Scene Anatomy 101 09.03.08: Rent
Posted by George H. Sirois on 09.03.2008
There’s a fine line between a movie musical and just throwing the musical up on the screen. Here’s one way to make the correct transition…
Back in February of 1996, I was starting up the second semester of my sophomore year at Marymount Manhattan College. A class that I was really looking forward to was called, "Exploring the Performing Arts," which met every Thursday night. Each class, we would go see a show in the New York City area, whether it was Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway or – in one case – a show at the Metropolitan Opera House. It was a wonderful way to see all different forms of theatre that were literally playing under our noses, and it was the first time that I realized what the orientation leaders meant when they said, "New York City is your campus." And here I thought it was just an excuse for the school being so small.
Anyway, when I got my list of shows that I'd be seeing in this class, several of my friends got jealous when they saw what was coming first. There was this rock opera musical that was getting some terrific buzz at the New York Theatre Workshop, and while nobody I knew had a clue of what it was about, they all wanted to go. So they all wanted to know what I thought of the show the day after I saw it, and I told them that it was worth the buzz and that it was something really special.
The show was called "Rent," and the book, music & lyrics were by a young man who died too soon, named Jonathan Larson. Using "Hair" as his inspiration, Larson took the story behind Puccini's opera La Boheme and re-told it using Manhattan's Lower East Side in the early 90s as the backdrop. The characters are all in their 20s, living a bohemian lifestyle at the expense of not having much money, and all they really have is each other as several of them cope with having AIDS.
When the show started, I was sitting in the second row, not knowing what to expect. And when the title song kicked in, all I could think of was, "I want to hear that again." It wasn't even ten minutes long, and already I had a favorite song in the show. As time passed and I got acquainted with all the various characters Mark (who quickly became my favorite character), Roger, Mimi, Tom Collins, Angel, Maureen, Joanne, Benny… I was loving it. The music was vibrant, the story was engrossing and the characters were all likeable. And I realized that this show couldn't possibly be confined to just a limited performance at the New York Theatre Workshop. It was destined for something more.
Sure enough, within a couple months, "Rent" made the leap to Broadway, and with the exception of one moment, it was exactly the same show on both stages. What was the one thing that was different? Well, at the end when Mark turns on his projector while everyone sings "No Day But Today," the Broadway audience saw a light show filling the theater. At the New York Theatre Workshop, we saw actual footage of the cast doing their rehearsals and read-throughs with Jonathan Larson. That was a truly special moment, and it's a shame they couldn't keep that for the Broadway upgrade, but that was definitely more fitting for a smaller audience.
Rent would go on to become an absolute phenomenon that all the celebrities had to see, and it would also become the central musical of discussion at my school. It seemed to be the musical that so many of my classmates and friends had been waiting for, since they were going to the standing-room-only lines day after day. And when the Nederlander Theater opened up the first two rows for people buying tickets that day, they kept going back. In the summer, when the cast recording was released and the 5 Tony Awards were coming in, as well as the '96 Pulitzer Prize, it seemed you couldn't get away from the show if you tried.
After several years and several attempts to make the inevitable transition to the big screen, Chris Columbus decided to make this his next project. (Curious since this is the director of Home Alone and the first two Harry Potter films we're talking about here.) At first, he considered using a brand new cast, but the more he interacted with the original group who was there at the New York Theatre Workshop and the first year on Broadway, the more he realized they looked young enough that they could fit in their characters. So with the exception of Daphne Rubin-Vega and Fredi Walker, the original cast came back to what put them on the map, and in 2005, the rest of the nation got a look at what had caused such a stir in 1996 with the movie musical…
Movie musicals have been pulled off in two different ways. Since some of them take place in a limited environment on the stage, they're literally yanked off of Broadway and thrown onto the big screen with very little changes, usually with the show's original director being the director of the film. This results in something that comes off as too theatrical, not natural enough and not looking like it's taking many chances. Kinda like The Producers, which is a real shame because I love the Broadway musical and I also love the original film it was based on. The movie musical? The numbers are great, but it feels like Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick kept pausing for laughs as if they were still on Broadway.
Then you have the other way musicals are pulled off, in which the director uses its medium to its maximum potential and broadens the canvas so much that it couldn't possibly be shown like this on the stage. Like Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. I've already made my comments about how much I adore this adaptation, and that I don't care how biased it may sound since it's my favorite director and my favorite musical coming together. To me, it was utter perfection.
