vivien | (no subject)

We went to see Rent (the touring show with the originators of Mark and Roger performing) for Prom Queen's birthday. She is seventeen, omg! Anyway, I had never seen it, and oh, okay, now I see what the fuss was all about. I'm just about thirteen years late.

See, P hates musicals (except for Jesus Christ Superstar), and while I enjoyed Annie and other popular musicals as a kid, I never got into them and I never really got to see many on stage. My high school did not do musicals (we did straight up theater) and my theater track in college was definitely not the musical theater track. In fact, I think it is fair to say I was a musical snob for a long time. If it wasn't theater (without the silly singing), I wasn't interested (except for Cabaret - that was my big favorite). It was a thing.

Now we are much more receptive. In the last few years I've seen Cats, Phantom of the Opera, and now Rent for the first time ever on stage. One of these days, I'll see Les Mis - it is on the list.

Rent was quite good, even though I cared far less about Mimi/Roger than I did Angel/Collins or Joann/Maureen. But the music was, wow, energizing, to say the least, and I loved the staging. The ensemble last night was quite good, but I think some songs got a bit oversung; it was hard to hear words, but there was plenty of voice. Of course, we were also in the nosebleed seats, so it could be that we just didn't get the best effect up there. The show's highest praise came from P who said, "It was a lot better than I thought it would be." *snickers*

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WHAT WHAT ANTHONY RAPP
THIS IS MY RAGING JEALOUSY.
That said, I'm glad you enjoyed the show! (And Angel/Collins is totally my OTP.)

Yes, we got a special one week engagement. He was in very good voice, too!

One of my theatre students qualified for national competition with "Today 4 U." He was totally perfect.

Les Mis did absolutely nothing for me. Then again neither did Phantom. My favorites are Avenue Q, Sweeney Todd, Candide, Hairspray, and the classic Chorus Line. Thought I would like Spamalot more than I actually did. Had fun at Mama Mia though Vegas was involved so that could have tainted it. Then again Spamalot was in Vegas too... I am eagerly awaiting Spring Awakening coming to Denver. I have seen "Bat Boy the Musical" twice. My tastes are a little less mainstream when it comes to musical theatre. Still I would love to see West Side Story or 9-5 on Broadway now. West Side for the music. 9-5 for my girlfriend Allyson Janney.

I'd like to see Spring Awakening, too. Perhaps it could be an Event!

I haven't seen Chorus Line - that's another one I missed out on. I was a srs actor and I was in srs theater!

Here I thought I was the only one who walked away from Phantom feeling "eh." I can't see why everyone is omginLUV!! with it. I mean, it's not terrible--and I've been in terrible shows--but it didn't do anything for me.

Loved Avenue Q. Would have loved it more if some asshole hadn't spilled beer on my seat during intermission. (Luckily, I was not in the seat at the time.) The usher moved us down closer, except where he put us, we could barely hear, because the acoustics in that venue are awful.

"It was a lot better than I thought it would be."

Heh heh ... always nice when you can pry a grudging statement like that out of a hubby.

He makes me laugh so hard. His "It didn't suck" is my "Wow, I loved it!"