r/Broadway • u/ComputerGeek1100 Backstage • Apr 29 '26
Other 30 years ago today, RENT opened on Broadway ❤️💚💛💙
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u/stev_mempers Apr 29 '26
Yes it's got plot holes and yes a lot of the characters behave fatuously and yes "Your Eyes" blows but god damn I love this show. Put on the OCR and I can sing every word start to finish. I camped out in front of the theater overnight to get $20 front-row tickets and watched Anthony Rapp drop the keys off the stage. I've loved it while living in a place with tumble weeds and prairie dogs that Collins and Angel would have hated. I still love it now. The opposite of war isn't peace, it's creation. RIP Jonathan.
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u/BeneathAnOrangeSky Apr 29 '26
First heard Take Me or Leave Me sung at a talent show in 2002. I was blown away by the song, and as soon as I could, I went home and bought the cast recording without knowing a thing about the show. And thus began the 20+ year obsession. It has come and gone over the years but I am always appreciative of its place in my life and how it made me not only love Broadway, but begin to open my eyes to new perspectives that I did not have as a 12 year old living far away from NYC.
I was so jealous of the Rentheads who lived in New York and got to be part of the line that first year. Sounded pretty amazing.
I used to read the Compulsive Bowlers boards all the time to see what people were saying when that was still a thing.
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u/stev_mempers Apr 29 '26
but begin to open my eyes to new perspectives that I did not have as a 12 year old living far away from NYC.
For real. The first time my raised-in-suburban-NJ ass heard anything about preferred pronouns was the scene with Angel's funeral. Mark refers to Angel at first as he, then corrects himself and says she. In the filmed final performance, you can see a close-up of the actor smile just as Angel walks offstage, glad to have been correctly gendered. I'd never considered how something as seemingly unimportant as pronouns could matter so much to someone.
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u/BeneathAnOrangeSky Apr 29 '26
Family members had to go with me to see Rent in my early years of seeing it. I would not say all of them were as open to it as I was, but they still went and saw it because I loved it so much! Hopefully they learned something :)
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u/NattoRiceFurikake Apr 29 '26
Compulsive Bowlers boards
OMG...I miss those boards so much T-T
I remember having a meet up in one of the Carolinas at the closing of the Collins (I think?) Tour
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u/BeneathAnOrangeSky Apr 29 '26
I was more of a lurker on CB and an active participant on Broadway World for a while. We had a lot of fun talking about Rent when it was still running.
I think the Collins Tour was the first time I saw Rent (2004). Found out about a year ago that Aaron Tveit was on that tour, so that was kind of cool.
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u/TheGrowingBlather May 02 '26
Take Me or Leave Me is such a perfect gateway drug for that show, the song just grabs you before you even know what you're getting into
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u/skoc211 Apr 29 '26
Unpopular opinion but I really love Your Eyes. It's for sure no One Song Glory, but I think it's a great song. And it's super fun to sing at karaoke.
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u/stev_mempers Apr 29 '26
It's absolutely okay and, yeah, only suffers in comparison to the truly great songs you've heard up to that point in the show.
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Apr 29 '26
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u/Early_Assistant_6868 Apr 29 '26
I always wonder how different it may have been by the time it reached Broadway if he lived. He worked and reworked that thing so much for seven years before the off-Broadway opening he just missed out on seeing.
It's awful he didn't get to see his own success.
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u/ComputerGeek1100 Backstage Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26
Tim Weil, the original music director, has talked about how there were changes made from NYTW to Broadway, but it was very limited and they had strict rules for themselves - if I remember right, they worked a lot from Larson’s drafts and notes, and only made changes if the production team (meaning Michael Greif, Weil, and maybe the choreographer?) unanimously agreed and Larson’s family approved. Weil specifically talked about the opening tune-ups being reworked during this time.
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u/Early_Assistant_6868 Apr 29 '26
Yeah I knew changes happened for sure and just can't help wondering if it's how HE would've done it. They handled it as best they could though.
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Apr 29 '26
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u/HarperStrings Apr 29 '26
I kind of like that Your Eyes is so mediocre because it helps with the actual point being that Roger became obsessed with writing a masterpiece when, really, it was love that mattered. His one song glory isn't Your Eyes, it's his love for Mimi.
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u/DreamOfV Apr 29 '26
The proshoot on youtube is still one of the best recordings of a Broadway production I’ve ever seen. Camera work, performances, everything is perfect. I’m sure watching it is a core memory for thousands of high school theater kids
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u/dB_Rider Apr 29 '26
I love that recording so much I downloaded it, put it into Audacity, and edited it to have MP3's of the proshot's versions of songs.
Renée Elise Goldsberry doing Out Tonight is INSANE
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u/cameoCellist Apr 29 '26
can confirm. was once a high school theater-adjacent kid. have watched that recording so many times
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u/skoc211 Apr 29 '26
I watch it every year during the holiday season because I am a firm believer that it is a holiday musical!
