This past weekend, an amazing thing happened. A division of Sony pictures released the final performance of Broadway hit RENT in theaters across the country.
After recording the current cast without an audience (for close-up purposes), the film crew was present at the final performance, preserving a bit of Broadway and pop culture history.
The performance was just as magical as the first time I saw RENT on stage…yeah, the day I went to the matinee and the evening performance in the same day? Yup, that one.
It was far and away a million times better than Chris Columbus’s God-awful film version a few years ago.
This version contained the play in its entirety, including the homeless chorus and voicemail messages, which were sorely lacking from the Columbus fiasco.
Let’s hope that more productions continue to follow this route once they are well into their theatrical runs. Productions I can think of that would be brilliant to see: Avenue Q, Wicked, and Patti LuPone’s performance in Gypsy.
Fingers crossed. If you missed the performance of RENT, let’s hope the film company will be smart enough to release it on DVD.
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