RENT the Musical
There's a scene in the new musical "RENT" that may be the
quintessential romantic moment of the '90s. Roger, a
struggling rock musician, and Mimi, a junkie who's a
dancer at an S/M club, are having a lovers' quarrel when
their beepers go off and each takes out a bottle of pills. It's
the signal for an "AZT break," and suddenly they realize
that they're both HIV-positive. Clinch. Love duet. If you
don't think this is romantic, consider that Jonathan Larson's
sensational musical is inspired by Puccini's opera "La
Boheme," in which the lovers Mimi and Rodolfo are
tragically separated by her death from tuberculosis.
Different age, different plague. Larson has updated
Puccini's end-of-19th-century Left Bank bohemians to
end-of-20th-century struggling artists in New York's East
Village. His rousing, moving, scathingly funny show,
performed by a cast of youthful unknowns with explosive
talent and staggering energy, has brought a shocking jolt of
creative juice to Broadway. A far greater shock was the
sudden death of 35-year-old Larson from an aortic
aneurysm just before his show opened. His death just
before the breakthrough success is the stuff of both tragedy
and tabloids. Such is our culture. Now Larson's work,
along with "Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk," the
tap-dance musical starring the marvelous young dancer
Savion Glover, is mounting a commando assault on
Broadway from the downtown redoubts of off-Broadway.
Both are now encamped amid the revivals ("The King and
I") and movie adaptations ("Big") that have made
Broadway such a creatively fallow field in recent seasons.
And both are oriented to an audience younger than
Broadway usually attracts. If both, or either, settle in for a
successful run, the door may open for new talent to
reinvigorate the once dominant American musical theater.
"RENT" so far has the sweet smell of success, marked no
only by it's $6 million advance sale (solid, but no guarantee)
but also by the swarm of celebrities who have clamored for
tickets: Michelle Pfeifer, Sylvester Stallone, Nicole Kidman
and Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson, Ralph Fiennes...name your
own biggie. Last week, on opening night, 21 TV crews,
many from overseas, swarmed the Nederlander Theatre to
shoot the 15 youthful cast members in euphoric shock
under salvos of cheers. Supermogul David Geffen of the
new DreamWorks team paid just under a million dollars to
record the original-cast album. Pop artitsts who've
expressed interest in recording songs from the 33-number
score include Whitney Houston, Toni Braxton and Boyz II
Men. A bidding scrimmage has started for the movie rights
among such Hollywood heavies as Warner Brothers,
Danny DeVito's Jersey Films, Fox 2000 and Columbia.
The asking price is $3 million, but bonuses for length of run,
The Broadway lights have not always shined as bright as they do now. It took quite a bit of time for Broadway to jump start into the popular entertainment it is known for today. It started at the perfect time; war, cultural struggle, the depression, and the "roaring 20s". Broadway changed the world, specifically the United States. Despite its rise and fall in popularity, Broadway played a key role in shaping the entertainment industry and impacted American culture.
Motion pictures from Hollywood had taken Broadway’s place as the king of entertainment. The main reason behind this was that because it was culturally relevant and coming out with new flashy techniques such as Todd-AO and Cinerama.
Chicago is an American musical with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. Set in Prohibition-era Chicago, the musical is based on a 1926 play of the same name by reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins about actual criminals and crimes she reported on. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the "celebrity criminal." Fred Ebb explains: “So I made it [Chicago] a vaudeville based on the idea that the characters were performers. Every musical moment in the show was loosely modeled on someone else: Roxie was Helen Morgan, Velma was Texas Guinan, Billy Flynn was Ted Lewis, Mama Morton was Sophie Tucker,” (Kander, Ebb, and Lawrence 127). Velma indeed is a reincarnation of Texas Guinan who “acted as hostess…for the entertainment…she was also a born press agent, constantly inventing stories and promoting herself,” (Slide 218). Roxie’s “Funny Honey” Amos is eerily reminiscent of Helen Morgan’s “Bill” from Kern and Hammerstein’s 1927 classic Showboat. Amos, too, in his “Mr. Cellophane” number, imitates Ziegfeld Follies star Bert Williams’ iconic hit “Nobody” “right down to Williams’ famous costume of oversized clothes and white gloves,” (Miller).
April 29, 1996. Rent’s opening night on Broadway at the Nederlander theater. From there on out the lives of the cast and crew of the musical would never be the same. People of all classes sit in the audience. Adam Pascal, who plays Roger in the musical, begins singing his solo: “One song glory, one song before I go. One song to leave behind. Find one song, one last refrain.” A parallel to the life of the writer of Rent, Jonathan Larson, for it was his ‘one song’.
West Side Story is one of the most influential musicals of all time. It's integration of dance and song into the plot was very innovative, because even though it had been done before, it had never been done this well.
