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madrobinsSo by a series of happenstances (Avocado noting that there were $20 front orchestra seats for Rent if you got there two hours before the show--despite the fact that she had a front balcony ticket already; me agreeing to go downtown with her and, if we got the ticket, take her old ticket; us not getting the $20 ticket and A. deciding to buy a front row loge ticket with her own money, passing the other ticket back to me) I wound up seeing Rent.
It's a little like being at a rock concert; the audience was so full of fans that each song was greeted with a roar of applause and whoops. It was also a little like being at a rock concert because the sound was cranked up so far that I had to watch the show with my fingers in my ears. Not, I hasten to add, because it was so loud, but because I wanted to hear as many of the lyrics as I could. They turn the orchestra sound up high, then they have to turn the vocal mics way high, which means you can hear the music just fine (the close harmonies, in particular, are wonderful), but the lyrics are really difficult to parse. And I am all about the lyrics, really.
Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal, who were in the original cast and the film, performed with the ease of long-familiarity with the material; I was underwhelmed by the woman who played Maureen (it's my least favorite part in the show) but I really liked Joanne, Collins, and Angel (well, everyone loves Angel--he's the heart of the show). And at the end, between the qualified-happy-ending and the close harmonies, I got all teary.
But I wish they'd gotten the sound mix better.
It's a little like being at a rock concert; the audience was so full of fans that each song was greeted with a roar of applause and whoops. It was also a little like being at a rock concert because the sound was cranked up so far that I had to watch the show with my fingers in my ears. Not, I hasten to add, because it was so loud, but because I wanted to hear as many of the lyrics as I could. They turn the orchestra sound up high, then they have to turn the vocal mics way high, which means you can hear the music just fine (the close harmonies, in particular, are wonderful), but the lyrics are really difficult to parse. And I am all about the lyrics, really.
Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal, who were in the original cast and the film, performed with the ease of long-familiarity with the material; I was underwhelmed by the woman who played Maureen (it's my least favorite part in the show) but I really liked Joanne, Collins, and Angel (well, everyone loves Angel--he's the heart of the show). And at the end, between the qualified-happy-ending and the close harmonies, I got all teary.
But I wish they'd gotten the sound mix better.