I'm Too Old For This SH...

There's going to be a new Rent. I mean, a completely revamped Rent, with new orchestrations (less guitar, more doo doo doo electronica), new cast (above) and a paired down production running a slightly shorter running time and it will open in London this fall. I'm horrified and intrigued and excited all at the same time.

I was a total Renthead when it came out 11 years ago and I've seen it live 10 times in 3 cities (New York, London, Toronto, though mostly in London actually because I was living there at the time) so Rent has a special place in my heart, despite the flaws (and the fact that the movie basically sucked). It HAS been a long time since I've seen the show live so I'm kind of afraid to see it again, lest it be less than what I remembered it to be, as the movie did by diluting Rent with amped up guitar 80's rock orchestrations. Remember, this was the same director (Christopher Columbus) that messed up Harry Potter as well (HP1 and HP2) so I'm going to assume the source material is still pretty good.

Of course this announcement comes just as Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp reprise their original roles as Roger and Mark in Rent on Broadway. I don't know if that's just sad or not but I kind of want to see it again with them back and will maybe try for lottery tickets when I head down in two weeks.


Meanwhile, High School Musical, the touring stage version seems to be getting good reviews. Damnit. Now I really want to see but I'm not sure if I'm ready to plop $80 bucks on it but now I'm really itching to go. And yah, just got tickets for Xanadu (below) on Broadway. Woohoo!