Over the course of approximately one-hundred years there has been a discernible metamorphosis within the realm of African-American cinema. African-Americans have overcome the heavy weight of oppression in forms such as of politics, citizenship and most importantly equal human rights. One of the most evident forms that were withheld from African-Americans came in the structure of the performing arts; specifically film. The common population did not allow blacks to drink from the same water fountain let alone share the same television waves or stage. But over time the strength of the expectant black actors and actresses overwhelmed the majority force to stop blacks from appearing on film. For the longest time the performing arts were the only way for African-Americans to express the deep pain that the white population placed in front of them. Singing, dancing and acting took many African-Americans to a place that no oppressor could reach; considering the exploitation of their character during the 1930's-1960's acting' was an essential technique to African American survival.
Ostlere, Hilary. “Taming The Musical.” Dance Magazine 73.12 (1999): 84. Expanded Academic ASAP. Westfield State College Library, MA. 15 April 2005.
The Broadway Fountain is a beautiful fountain that has become an extremely popular attractions in Madison, Indiana. The fountain was created by J.P. Victor Andre. The fountain was originally labeled as “No. 5” and was displayed in a catalog created by a company named Kirtland Iron Company. The original price of the fountain was at an astonishing price of only $2500.00. The fountain stands 26.6 feet high and 35.6 feet in width. It has two basins and a reflecting pool. The top portion has a robed female holding a rod and the second portion has two large birds. The base of the fountain has four horn-blowing tritons that shoot water from the horns. People have reported that the design of the fountain resembles a neo-classical theme. The fountain was created to resemble a popular fountain in Paris. That fountain was displayed during the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851 in London. However, the fountain has not always been considered a landmark for Madison.
The Impact of Ethel Merman Ethel Merman is described by PBS as the most successful musical comedy performer of her generation. Merman is known for contributing her loud and clear vocals to the Broadway stage and changing the way that people observe women on Broadway as well (PBS). Appearing and starring in several Broadway blockbusters, her acting career appeared to go through somewhat transitional phases to where she could act less and less like herself in character. Merman left her mark as an entertainer and her voice continues to be a spectacle. Ethel’s life before Broadway speaks a lot to her career on Broadway.
Although the Broadway budgets are composed by multiple elements, there are some outgoings that can represent a considerable section of the expenditures. According to the New York Innovative Theatre Foundation, the highest proportion of a show budget corresponds to the performance space rental, which can represent, on average, 36 % of the of the overall production expenses. Besides that, other remarkable show expenditures are the publicist, which may represent a 7% of the budget, and the actor fees that may represent, on average, a 9% of the budget (New York Innovative Theatre Foundation
Romance serves as a strong foundation for many stories. Winner of eight Tony Awards, Once weaves an intricate love story between a Guy and Girl through the use of emotionally captivating songs composed by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová. The soundtrack is composed of contemporary folk music with Irish and folk-rock influences which aids in developing intangible properties of the play such as the theme as the songs transcend the lyrics through their use of genre. Innovative direction allows the performance to be immersive and engages the audience by giving the cast a dual purpose: operating as both the actors and musicians. The ways in which the songs are incorporated into the story also differs from standard musicals. The style and decisions
The flowers are in bloom and so is Selinsgrove Area High School's Spring musical. Beloved librarian and managing director Laurie Knitter was in a deep search of a musical that offered a splendid affair. After being on a quest for a musical that was a hysterically, humorous comedy that drew in heaps of laughter, family friendly, and gave mirthful opportunities to the students, Mrs. Knitter unearthed the marvelous ensemble which was full of color and amusing costumes—Xanadu. Xanadu is a Broadway musical which showed in the year 2007 and was so well liked that it achieved to run for over five hundred performances. Xanadu give the audience a bundle of divergent emotions such as love, woe, and joy. Somehow, Xanadu has accomplished the impossible
The 2000s/ 2010s brought in a wave of movie musicals- adapted from the stage shows. These brought new audiences into the theatre world, and for the first time in 20 years, brought a love to some of the timeless musicals. With slightly altered songs to appeal to a newer audience, these films brought in much needed money into the industry, with films including: Les Misérables, Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Hairspray, Mamma Mia, Fame- and many more. Together with this, musicals began to push the concept of the songs in them, with a wave of new styles being written. Rap musicals such as ‘Hamilton’ and ‘In The Heights’, Pop musicals including ‘Waitress’ and ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ and Rock musicals of ‘American Idiot’ and ‘Spring Awakening’. Together they pushed boundaries of a ‘traditional’ musical theatre sound, and brought in something never before seen. Due to the influence of ‘Rent’, controversial issues and themes began to be explored more, such as Teen suicide, Murder, Ethnic barriers and everything else, which brought with them, a world of opportunities. It was clear that musical theatre was once again showing for a promising
A few months ago me and a friend went and watched High School Musical at Parkrose High School. High School Musical is about a story about two high schoolers, Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez from opposite cliques that try out for the leads in their school musical. Troy is a “jock”, the captain of the basketball team, and Gabriella is a shy “nerd”, captain of the scholastic decathlon. They inspire their peers not to “stick to the status quo” and get out of their comfort zones. Sharpay Evans, the “theater queen” does anything she can to be with Troy or sabotage Troy and Gabriella’s relationship with the help of her brother Ryan Evans. Troy and Gabriella end up getting the part with the help of their best friends, Taylor and Chad who are surprised at their hidden theater talents.
the open court of The Lowry entrance, in fact, I think at the time I