or life is yours to miss
Rent.
I heard rumblings about it when it premeired in New York. I caught it four times in Cleveland. My mom gave me front row balcony seats for an April performance for Christmas. Front row balcony. Those are the best seats in the house.
I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to the stage on the screen. I rarely think it's OK. Romeo and Juliet made me spitting mad, for example (who chose DiCrappio?). I refused to see Chicago. But sometimes, it works.
The first musical I really felt was Hair. I got all passionate about the Viet Nam war. I was twenty-odd years too late, but if there had been a march at Kent State in 1995, dude, I would have been there.
I got all wrapped up in theater. I even thought technical theater (set design and construction specifically) was going to be my career. I'm glad I had a taste of what it's like in that profession if you don't "make" it. I didn't want to be sixty and backstage at some community theater with a bunch of prima donnas getting paid $20 a show to crawl around on my hands and knees in the sweaty dust behind the scrim. Call me snooty. It wasn't what I wanted.
I could go on and on about the emotional roller-coaster of high school, coupled with the pretentous wierdness of actors... but I won't.
Long story short, I went to see the Rent movie tonight. They cut out a lot of stuff (including Contact, the sex song. What's that about?), but all in all the vocals were good (save for, and call me finicky, Maureen totally missing that note in her performance act). But the thing I didn't expect was this flood of nameless, faceless emotion from almost ten years ago to come flooding back over me. I bawled for almost an hour straight, from the first Life Support scene, straight through the end. I didn't relive some sixteen-year-old trauma, but I just felt reconnected to someone I used to be, people I used to know, things I used to do.
I was a snotty mess. And I'm emotionally drained and exhausted now, but somehow, I feel better. Don't think I was feeling bad, but one can always feel better.
Oh, boy, sleep! That's where I'm a viking.
I heard rumblings about it when it premeired in New York. I caught it four times in Cleveland. My mom gave me front row balcony seats for an April performance for Christmas. Front row balcony. Those are the best seats in the house.
I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to the stage on the screen. I rarely think it's OK. Romeo and Juliet made me spitting mad, for example (who chose DiCrappio?). I refused to see Chicago. But sometimes, it works.
The first musical I really felt was Hair. I got all passionate about the Viet Nam war. I was twenty-odd years too late, but if there had been a march at Kent State in 1995, dude, I would have been there.
I got all wrapped up in theater. I even thought technical theater (set design and construction specifically) was going to be my career. I'm glad I had a taste of what it's like in that profession if you don't "make" it. I didn't want to be sixty and backstage at some community theater with a bunch of prima donnas getting paid $20 a show to crawl around on my hands and knees in the sweaty dust behind the scrim. Call me snooty. It wasn't what I wanted.
I could go on and on about the emotional roller-coaster of high school, coupled with the pretentous wierdness of actors... but I won't.
Long story short, I went to see the Rent movie tonight. They cut out a lot of stuff (including Contact, the sex song. What's that about?), but all in all the vocals were good (save for, and call me finicky, Maureen totally missing that note in her performance act). But the thing I didn't expect was this flood of nameless, faceless emotion from almost ten years ago to come flooding back over me. I bawled for almost an hour straight, from the first Life Support scene, straight through the end. I didn't relive some sixteen-year-old trauma, but I just felt reconnected to someone I used to be, people I used to know, things I used to do.
I was a snotty mess. And I'm emotionally drained and exhausted now, but somehow, I feel better. Don't think I was feeling bad, but one can always feel better.
Oh, boy, sleep! That's where I'm a viking.
posted by M at 9:07 PM
4 Comments:
Dang, we're all crying today.
I haven't seen Rent in any format. Perhaps I will eventually.
Yeah, what was the deal with that Claire Danes version of Romeo? I was actually forced to watch that in high school. The only redeeming factor was the use of Radiohead in the soundtrack.
-Suley
Mebbie I ought to go out and see it then. With Kleenex.
Ah yes, high school theatre...I know this feeling you are speaking of. The strength of these reminiscences. They can really knock you over sometimes.
Stage people. Phm. Film comedy is where it's at. If you can do anything Christopher Guest- or Monty Python-like, you can become a legend with the right crowd. I haven't done anything onstage in four years. Which isn't a lot, but still....
Gimme head with hair
Long beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming,
Streaming, flaxen, waxen
Give me down to there hair
Shoulder length or longer
Here baby, there mama
Everywhere daddy daddy HAIR
I memorized those lyrics in high school.
i saw tommy in new york and was really surprised that all it was really about was the special effects. I was really disappointed. I heard from a friend that thats what its all about these days...pinball machines on hydraulics. hm.
Post a Comment
<< Home