I'm just begging for you to mock me

A lot of people, I know, totally hate Rent. I get that. I can see why you might hate it, even. It’s a love-it-or-hate-it kind of show. It’s OK if you hate Rent. But I love it.

Yes, the story sucks. It’s a four act opera condensed into two acts. Poorly. But I don’t love the story. I don’t love the whole bohemian thing. I know the second act sucks. I still love it, for really the only reason you can love Rent. Because of the music.

I like musicals in general. Thank you for your witty commentary re: my sexuality on that count, but it’s true – I’m that rare creature with a Y chromosome who loves both musicals and women. Go figure. I even used to watch the Tony Awards. I think that’s where I first heard parts of Rent – though I’d been hearing plenty about it before then.

There used to be a record store in Cherry Creek North (I can’t for the life of me think of what it was called now) that let you listen to any CD in the store for any length of time before you bought it. This is years ago, before Blockbuster Music did more or less the same thing, before anyone else was really doing this at all. We’re talking back in the days when hearing something on the radio was pretty much the only way to know what a CD offered before buying it. So, curious, I went to that store and listened to Rent. I bought it the same day. I loved it, listened to it a lot, learned all the words. When I worked at a bookstore I used my discount to buy a book all about the production, complete with the full book/script, as well.

I didn’t get to actually see the show, though, until I was in college. (I remember being in New York the one and only day I was there and regretting that there was no way to stay that night so I could see it on Broadway.) The tour came to Tucson first semester of my freshman year and I went with my roommate (a musical theater major no less!) named Vern. I had been a fan before, but how to describe the actual show? It was equal parts rock concert and musical theatre. It’s not just that so many in the crowd knew the songs – they even knew the words. It wasn’t just that so many people in the crowd had the audacity to sing along – it was that they did so loudly. It wasn’t just that you could hear people singing along – it was that they seemed to be encouraging it. (A note: I saw it again in Denver a few months later and the atmosphere was very different. Maybe because it wasn’t a college campus?)

Is Rent perfect? Far from it. That’s something else to love about it, in my book. It’s not exactly a work-in-progress, but the writer died before the thing even opened on any stage anywhere. So there are rough edges. And thank God they’ve left them (and I hope to God the movie doesn’t gloss over those rough edges completely). It’s musically messy, not nearly so polished as your Chicagos or Wickeds. It’s silly. It’s stupid and sappy sometimes, sometimes so blindingly idealistic that even the world’s greatest optimist would be embarrassed.

But it’s just so goddamn good. I though about changing that second to last word and just can’t. That’s the only way to describe it: goddamned good. How can you not be moved by this story? It’s very time-specific, yes, but what’s wrong with that?

I’m nervous about the movie and also can’t wait to see it. There have been a lot of bad movies made from good musicals. Then again, there are those few like Chicago that are just fabulous. I really hope Rent works that well. I like that most of the original cast is back for the movie, no matter how old they look. I’m nervous about what they cut (“Contact” isn’t on the soundtrack? I’ll be so pissed if they wimped out and cut that) and what's with this new song on the soundtrack? Let’s hope that’s just a “rolling over the end credits” kind of song. Mostly I’m nervous because … well, Rent really shouldn’t work as a movie. Half the point was the bare bones stage, the minimalism. I would have been more than happy to have someone film a performance and just release that. Instead, we get a full-on movie.

Doesn’t it seem odd to have a movie with a sizable budget being made of a musical that triumphed the bohemian lifestyle? That doesn’t offend me, it just strikes me as funny. Really, I have little opinion on the bohemian conflict of Rent. I have little opinion on the story at all. Is it a great story? Not really. But it’s a fairly clever update of La Boheme and, really, the point of opera is never the story but just the terrible inevitability of it all – which is a pretty clever metaphor for AIDS. What I love about Rent is mostly the music. It’s like a rock concert. It’s funny. It’s silly. And then from out of nowhere they break out a song that will have you crying like a baby.

I love Seasons of Love. A great song anyway, what really makes it great is how it functions in the musical. As the opening moment of Act Two, it takes place outside of the plot. It’s not even a part of the story – it’s a Greek chorus as much as anything, not an explicit one, but serving the same function nonetheless: Seasons of Love instructs us to watch the second act in a certain way. It salvages what would otherwise be ridiculously tragic, frankly too operatic for a rock musical.

Haven’t seen the movie yet and I’m both nervous and excited about seeing it. Maybe it will suck. But then again if I can sit in a theatre and hear One Song Glory, that might be money well spent.