I saw Rent, the live musical version, for the 3rd time last Tuesday, and it was the best production ever. So glad I went again.

11 years ago, Rent was playing in town with a permanent production, if I’m not mistaken the show was here for 2 years, I saw it when it first started with all my staff and I bought tickets for the very last performance when the show closed. I had loved it that much… The first time was amazing, just great, I didn’t really know the story and was blown away by the message, the acting, the singing, the songs, the sets… The second time was good, but something was off that night, maybe because it was the last performance, who knows, but the energy was down on stage even with the electrifying cheers from the audience.

But last Tuesday, I saw it with “the pros”… 2 of the original cast members from the Broadway production are touring across America and they are in town for a few weeks… Adam Pascal as Roger AND Anthony Rapp as Mark… and they owned the show. Their performance was absolutely hypnotizing. These guys have known these characters for almost 20 years and it was obvious they loved them… And to top this off, Gwen Stewart also reprises her role as a homeless lady from the original show. She is the lady with the gorgeous crystal piercing voice on the original Broadway recording, the one from Seasons Of Love. Sigh! What a great evening it was. It also helped that my friend Lisell was able to secure us the most amazing tickets, 7th row / centre.

Anthony Rapp & Adam Pascal
(courtesy of broadwayworld.com)

Gwen Stewart
(courtesy of braodwayworld.com)

I’m glad DR agreed to see it live as the movie version didn’t really hold a candle to the live show. And I know he was as moved as the rest of us during the performance.

Of course, when we are in New York City next month, we will have brunch at the Life Cafe… I might just sing a verse from La Vie Boheme.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 18:26 and is filed under Yup - I hate it. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.