Watched the video of the final performance of RENT - I'd only known the movie up till now. I felt like it was more cohesive sung-through like that, everything happening in the same space (only slightly transformed) and with the same surrounding cast. The smaller world felt like it encapsulated the very localized story, with the occasional contact to the outside world through telephone. The presence of the parents reminded me more so that all these kids are supposed to be relatively young - what they're rejecting - and the more frequent chorus of street people, what they're still not becoming.
I'm not sure if the stage play actually makes more sense or if I just don't remember the movie well enough… but Mark's voiceovers clarified the passage of time, people coming back together after breaking apart, and I felt it was more visible that Benny used to be one of the group of friends too - shown not just told? Like there's a bit after a musical number where he runs off with Roger, and given as all the rest of the group keeps fighting with each other anyway, the whole thing feels more like fights between friends - with a difficult and tragic background because people are dying! - than idk, artists vs. capitalism. (I agree with the lyrics, though, fuck the concept of rent.)
Performance notes! It was really great to see Renee Elise Goldsberry, omg. Now - disclaimer that I can't tell how much I may like her more because I already love her from Hamilton, and vice versa how much more I might've appreciated any of the other actors if I knew them before. But anyway. Her Mimi was such a revelation to me, coming from the movie, where, don't get me wrong, I already loved Rosario Dawson's Mimi - I listen to "Light My Candle" and especially "Out Tonight" all the time, I wouldn't have thought the role needed improving! But okay, the movie's Mimi never feels less than fully realized, (none of the characters do), but she does feel pretty straightforward - she's flirty and sexy and loving it, until she's tragic.
But Renee Elise Goldsberry! (And maybe other stage Mimi's, I wouldn't know.) Was a ~REVELATION~ to me. (Reference totally intended). Her Mimi came off as feral, wild, and that makes so much sense for Mimi's story!, but it also complicates everything else wonderfully. Her flirting dance with Roger didn't have the same knowingness I'd expected, but more - discovery? Or just… I'm having trouble pinning down what I mean. Less done for effect. And she felt almost like a ghost in her first couple scenes (before "Out Tonight").
And then of course that feral, wild child, very capital-R Romantic archetype… who also feels entirely real, though, I should say, like in her friendships, and her fierce flaring of ~you can't hold me!~ fits the archetype but also is perfectly real… I was going to say, it makes it all the more interesting that she almost dies, cause she feels somewhat like she didn't belong here in the first place. But she still holds on.
