R.I.P......RENT

I'm devestated.....RENT is officially ending it's 12-year run on Broadway as of June 1.

Let me preface the rest of this blog by saying that if you can't put faces to the actors named throughout this post, I assure you, you are NOT alone....But I won't explain who they are beyond their character names (because the people that really care about this post don't need it really). Google is a big help if you're curious...

I have to be honest, I knew something was up when RENT asked some big names to return a few months back...When Matt Caplan returned in the role of Mark Cohen in September (I think), I wasn't too suspicious, I just figured that he needed a paycheck given the dismal failure of "High Fidelity". However, when Anthony Rapp (Mark Cohen-OBC) and Adam Pascal (Roger Davis-OBC) announced that they were not only returning as well, but returning together, I had a horrible sinking feeling that the higer-ups were attempting to possibly end the show's run with the same chemistry and buzz under which it opened in April of 1993.....But since no such announcement came, I let it go....

I usually enjoy being right....

I discovered RENT in September 2006, when I saw the movie for the first time, so I'm very late to the party to say the least. That said, RENT grabbed me immediately...As soon as I heard those hard driving rock and roll chords, I wondered what rock I'd been under for a decade. (For the record, I've caught up quickly...I've gotten my hands on more than a few bootlegs, and fell in love with the stage version as well....What I wouldn't give to MOOOO) More than it's innovative take on what a musical should sound like, the message at the heart of this simple musical has changed lives....Helping millions of people simply by giving them a workd in which to escape where, for 2 hours, it's okay to be different....In fact, being different is celebrated. I've heard stories of lives being saved just because they finally feel understood, accepted, and even loved after leaving the theatre...Can I say that RENT saved my life? No. But at a time when I felt like the invisible girl in the corner, 4 simple words gave me the push I needed to get my butt in gear....Those words...."No day but today".

As I mourn the loss of my dream of appearing onstage at the Nederlander theatre, and adding my own name to the list of blessed actors and actresses attached to this amazing show, I hold out hope for a revival run at some point. At least there's still the touring cast.....For now.

I've decided to close this blog with the same words that were spoken from the audience at the end of the final night of rehearsal the night before opening on Broadway....The day the man responsible for the last 12 years, was found dead in his apartment kitchen of an aeortic aneurism.....


THANK YOU JONATHAN LARSON!!!!