I sometimes wonder what RENT would look like had the set been changed. Like, what if they had actual scene changes....Roger and Mark's apartment, the lot, and the Life Cafe.....would the show seem different?
I believe it would have been cheezy that way. I like the set the way it is; Subtle, yet, believable.
"Do you know what pledge time is, Andrew"? said the PBS Executive.
"Yes", Lloyd Webber replied. "My 50th birthday special must be one program that gets done a lot."
"No", mused the man from PBS heedlessy. "Not so much. Our Stephen Sondheim Carnegie Hall concert. That's a big one."
Spoons, forks and knives seemed suddenly to suspend their motion in horror, all around the table.
"All the while making faces like a baby platypus who forget to take some Beano before eating a chimichanga." FindingNamo in reference to Jessica Simpson's singing.
call me old fashioned, but that was one of the things i DIDNT like about Rent, than and the over amped singing to the extent that i could not understand a word the people were shouting on stage. But i do think i could live with the "one scene" set if they worked on the sound design. No one wants to see a show where all the lyrics sound jarbled.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27199361@N08/ Phantom at the Royal Empire Theatre
One of my favorite types of sets are the ones like RENT has - it's one thing that changes very subtly throughout the show. Simple, yet effective and not-distracting. I think, also, it's REALLY important for the set to reflect the main ideas of the show, rather than to truly convey WHERE you are. For example, the Dirty Rotten Scoundrels sets are full of rich colors, but everything actually has kind of a fake look to it, because the show is about con artists. That said, the RENT set is very simple, and it looks kind of grungy and run down, and it reflects the conditions its characters are really living under. And, on stage, you can do things like that and force your audience to believe it, but use their imaginations, too. In film, you can't really do that - so, we'll finally get to see those places, and what it would've been like.
I think the starkness of the set represents the harsh quality of the character's lives. Filling in with more set pieces would make the characters look more comfortable than they are.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
It has to go up soon, I am getting impatient! And yes, Love the set the way it is. Oh, and Spider, how was the wedding/honeymoon?? I hope everything went well!
~~**I've had a knack from way back of breaking the rules once I learned the games**~~
~~**Badger badger badger badger badger...MUSHROOM!!!**~~
I LOVE the rent set. Everytime I see it, I fall in love with the show all over again. Whenever I'm at that theatre, I get an undescribable happy feeling.
*goes back to listening to clm's "light my candle"*
awkward.
"I think it was the Korean tour or something. They were all frickin' asian!" -Zoran912
The set was because of the low budget, but it fits the musical once you see it, if you what I mean... yeah!
you say i'm weird! look at everyone you're sitting with! and hey, those guys over there just threw napkins up in the air like they were on something! it's contajous! you can't help it!
I love the set of RENT for the stage production, you know how they made that big hunk of metal be such a big prop for the show. And i'm confident the movie set will be very well done as well!