Review - RENT - 7/31/07

Warning - VERY long!

RENT

Nederlander Theatre

Tuesday July 31, 2007 – 8:00 pm

I don’t think it came as much of a shock that I was more than excited when the announcement was made. Adam and Anthony are returning to RENT for a six week engagement. This was a dream come true for me. I, along with many others, never thought we would ever see them back on the stage at the Nederlander for anything other than a reunion. But oh what I would have done to have seen it happen. Dreams really do come true.

Well to start, the line was snaked all the way around to 7^th avenue just to get in. Once in, the place was packed, but you could sense the excitement in the room. It felt surreal to be back there, since I hadn’t seen it since 1999 when I was 16. Things have taken a bit of a different view now than they did then. The stage and scenery were more nostalgic than “innovative”, etc. But I will fully admit to resorting to a twelve year old girl and squealing with delight when Adam first walked on the stage, clad in those irresistible plaid pants! The crowd went nuts, but then Anthony walked out and they went even crazier. It was amazing and you could tell they were just soaking it all up. It took me a few seconds to actually believe I was actually seeing it all.

“RENT” was packed with power and angst. I will say this many times, but I swear they sounded like the stepped out of the cast recording, they were THAT on. Adam was jumping on and off things with ease, and just really getting into it, along with the rest of the cast. “One Song Glory” was raw and beautiful. I have heard him sing it at his solo shows, but nothing is like seeing it in its actual context. “Light My Candle” was adorable. He and Tamyra Gray had cute chemistry, but not great. She, however, is incredible, more on that later. They were more hands on than I remember the roles being, but it all worked! Adam did a cute little “shimmy” silly dance move when he sang “I’m Roger” and the crowd ate it up.

I was lucky to see Wilson (the original Angel) when I saw my first performance, and he is definitely someone hard to live up to. Justin Johnston really did a good job trying. He was adorable, heartfelt, and a damn good singer. He nailed “Today 4 U”. When Collins enters in the beginning and throws the items, the bag of bananas slipped through Adam’s hands and went straight to the floor. It was pretty funny, but they just kept going. Troy Horne was a decent Tom Collins, but he took some getting used to. He had the voice, but the acting was a bit odd in the beginning, very dry. “You’ll See” was adorable, but I am not very fond of D’Monroe as Benny, just very blah.

One of the other reasons I rushed to see the show so soon was because on top of Adam and Anthony, Merle Dandridge was returning for a quick stint as Joanne. I missed her when I saw Tarzan and was very upset. She was just as awesome and I expected. I love her take on Joanne best out of all I have seen via youtube, etc. “Tango Maureen” was enjoyable and she and Anthony danced the hell out of it. Tamyra definitely is my favorite Mimi. I wasn’t fond of the look, she was a bit too small and skinny, and really didn’t dig the short hair. In the “Out Tonight” outfit and the hair, it kind of looked like she belonged in Rainbow Brite. Don’t get me wrong, she herself looked amazing, just didn’t fit the show. I would love to have my legs look like that in tight blue leather! However, she wowed me with the vocals. I was never a big fan of Daphne or any others take really. She really made me love it. She rocked out and nailed all of the banister dancing. I was not a fan of the pulling the glitter out of her shirt and releasing it. Since she couldn’t do it from her hair, they should just cut it completely. “Another Day” was emotional. Adam remembered all of his lines, and he and Tamyra really got into it.

“La Vie Boheme” was energetic and spot on. Even Adam actually looked like he was enjoying the beginning dance moves. As an obsessed fan, I couldn’t stop giggling just because it was uncoordinated Adam doing it. I also totally fangirled it when he stripped to the black cut off tank, I will admit it proudly! With Anthony, it felt like I was watching a bootleg from 1996, he was just that perfect - movements, singing, everything! There were some added movements and little things from when I last saw it, especially Adam’s graphic and hilarious motions for “hold an erection on the high holy days”. “I Should Tell You” was touching and mushy. Like stated above, they were very “gropey” during it.

I got all jittery when they came out for Act II and lined up for “Seasons of Love”. It is such simple staging but still just tugs at your heartstrings. However, it was short lived for me because I thought the female soloist just butchered it. It’s similar to people butchering the National Anthem. I don’t understand why people just can’t sing it, but have to add all weird “riffs” (I’m musically challenged) and ruin it. Back to point, I LOVED “Happy New Year”. It was one of three songs I was most excited to see. Adam even nailed the simple little lines I loved (going higher at the end of door in “they padlocked the door”, bad british accent “That’s shaken not stirred”, etc.) Wasn’t too fond of the actress playing Maureen, but she did look really good in the cat suit! “Take Me or Leave Me” was good, but mainly because Merle rocked it. “Without You” started my tear ducts. It was beautifully sung by Tamyra and Adam, and it is the start of Angel’s death. I forgot how “wow” “Contact” was, and “I’ll Cover You(Reprise)” did me in. But I didn’t cry as much as I do when I hear Jesse sing it, sorry. I know I am not supposed to compare, but that is one song that I cannot bare to depart from the original. Troy did it justice for the moment though.

Move on to the moment I was most anticipating, “Goodbye Love”. Amazing! I don’t know how to elaborate on it. It was just perfectly done. I was speechless. And then they kept me that way with “What You Own”. Once again, it was like I was listening to the recording, they were just that on. And it was nice to have new images and get the movie Bon Jovi/Britney Spears video images out of my head! “Your Eyes” was the third song I was looking forward to, and big surprise, I loved it. As much as I love it though, I do still get a sarcastic laugh thinking that he goes and gets his freakin guitar when the chick is sitting there dying, but what can you do! “Finale” was powerful and moving. The projection images were the only things I couldn’t really see from our seats though.

Everyone jumped to their feet the minute the stage went black and cheered passionately through curtain calls. I really like that they bow as a cast, and not one single person gets an individual bow. We went outside and it was pandemonium! People were just swarmed around the barricades. I was just speechless. We had walked down to the corner by 7^th Ave, and when you looked down, it was a mob scene. Cars couldn’t get down the street because everyone flooded out into. Out of no where you heard a roar of screams (Anthony coming out), and it was so loud it stopped everyone walking down 7^th! If they didn’t have egos before, I am sure they have them now! I couldn’t really see but it looked like they were signing and smiling. Once the girls started crying and screaming we made our retreat. I would have loved to have gotten close, but I am not that obsessed that I would brave the mob. People were on top of each others shoulders it was that crazy.

All in all the night was better than I could have imagined. They definitely proved all of the cynics wrong and came back with fury. I am glad to be seeing it again because I was focused solely on Adam tonight, so I really didn’t take in the full show. Now that I have gotten some of it out of my system, I can sit back and enjoy.

A lot of people are saying that RENT should close because it is outdated. Yes, it is no longer 1996, but so what. It isn’t the early 1900’s but you still go to watch Phantom. The underlying themes and messages are still relevant. I honestly can’t see it staying open too much longer, but I hope it still has another year or so left. But Nederlander, please fix up the theater. I love that is mostly decorated to fit the theme, but the cracks in the ceilings and stuff need to go. Ok, I can’t believe how much I just wrote and will stop rambling!