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Another side of Rent
"Rent' Sing-along at Bryn Mawr
Steve Cohen
When the Bryn Mawr Film Institute presented a sing-along screening of Rent, combined with a live scene from the Opera Company of Philadelphia's new production of La Bohème, that was a smart concept.
I have an even better idea: The Wilma Theater should pair its Angels in America with another showing of the Rent film. I perceive an even stronger link between the Tony Kushner plays and the Jonathan Larson musical than there is between Rent and La Bohème.
Rent's most haunting song goes, "We're dying in America, and when you're dying in America at the end of the millennium, you're not alone." That's precisely the image that should greet you when the curtain rises on Angels in America.
Young people in 2012 who see a healthy-looking Magic Johnson on TV may have trouble comprehending the total devastation of being HIV-positive in the 1980s— the theme of Angels in America. They could use help to realize how ravaging the AIDS epidemic was. Rent, with its compactness and its music, encapsulates those emotions.
Three incarnations
Angels in America is set in New York City in 1985; Rent, in the same city in 1989. Angels, of course, goes far beyond Rent in its scope, delving into diverse social, religious and economic groups, an indifferent White House and gay people wrestling between denial and coming out.
I've seen Rent in three incarnations, each distinctly different from the others. First came the show, which had a simple set with a band on stage and delivered the impact of a rock concert. Then came the film, which photographed the locations and clarified the relationships while diminishing somewhat the power of the music.
At Bryn Mawr we saw that film, with captioned lyrics so the audience could sing along. That's a tricky feat with this show, because Larson wrote complicated ensemble music for up to eight voices at a time. Many of us sang silently, just mouthing the words, yet the experience brought new insight. For the first time, we were forced to concentrate on the text. Larson's characterizations and story line were clear, and quite moving.
Larson's real-life tragedy
That shouldn't come as a surprise, of course: The characters and plot are an amalgam of the opera La Bohème and Larson's own life. After graduating from Adelphi University as a drama major, Larson moved into a grungy place in lower Manhattan that resembled the setting of Rent. Six people shared an apartment and washed their clothes in the kitchen sink because they lacked an electric washer or dryer.
Four members of that group contracted HIV, and three died of it. But Larson never had HIV or AIDS. He died of an aortic dissection, believed to have been caused by undiagnosed Marfan syndrome, on January 25, 1996, just before his show opened.
I have an even better idea: The Wilma Theater should pair its Angels in America with another showing of the Rent film. I perceive an even stronger link between the Tony Kushner plays and the Jonathan Larson musical than there is between Rent and La Bohème.
Rent's most haunting song goes, "We're dying in America, and when you're dying in America at the end of the millennium, you're not alone." That's precisely the image that should greet you when the curtain rises on Angels in America.
Young people in 2012 who see a healthy-looking Magic Johnson on TV may have trouble comprehending the total devastation of being HIV-positive in the 1980s— the theme of Angels in America. They could use help to realize how ravaging the AIDS epidemic was. Rent, with its compactness and its music, encapsulates those emotions.
Three incarnations
Angels in America is set in New York City in 1985; Rent, in the same city in 1989. Angels, of course, goes far beyond Rent in its scope, delving into diverse social, religious and economic groups, an indifferent White House and gay people wrestling between denial and coming out.
I've seen Rent in three incarnations, each distinctly different from the others. First came the show, which had a simple set with a band on stage and delivered the impact of a rock concert. Then came the film, which photographed the locations and clarified the relationships while diminishing somewhat the power of the music.
At Bryn Mawr we saw that film, with captioned lyrics so the audience could sing along. That's a tricky feat with this show, because Larson wrote complicated ensemble music for up to eight voices at a time. Many of us sang silently, just mouthing the words, yet the experience brought new insight. For the first time, we were forced to concentrate on the text. Larson's characterizations and story line were clear, and quite moving.
Larson's real-life tragedy
That shouldn't come as a surprise, of course: The characters and plot are an amalgam of the opera La Bohème and Larson's own life. After graduating from Adelphi University as a drama major, Larson moved into a grungy place in lower Manhattan that resembled the setting of Rent. Six people shared an apartment and washed their clothes in the kitchen sink because they lacked an electric washer or dryer.
Four members of that group contracted HIV, and three died of it. But Larson never had HIV or AIDS. He died of an aortic dissection, believed to have been caused by undiagnosed Marfan syndrome, on January 25, 1996, just before his show opened.
What, When, Where
Rent Sing-Along. September 11 and November 20, 2012 at Bryn Mawr Film Institute, 824 W Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr, Pa. www.brynmawrfilm.org/interact/singalong.php
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