Rent (2006, UMD)

Rent is a rock musical written by Jonathan Larson. Its opening was in NYC back in 1996. It is a musical that I have avoided for a long time despite the fact that I love the genre. I figured it must be a waste of time as it couldn t possibly compare to the classics like Tommy, Jesus Christ Superstar, Hair and the like. Plus the subject matter may have repelled me as well. Well, luckily I did finally give it a chance when I watched it on satellite TV. It turns out that I was wrong, very wrong. Rent is now my favorite musical ever. When I try to turn other people on to it, it s like I have to...

I didn t quite know what to expect when I sat down to watch Rent (2005); it was not what I expected. I have of course heard of the smash Pulitzer and Tony Award winning Broadway musical, but I knew little of its content. Directed by Chris Columbus (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer s Stone), Rent follows the lives of a group of young Bohemians in the East Village of New York City, as they struggle with life, love (heterosexual

Rent is based on the musical play that has won many awards and acclaim. Naturally, the kind of popularity would result in it being adapted to a movie. Even a big name director (Chris Columbus) was brought in and Robert DeNiro was a producer. With a $40 million budget, all involved expected this movie to be a big hit. In the end, it barely cleared $30 million at the box office. Why? Because why would American audiences want to see a movie about a bunch of out of work artists, of which half of whom have AIDS? This movie suffers from many faults. The music sucked, the story was lame, the...

I went to a high school that had a very strong focus on the performing arts, so theater was a passion for many of my fellow students. If I learned anything about my fellow theater buffs during those four years, I think perhaps it was this: if you are a teenager who likes musicals, you are almost contractually obligated to love Rent. By the time I graduated, I felt like I'd heard the opening song 525,600 times. Okay, slight exaggeration. But having little familiarity with this play was just as bad as being a geek who had never seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I finally amended that...