Rent - The movie

[howeird]

Having heard a few pieces of the soundtrack, I was not expecting too much from this musical. It started out better than expected, they have assembled a superb, solid cast, all but one a superb singer both as a solid soloist and as ensemble. The one exception was Adam Pascal, who shows hints of a great voice, if only he would stop shouting. He obviously was cast more for his looks.

Wilson Jermaine Heredia as the tranny Angel is just amazing. If there was any justice in the film industry, he would be carting around a wagon load of gold statuettes. At least he got a Tony for his Broadway performance. He reminded me a lot of the leading character in cinchntouch's favorite Thai film. Anthony Rapp is too WASP for the role of the Jewish film maker, but he does a yeoman's job with a ton of lines and songs.

The show starts with the total cliche song Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes - at least it has a pleasant sound to it. As the show progresses, the songs get less and less tuneful, and more and more long. There's a lot of gospel-inspired music, which I mostly fast-forwarded through because I can't stand gospel. But I know a great performance when I hear one, and both Jesse L. Martin and Tracie Thoms wail with the best of 'em.

All in all, not a film I could identify with. My apartment in the slums of Bangkok was less squalid than the digs these folks are living in. And who ever heard of a slum apartment which went the whole width of the building? In NYC? Two people sharing about 1500 square feet is what it looked like.

No memorable tunes, no lyrics worth making a tag line out of. Solid acting, every now and then some good directing, but there were a lot of experiments in editing and such which did not work. Costumes were mostly uninspired, except for Angel's. Not worth any more words.

Comments

[howeird]

Thanks for asking, I've been meaning to get out my old letters to home (my folks saved them and gave them to me when I returned). This was 1975-76, Bangkok neighborhoods are way different now.  Here's the list:

Hotel Victory
near Victory Monument (two weeks while I apartment hunted)
  Owned by the US military, it was also where we stayed our first couple of days in-country, before moving up-country for language training.

27/13 Din Dang Rd. #47 BKK 4
 This was a single room with a shower stall, above a row of food stands. One of them made the best Khai Yat Sai.

14 Soi Asoke (Sukhumwit) - shared with a couple of Peace Corps staff members
  An expensive multi-story house where I had my own room, but there were no real kitchen facilities, and the landlord wouldn't fix the plumbing or do anything about the armies of ants. When the others were done with their tour, I couldn't find other room-mates, but it turns out the next month and a half I was sent on a couple of assignments which kept me on the road, so I put my stuff in storage. 

Somewhere off Soi 1, Sukhumwit.
   I don't have an address, and have now switched my return address to the Peace Corps offices, because there was no mail delivery. My first letter home says "It's a room upstairs in a run-down Thai apartment on an alley off an alley off Sukhumwit Road."  It was a single room, and the window looked across a small courtyard which had a rain barrel and plastic scop as the shower (I learned to take showers in a pakama). Most of my neighbors were Patpong prostitutes, except for the apartment kitty corner from mine which was a tailor shop. They made good clothes cheap for me, but never believed the measurements and always made them too small.
Current mood: nostalgic
Current music: Kelly Clarkson - What's Up Lonely

[howeird]

Din Daeng Rd has really come up in the world since 1975. Back then it really was red - red dirt, unpaved, an old ox cart road to bypass Sukhumwit's urban sprawl. That was when BKK ended at Soi 63.

Rong Ram Victory was a massive hotel, about 10 stories high and half a block square. If it still existed you would be able to see it from anywhere on monument circle. It was run by the US Army as an R&R center for troops stationed in Vietnam. So I guess your little hotel took over its role. :-)

Rent on Broadway

[bigcatroary.livejournal.com]

I've seen RENT a couple of times on Broadway. I'd advise everyone to skip the movie and see it live. It's quite exciting and the show does seem to have it's own screaming fan base. Some shows are better left on Broadway (Phantom, RENT, etc.) Come and visit!!! I can assure you our digs here are a step up from yours in Bangkok.

Re: Rent on Broadway

[howeird]

Now that they have cleaned up Times Square, what good is NYC?
;-)

[pyrzqxgl.livejournal.com]

I saw a touring company production of it a while back. Though my main association with Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes is that a local friend's former acappella group used to do it all the time.

[howeird]

Yeah, that's a great number for a capella ensembles. It gives lots of people a chance to show off their voices and what they can do with them. And the words are incredibly simple, with the obligatory happy ending.

[cinchntouch.livejournal.com]

I still need to read Anthony Rapp's autobiography. I adored Rent (both on stage and film) I think it is one of those love it/hate it things. Angel is incred.

[howeird]

Well, I didn't love it or hate it. There were very strong performances from all the featured players: Angel, Mimi and Tom Collins all had parts which really showcased their talents. So did Mark's part, but Rapp was not very convincing for me. Very talented actor/singer, but it was like watching Justin Timberlake try to play Lenny Bruce. I wonder what johnny Depp would do with that role.

I couldn't identify with the story very much, and it wasn't my kind of music. Much much better than rap, though. Not good enough to love, not bad enough to hate.