that girl allison

In honor of tonight’s episode of SMASH… I’ll just leave this photo from December of 2005 here. I look awful in it, but I love it anyways. It was taken after a performance of Rent when he was covering the role of Roger before returning to the cast of Rent in 2008.

Jonathan Larson: February 4th, 1960 - January 25th, 1996

Thank you.

Photo credit: Sarah Krulwich, New York Times taken on January 24th, 1996 after the final dress rehearsal of Rent at the New York Theatre Workshop. It was the last photo taken of him while he was alive.

On Sunday afternoon I stumbled onto the movie adaptation of Rent on Fox.  This was random because I haven’t watched the movie since 2006, and I don’t know of any network stations that would ever show it.  I watched though, of course, and got reacquainted with the score, despite the cuts made for the movie and made for TV (basically everything good was cut, which was kind of annoying).  

The movie is, in retrospect, horrifically cheesy and could possibly be described as bad, but I remember loving it the first time I saw it at the New York premiere at the Ziegfeld Theatre.  It was probably because I was surrounded by the cast, crew, Jonathan Larson’s friends and family, and Rent alumni so the energy in the theatre was unparalleled.  

I saw it three more times in theatres (including twice the night it came out, yeah, yeah) with different friends and my family.  I was a sophomore in college, thus I had the time to go to the Bloomingdales appearance that the cast did, the soundtrack signing in Virgin, and probably a few other events too.  It was fun.  I kind of felt like I was fifteen again, except much cooler because now I lived in the city.  I bought it on DVD when it came out and watched it maybe around the time Rent was closing on Broadway in 2008, but not since then.  Watching it again today reminded me of the amazing score again and I’m now excited to see the off-Broadway “revival” on July 14th.  

I’m always a tad sentimental when it comes to this show.  It was a huge part of my adolescence.  Maybe one day I’ll reveal just how many times I saw it on Broadway.  Not yet though.  

(photo via)

Before I saw Time Stands Still last Wednesday night, I saw Without You (part of this year’s NYMF) in the late afternoon at the TBG Theatre on 36th Street.  Without You is an autobiographical one-man show written and performed by the always-impressive Anthony Rapp.    I never got around to seeing it at Ars Nova or while on tour, so I was excited to see it.  

The action starts with Rapp being late to his audition for the original 1994 reading of Rent at New York Theatre Workshop.  He goes into detail about his life, love, the development of Rent, his blooming friendship with it’s author, Jonathan Larson, and most importantly, his relationship with his mother and her health declined after being diagnosed with cancer.  All the while the dialogue is broken up with songs from Rent or songs from his original album released in 2000 titled Look Around.  

Having read Without You (his book, released in 2006) and being a former “Renthead,” I knew most of the stories he told and of course, I knew all of the music.  It was really nice to hear songs from Look Around and seeing them performed helped put them in context.  Especially (the song) Always, which was always (no pun intended) a favorite of mine.  

Rapp was spot on with his portrayals of his mother, director Michael Grief, and Cy O’Neal (founder of Friends in Deed).  He transitioned characters with ease.  By the time Rapp sang Seasons of Love as a finale, he had the audience in his hands, all of whom stood when he bowed.

I’m not sure where this could go commercially because it’s such an intimate show it wouldn’t be appropriate to put in an 1100 seat Broadway house.  I think it would have a sold-out run at Roundabout’s black box theatre on 46th Street, or even more appropriately, it could be part of NYTW’s next season.  

There are still a number of performances left, but unfortunately they’re all sold out.  If you’re lucky though, you could grab a ticket if there are any cancellations prior to the show.  

(image via)

Aw, look kids.  They’re letting a high school perform “Rent” at the Hollywood Bowl.  That’s adorable.

(via ihaskidgloves)

Speaking of “the old Rent days,” I present you with a picture of Tony Vincent, 11 years ago.  This is from the first time I went to the BC/EFA Flea Market, September 26th, 1999, it was also Tony’s last day in Rent.  I saw the matinee that day and can’t remember for the life of me whether or not he performed.  I also don’t remember hearing whether he performed at the evening performance either.  

Aside from the change in hairstyle, he still looks pretty much the same.