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Original Broadway Cast - La Vie Boheme - Rent |
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I never really got the chance to blog about Rent, one of the few movies from last year I truly enjoyed watching. I was able to watch it once early this year, Marjo borrowed my DVD, nagpapasa-pasa na, leaving me wanting for more because I wasn't able to get enough of the Today 4 U scene. I swear, favorite scene ko 'yun, and I will watch the movie over and over again just for that scene ahahhahahaha!!!
Gerald returned the DVD last Sunday when he dropped by my place, konting chikahan, but I was so sleepy I slept while he's here. He woke me up when he was about to leave, and I was so weak to stand up and accompany him downstairs that I told him to just go. I was aware that I was saying non-stop gibberish when he was leaving, "Gerald, I'm so sleepy gjlhhlkhld I'm sleepy, I swear glhsjfl;ghlkh, baba ka na lang fkljfsksfdsfsl" Aahhahahahah para akong adik ahahahha!
 Anyway, I've been a fan of the 1996 Original Broadway Soundtrack, and I know some of the songs by heart, not JUST Seasons of Love. I lovelovelovelove the soundtrack. My favorites include Light My Candle, Another Day, I'll Cover You, La Vie Boheme, and Goodbye Love, which they didn't include in the movie very much to my dismay.
Unlike some musicals whose soundtracks I've enjoyed and though I haven't seen the shows I had some idea and I can imagine while listening to the soundtrack how the play was, I didn't have any idea how the songs in Rent were performed. Pity that I wasn't able to watch the 1999 Atlantis production starring the likes of Monique Wilson, Ricci Chan, JM Rodriguez among others. For one, I didn't know how they staged La Vie Boheme or say the Voice Mail songs (and many of these were also not in the movie) so watching the movie was a new experience for me.
 I love the movie despite its many flaws simply because I don't have a reference of comparison. I never saw the Broadway play, obvious ba?! Rent (the first song, not the movie itself) was electrifying. It was fun watching the cast throwing burning newspapers around (hahaha ang babaw ko!!!).
The cast, mostly actors from the Broadway show, was wonderful. I'm not so hot on Rosario Dawson, and it would have been fun to watch Daphne Rubin-Vega, but Rosario, as Mimi, was very good. I love her hair, very seductive. Out Tonight (Awwww-hoooo-uuut) was her shining moment. Galeng niya, para talaga siyang pusa from the Cat Scratch Club hehehehe. Wilson Jermaine Heredia was wonderful as Angel. Panalo talaga ang Today 4 U. Marjo told me that if he has to play a character in a play, it would be Angel. Mine's still Song Liling from M. Butterfly hahahhaa!!! Adam Pascal, who's also in Aida, as Roger is so-so, which isn't really his fault because his character is so-so, parang wala lang, a dying artist wanting to write his last great song before he dies. Jesse L. Martin as Collins was very good, too. I swear, kilig ever ako sa I'll Cover You and crayola ever ako sa I'll Cover You Reprise. Taylor Diggs as Benny didn't do much but yummylicious pa rin siya hahahaha!! Loved him in Chicago, and I swear, he's got the best smile ever. Magaling din sina Idina Menzel at Tracie Thoms (the other actor aside from Rosario Dawson not in the original Broadway production) as Maureen and Joanne respectively. I love their Take Me or Leave Me, but Idina was especially very good in Over the Moon. And of course, mahal na mahal ko si Anthony Rapp bilang Mark. I am so crazy about his dancing ahhahahahha he was so cute!!! And I read somewhere that he's openly gay. He's very good in La Vie Boheme and Tango: Maureen. You rack, dawg!!! Harhar!
525, 600 minutes
  
  
 
Can you recognize them here?
I'm not sure if Chris Columbus of Stepmom and the first 2 Harry Potter and Home Alone movies was the right director for this, but he did fine. The movie wasn't too trying or too mainstream. The screenplay by Stephen Chbosky, writer of The Perks of Being A Wallflower, was ok. It pretty much remained faithful to the musical. Many important songs where removed though, mostly parts which show the personal battles of the characters with themselves. I also didn't like the ending, it was so cheesy.
And although I'm not really sure I want to be any of the characters in this movie, the whole point of the musical, which was based on Puccini's La Boheme, is doing what you really want to do TODAY. No day but today. It's not about being successful in life. It's about finding your own niche in this world. It's about surviving and coming out as still yourself. It's about acceptance, making others feel loved despite their unlikable traits and finding love in return. I think that's what bohemia is. And sadly, this was never decently tackled in the movie that you'd think Bohemians are freeloaders.
With that, viva! la vie boheme!!!!!!!
To days of inspiration
Playing hookey, making something out of nothing
The need to express- to communicate, to going against the grain,
Going insane, going mad
To loving tension, no pension, to more than one dimension,
To starving for attention, hating convention, hating pretension
Not to mention of course, hating dear old Mom and Dad
To riding your bike, midday past the three-piece suits
To fruits - to no absolutes-
To Absolut - to choice-
To the Village Voice-
To any passing fad
To being an us for once ... instead of a them!!
La vie Boheme, La vie Boheme!!
To hand-crafted beers made in local breweries
To yoga, to yogurt, to rice and beans and cheese
To leather, to dildoes, to curry vindaloo
To huevos rancheros and Maya Angelou
Emotion, devotion, to causing a commotion
Creation, vacation, mucho masturbation
Compassion, to fashion, to passion when it's new
To Sontag, to Sondheim, to anything taboo
Ginsberg, Dylan Cunnigham and Cage
Lenny Bruse
Langston Hughes
To the stage
To Uta, to Buddha, Pablo Neruda, too.
Why Dorothy and Toto went over the rainbow
To blow off Auntie Em
La vie Boheme!
Bisexuals, trisexuals, homo sapiens,
Carcinogens, hallucinogens, men,
Pee Wee Herman
German wine, turpetine, Gertrude Stein
Antoniotti, Bertolucci, Kurosawa
Carmina Burana
To apathy, to entropy, to empathy, ecstacy
Vaclav Havel - The Sex Pistols, 8BC
To no shame - never playing the fame game
To marijuana
To sodomy, it's between God and me
To S & M
La vie Boheme!
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