And then you have kind of film that falls right in between, a movie that comes off as theatrical in some areas but feels like a movie in others. And that's where the film adaptation of Rent comes in. Since Jonathan Larson is no longer with us, and he never got to see the show that he labored over for so many years – his last night was spent seeing a full dress rehearsal that got a standing ovation and various critics singing its and his praises, but that as close to the show that he would see – so there was a strong effort by everyone involved in the film to make it as faithful to the original show as possible.
By doing this, while some structural changes were made, there are many numbers in Rent that could have literally been pulled from the stage like "Light My Candle," "La Vie Boheme," "I'll Cover You," "Will I" and most of the second act. It was a wise move on Columbus' and screenwriter Steve Chbosky to cut certain numbers and also to replace dialogue that was originally sung with spoken word. This served to effectively ground the musical into an interesting mix of reality and the over-the-top theatrical, with the ensemble singing only when it's provoked by the main characters. So what we have in the finished product is, like I said before, a good middle ground between the two different forms of movie musical that still does justice to the original show.
But while there are many moments that feel limited by a proscenium, one number shows just how broad the canvas can get when the musical is put to film. In the second act, the group that we have grown to love is in shambles. Roger (Adam Pascal) and Mimi (Rosario Dawson) have split up, and Mimi has not only had to deal with the AIDS virus, but she has gone back to her old drug-using ways. Tom Collins (Jesse L. Martin) is devastated over the death of Angel (Wilson Heredia). Maureen (Idina Menzel) and Joanne (Tracy Thoms) are still together, but they just got a whole lot out of their system. And Mark (Anthony Rapp, my personal favorite character) has decided to take a job as a cameraman for Buzzline, a tabloid news show produced by Alexi Darling (Sarah Silverman).
In addition to breaking it off with Mimi, Roger has sold his guitar, bought a car and left for Santa Fe to start a new life for himself. So as this number, "What You Own," starts up, we see Roger driving to New Mexico. And we also see Mark doing what he couldn't be shown doing on the stage, loading the production truck for Buzzline and heading downtown to report some "scathing" piece of news.
On the stage, we saw Mark just announcing a bumper for a news story since that's all that could be shown. But here, the medium allows us to get a better look at what Mark would be doing for the tabloid.
MARK:
Don't breathe too deep
Don't think all day
Dive into work
Drive the other way
That drip of hurt
That pint of shame
Goes away
Just play the game
Instead of showing Mark singing this, it's done as a voiceover while we see Mark looking very depressed and guilty about the choice he's taken. This is a very personal song and there's no reason why he would sing out loud among people that he doesn't care for.
Meanwhile, Roger has sold his car in Santa Fe and used the money to buy a new guitar. While we see Roger trying to get on with his life, Mark is riding shotgun in a Buzzline truck, using his small camera taking various shots of the city streets. It's like he's trying to sneak his passion into the job with little success.
MARK:
You're living in America
At the end of the millennium
You're living in America
Leave your conscience at the tone
And when you're living in America
At the end of the millennium
You're what you own
We then see Mark at the loft, using his editing equipment to look through various pieces of footage that he's shot. He seems to be concentrating on that a lot harder than what he's getting paid to do.
Meanwhile, Roger is in a small town in Santa Fe, leaning up against a restaurant with a box at his feet for people to drop change. He is holding the guitar, but he's not singing. Instead, he's looking through the crowd of people walking through the marketplace.
ROGER:
The filmmaker cannot see
MARK:
And the songwriter cannot hear
Among the crowd, Roger can see Mimi. She looks at him, then vanishes into thin air. Considering the line that he sings in the number, it's only natural that Columbus & Co. would go with a visual like this.
ROGER:
Yet I see Mimi everywhere
MARK:
Angel's voice is in my ear
We can now see what Mark has been editing together. He is splicing footage of the city streets with the various shots of his friends. There's Tom, Maureen, Joanne, Roger, Mimi and there's Angel spinning in a circle with his best outfit on. They all look so happy being together, and we can see in Mark's eyes how much he misses that.
ROGER:
Just tighten those shoulders
MARK:
Just clench your jaw til you frown
ROGER:
Just don't let go
BOTH:
Or you may drown
Roger walks along the mountains in Santa Fe, looking up at the blue sky. This intercuts with shots of Mark walking home from work. Both of them are singing, since they're now by themselves and nobody will overhear either one of them. Therefore, the illusion of movie musicals won't be shattered.
