Musical Review: Rent!

It’s been quite some time since I’ve done a review for a musical, so for this post, I’ll be talking about Rent. I’ve heard a couple covers of the music on YouTube, especially for the song “Seasons of Love” as it gets used a lot in high school choir concerts or other music-type events. 

 

In the movie, the cast listing is Rosario Dawson, Adam Pascal, Jesse L. Martin, Anthony Rapp, Idina Menzel, Wilson-Jermaine Heredia and Tracie Thorns. Since this film is how I got to know the musical and its story, I kind of have a bias for the actors and their vocal talents. However, this isn’t to say I wouldn’t enjoy the theater production if I were to see it live on Broadway. 

The musical’s plot is fairly simple as it follows a group of friends who are struggling to live and make it in their qualified professions. It takes place in 1990’s New York, in a time where AIDS was at a high. What I love about this movie is that it contains a lot of personality within its characters as one is a drag queen, another being a teacher, an aspiring filmmaker, a musician, a stripper and very spirited TV diva. As far as talent is concerned, I love how Jesse L. Martin’s talents are featured in the movie, especially for numbers like “Santa Fe”, “I’ll Cover You” and the same song’s later reprisal. His singing is honestly as smooth as butter, so hearing his voice is always a nice treat for me personally. I also love Tracie’s voice as she can so easily hit those high notes, especially in “Seasons of Love” and “Take Me or Leave Me”. Now this is just my opinion, but I’d say that Idina Menzel’s voice is always perfect; I really love the amount of energy she has when singing “Over The Moon”. 

So since Rent has this theme of trying to count or measure your life in love, it probably shouldn’t be a surprise there are bits of romance thrown into the story. I personally love Angel and Collins’ relationship the most as it’s sweet and not as dramatic as the others. Now don’t get me wrong, Maureen and Joanne’s relationship definitely provides some spiciness at times, and Roger’s struggles with Mimi can be seen as endearing. However, I just love the simplicity of Angel and Collins’ relationship when it comes down to it. They were so good for each other; that’s all I’m going to say about that. 

 I feel like if Roger and Mark had been given different life circumstances, the movie wouldn’t feel as diverse, so I can’t say that their characters overall are too one dimensional or that their attitudes are too pessimistic. In saying that however, their friendship is definitely something that I can respect. It plays well into the musical’s theme when putting the entire film into perspective, so for that, I’d give this musical 4 out of 5 stars.