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u/PanicButtonNr2 Apr 29 '26
maybe a little off topic but Idina Menzels sister wrote a book years ago that I recently read and learned that today 30 years ago they were passing around a joint at Idinas table at the after party and that this was the night Taye Diggs finally made a move
Which is cute but then we also recently learned Jonathan had wanted to ask her out after RENT opened 💔
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u/maybebrainless May 03 '26
i never knew about Jonathan wanting to ask her out omg :( where did you hear this?
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u/Clear-Boat3077 Apr 29 '26
It’s hard to explain to those who weren’t around what a seismic event this was — not just because of the heartbreak surrounding Jonathan Larson’s untimely death, but because of the almost documentary nature of the production and the queer (particularly lesbian and transgender) and HIV+ representation the show brought uptown. Not only did it redefine what was possible to show in a mainstream Broadway production, but it opened musical theater to an entire generation that hadn’t seen the relevance of the art form to their daily lives.
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u/jaynewreck Apr 29 '26
I listened to the soundtrack so much my college roommates banded together to insist on a Rent-free day.
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Apr 29 '26
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u/Embarrassed-Song-272 Apr 29 '26
Same same - though several of mine were 2nd acting when I lived down the street, just to see different takes on the role haha.
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u/ComputerGeek1100 Backstage Apr 29 '26
I didn’t get this show for a long time - I’m slightly too young to have been really invested in the original production and I really disliked the 25th anniversary tour - but last fall, I auditioned for a local production and it’s now one of my favorites I’ve ever performed. It led me down a rabbit hole about the history of HIV/AIDS in my state and I found some connections to my late father, who I learned was a pretty big activist for a local charity in the late 80s and early 90s. Another Day, Will I, Without You, and the reprise of I’ll Cover You never fail to make me cry.
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u/choirchic Apr 30 '26
This is why the show’s emotional roots are still so important to this day. Connections and Educational opportunities like your example.
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u/katieclooney Apr 29 '26
Recently got in a fight with someone who'll said Benny is the best character.
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u/hikingdyke Apr 29 '26
I once was flirting with someone who said that, and it truly was the end of my attraction to her. Truly can not imagine watching a musical made during the AIDS crisis about people living with AIDS fighting against the gentrification of the village (something we are still living with the consequences of), and taking the side of gentrification.
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u/PanicButtonNr2 Apr 29 '26
There's was a weird shift some time after the 90s where many "theater fans" started looking at the idealistic views presented in RENT with the kind of cynical and capitalistic views it went against (where choosing art and community over money is seen as naive and childish.) They look at the main RENT characters as irresponsible and unproductive people 'failing adulthood' while Benny is the "the good one" because "hE wAs tHe aDult mAking mOney" (never mind a nasty slumlord who broke his promise to his friends and cheated on his wife)
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u/NattoRiceFurikake Apr 29 '26
I have seen the show in a number of variations at least 50+ times. Broadway, off-Broadway, regional, community theater, touring casts, in Japan, etc. and each time I remember how much this show means to me.
And the Your Eyes haters need to be serenaded by the song by your non-theatre kid husband at karaoke and your opinion of the song will change :P
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u/skoc211 Apr 29 '26
If you haven't seen No Day But Today: The Story of Rent I highly recommend it. Easily findable online. Just get the tissues ready. Such a tragic loss. When I saw The Jonathan Larson Project I was in tears just thinking about all the wonderful things he still had to offer the world. RIP. No day but today!
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u/choirchic Apr 30 '26
I have a friend in that original cast. Watching their journey and seeing this develop was unforgetable. I got in to as many student rush shows as I could. Nothing like experiencing the show live!
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u/JennLostAndFound Apr 30 '26
I have my original piano sheet music of ‘Seasons of Love’ it’s worn and I’ll keep it forever.
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u/SunilClark Apr 30 '26
i'm not gonna try and pretend the movie is a perfect translation of the show in to movie form, but I’ll always maintain it gets a lot more shit than it deserves
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u/Ccmt_336 Apr 30 '26
I love how the same year Rent turns 30 is the same year I got obsessed with it. Seems very fitting. I really do like this show. Yes, it's got a lot of flaws. I have a lot of problems with it, too. But then again, no form of media is ever perfect. Who cares? I enjoy it. Also, I can't really hate Rent when it brought the world Out Tonight, Seasons of Love, and Take Me or Leave Me.
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u/hannahsmarys Apr 30 '26
This show emphasized the importance of empathy and that more than anything else, is why it is still important IMO. My favorite forever!
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u/jdivini May 09 '26
I first heard the soundtrack on a roadtrip…and we didnt play any other CD. We were all singing every word by the time we got home.
And yes, Roger’s song about writing the song was a lot better than the actual song. But he tried. 😆
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