Post by Noah on Dec 4, 2005 0:55:44 GMT -5
The film version of Rent has made me nostalgic for the original Rent -- not the Broadway version, or even the off-Broadway version which moved uptown, but the 1994 workshop production, available only as a precious bootleg.
What makes the workshop so interesting is what it shows about Jonathan Larson's rewriting process. (For more about all of this, see my article "Everything is Rent.")
Here's a tiny and revealing example. It's the last scene of the show. Mark and Roger are in the loft on Christmas Eve, one year after the beginning of Act One. As before, Collins shows up, and gives them money -- explaining that he's "rewired the ATM / at the Food Emporium / to provide an honorarium / to anyone with the code." (A-N-G-E-L.) This plot detail was retained for the Rent movie, but changed to spoken dialogue. Here's what we're used to hearing on the Broadway cast recording:
COLLINS:
Yet Robin Hooding isn't the solution.
The powers that be must be undermined where they dwell,
in a small exclusive gourmet institution
where we overcharge the wealthy clientele.
We'll open up a restaurant in Santa Fe
with a private corner banquette in the back.
We'll make it yet, we'll somehow get to Santa Fe.
ROGER:
But you'd miss New York before you could unpack.
It's one of my favorite lines in the show. "But you'd miss New York before you could unpack." I've thought that to myself during many soul-searching nights. But in the 1994 workshop version, the show ends with the consensus remaining that they'd be happier in Santa Fe. Roger, it seems, would be there, only the car he bought when he sold his guitar was a lemon:
COLLINS:
...We'll open up a restaurant in Santa Fe,
with a private corner banquette all our own.
We'll make it yet, we'll somehow get to Santa Fe.
ROGER:
In a car this time that makes it past Bayonne.
Also wisely excised after the workshop was Collins' bitter closing aria. Just as Mimi is apparently dying, Collins launches into a sudden second eulogy for Angel:
COLLINS:
Time to be on your way, comrade.
It's been 525,600 moments cried.
We were no match together in a no man's land
where man's the only beast who pays rent.
And if it's spent at least he's got to stay afloat
and he's got to have a damn good coat,
which you were like an angel, but it's over.
Goodbye love, goodbye love,
Goodbye, love, goodbye.
Farewell, Angel...
MARK: I finished the film.
MAUREEN: That's great.
MARK: It's called Today 4 U: Proof Positive.
In a nice tribute, Today 4 U: Proof Positive is the title that comes up on the screen when Mark shows his film in the movie version of Rent. In the workshop, as in every incarnation since, Mark finishes his film. But poor Roger -- not only doesn't he make it to Santa Fe; he doesn't finish his song. "Your Eyes" (which still could have used a rewrite) is missing from the 1994 draft; he simply sings the "Who do you think you are" bit and then successfully plays the "Musetta's Waltz" guitar solo and screams Mimi's name.
What makes the workshop so interesting is what it shows about Jonathan Larson's rewriting process. (For more about all of this, see my article "Everything is Rent.")
Here's a tiny and revealing example. It's the last scene of the show. Mark and Roger are in the loft on Christmas Eve, one year after the beginning of Act One. As before, Collins shows up, and gives them money -- explaining that he's "rewired the ATM / at the Food Emporium / to provide an honorarium / to anyone with the code." (A-N-G-E-L.) This plot detail was retained for the Rent movie, but changed to spoken dialogue. Here's what we're used to hearing on the Broadway cast recording:
COLLINS:
Yet Robin Hooding isn't the solution.
The powers that be must be undermined where they dwell,
in a small exclusive gourmet institution
where we overcharge the wealthy clientele.
We'll open up a restaurant in Santa Fe
with a private corner banquette in the back.
We'll make it yet, we'll somehow get to Santa Fe.
ROGER:
But you'd miss New York before you could unpack.
It's one of my favorite lines in the show. "But you'd miss New York before you could unpack." I've thought that to myself during many soul-searching nights. But in the 1994 workshop version, the show ends with the consensus remaining that they'd be happier in Santa Fe. Roger, it seems, would be there, only the car he bought when he sold his guitar was a lemon:
COLLINS:
...We'll open up a restaurant in Santa Fe,
with a private corner banquette all our own.
We'll make it yet, we'll somehow get to Santa Fe.
ROGER:
In a car this time that makes it past Bayonne.
Also wisely excised after the workshop was Collins' bitter closing aria. Just as Mimi is apparently dying, Collins launches into a sudden second eulogy for Angel:
COLLINS:
Time to be on your way, comrade.
It's been 525,600 moments cried.
We were no match together in a no man's land
where man's the only beast who pays rent.
And if it's spent at least he's got to stay afloat
and he's got to have a damn good coat,
which you were like an angel, but it's over.
Goodbye love, goodbye love,
Goodbye, love, goodbye.
Farewell, Angel...
MARK: I finished the film.
MAUREEN: That's great.
MARK: It's called Today 4 U: Proof Positive.
In a nice tribute, Today 4 U: Proof Positive is the title that comes up on the screen when Mark shows his film in the movie version of Rent. In the workshop, as in every incarnation since, Mark finishes his film. But poor Roger -- not only doesn't he make it to Santa Fe; he doesn't finish his song. "Your Eyes" (which still could have used a rewrite) is missing from the 1994 draft; he simply sings the "Who do you think you are" bit and then successfully plays the "Musetta's Waltz" guitar solo and screams Mimi's name.