BOTH:
You're living in America
At the end of the millennium
You're living in America
Where it's like the twilight zone
And when you're living in America
At the end of the millennium
You're what you own
So I own not a notion
I escape an ape content
I don't own emotion- I rent
Mark is back with his film, and he has just finished editing a full reel together. Over on the other side of the country, Roger is at the Santa Fe bus station, ready to go back home.
MARK:
What was it about that night
ROGER:
What was it about that night
BOTH:
Connection- In an isolating age
Mark is concentrating on seeing how his film looks in his viewer. Meanwhile, Roger is on the bus, concentrating on a new set of lyrics for a song called, "Your Eyes."
MARK:
For once the shadows gave way to light
ROGER:
For once the shadows gave way to light
BOTH:
For once I didn't disengage
Mark is up on the rooftop of their building, and Roger is walking up to it. There's a sense of energy building as the two lead characters are getting closer and closer together.
MARK:
Angel- I hear you- I hear it
I see it- I see it my film!
ROGER:
Mimi-I see you- I hear it-
I hear it-
I hear it my song
(as Mark sings above him)
One song glory
Mimi your eyes
Your Eyes
MARK:
Alexi-Mark
Call me a hypocrite
I need to finish my
Own film
I quit!
Now, on the stage, Mark is actually on the phone telling Alexi he quits, but in the film, he's still on the rooftop with his arms outstretched saying this piece of spoken word. Keep in mind that this is 1989, so it's not as if Mark could pull a cell phone out of his pocket and call up Buzzline. And to have Mark run down, grab the phone downstairs and call Alexi would be very jarring and would interfere with this feeling of triumph between Mark and Roger that's building and building.
So even though this moment may come off as more reflective of what would be on a stage, it works here since we now know Mark has made up his mind to quit Buzzline. He'll call up Alexi after the song and quit; we can have faith in that.
BOTH:
Dying in America
At the end of the millennium
We're dying in America
To come into our own
Roger is now on the rooftop and he is looking right at Mark as the two sing. Mark then looks over and sees his friend, and faces him as they complete the song.
And when you're dying in America
At the end of the millennium
You're not alone
I'm not alone
I'm not alone
And at the end of the song, Mark and Roger come together and embrace. The past is the past, and now they're going to move forward with their dreams together. Whether the rest of the group will re-join them, that's up to fate to decide.
The best thing about this scene is that it eliminates the need for the chorus of answering machine messages that come in right after this song on the stage show. We hear from Roger's mother and yet another message from Mark's mother, and neither one is needed in the film since the only reason why they're there is to help the audience figure out what's going on.
Roger's mother says that she doesn't understand the postcards she received. "Moving to Santa Fe." "Back in New York. Starting a rock band." Obviously, we don't know that Roger's going to be starting a rock band in the film, but if there was a mention of that, then the audience who's not familiar with the show would likely wonder who would be in that band. Better to leave that speculation on the cutting room floor.
After watching this film for the first time in a while, I gained a whole new appreciation for it. Like I said before, Rent toes the line well between a carbon copy of the show and a movie musical. The moments that feel more contained and more restricted still work because there was no real need for them to be expanded and broadened. And the moments that were expanded became vital pieces of storytelling that showed you what was going on rather than telling you.
The resulting film takes some necessary chances – especially by making the numbers more contained and replacing a lot of singing with spoken dialogue – but overall it is more faithful of an adaptation than many other movie musicals. And everyone involved deserves the credit for making Jonathan Larson's original vision more accessible to as many people as possible.
This Sunday, September 7, the lights at the Nederlander Theater will be going dark as "Rent" has its final performance on Broadway. It is basically an end of a great era and the conclusion of a journey by Jonathan Larson to "bridge the gap between high-brow and low-brow musical theatre," as he himself claimed to be attempting. As someone who had no idea what to expect in February of '96, and someone who saw it with a standing-room-only ticket a few months later, all I can say is thank you to everyone for helping to make this such a special show that has resonated for all this time.
And of course, thank you Jonathan Larson.
The final semester continues next week, with a look at a scene from a film adapted from a television series that has a pretty good share of fans on this site. You might remember this movie. Frank Costanza kept yelling the title to calm himself down.
