adam pascal and anthony rapp in the original musical version of rent

i finally got a chance to watch the rent dvd (our lab went out drinking last night, so I needed to recover ;). i was really curious because of all the uproar and the heated controversy that's taking place on the message boards about the deleted scenes and the alternate endings. I understand the controversy - especially about deleting the scene, Goodbye Love, which is one of the most quintessential songs of the musical. But I also realize that I, along with the rest of the rentheads, have such a personal connection with the musical it's hard to see any of it changed for the film, like for instance, roger's famous plaid pants (seen above). it was hard enough seeing daphne rubin-vega and fredi walker being replaced in the film, but i understand why it was done. i guess it's still hard for me to understand why they took out goodbye love because it adds so much more emotional depth to mark, roger, and mimi and why they respond to each other, the way that they do. the commentary says that this scene actually moved chris columbus, the director, so much that after they filmed it, he couldn't talk to the actors. BUT WHY was it taken out?? ah well. at least it's still preserved in the deleted scenes.

if you get a chance to look at the dvd, check out "goodbye love" - it's heartwrenchingly beautiful, one of my favorite songs of rent (along with the rest of them :)

there is also a background documentary of jonathan larson, who struggled to get this musical written and produced, who died after the first night of dress rehearsal and the day before the opening, of an aortic dissection (he had marfan's, interesting!). it really made the whole musical so much more poignant, and a bit eery in that his friends thought that he wrote his own memorial.

rent definitely lives on... new musicals will come and go, but somehow, this one will stand as one of my favorites.