre with an open mind. Theatre and film are two completely different mediums; additionally, I knew the cast I was about to see would be different that what I was used to, but that only helped to create a completely new chapter in my RENT-life.
I remember seeing the stage for the first time: no curtain, very simplistic, and beautiful for the production. No matter how many times you see a picture of a particular place, nothing compares to seeing it in real life. It was raw, it held multipurpose, and looked like it would be a lot of fun to play around on. It wasn’t long before the show began and I was entranced in a way that I could simply not experience with the film.
Naturally, my mind began to make connections to the film. I really enjoyed seeing how some aspects of the production were carried into the film (for example, the cast standing in line singing “Seasons of Love”) and how I could recognize some of the film dialogue used as lyrics in the show. Before I knew it, I was on my feet along with most of the audience, giving the cast a well-deserved ovation.
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| Photo by Joan Marcus. |
Personally, theatre is my favorite form of art/entertainment. RENT exceeded my expectations so much that I had to return several times to see more interpretations of these songs, characters, and stories. Each experience was different from one another, because that’s how theatre is – it’s in the moment, it’s never the same show twice, and it’s different for each person. RENT’s “no day but today” message is also in the moment, which makes its theatrical connection a fantastic thing to experience.
Nicole
www.siteforrent.com
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