[Mb-hair] Re: Hair/Rent

Mon Oct 31 06:48:11 PST 2005

Richard Writes

"i just wonder about its universality
wonder how it will do as film
for general world audiences"

I'm not sure how it will do.. I am hopeing it will do very well.. But I think.. just as Hair "the movie" had to be made.. (and may have fell a little short of it's mark) so does Rent. I think it is one more step to raise the public's conciseness about issues that though people know about, tend to sweep under rugs like dirty little secrets. Aides is out there.. War is out there.. Poverty is out there.. Hell not even out there.. Right here.. I think it our jobs as human beings to make people aware that we are as much opposed to these issues as others are for them.. It'll be interesting to see what the movie does.. and the backlash that might come from it.. but the important thing is too keep them talking.. bad or good.. you keep them talking and more and more people become aware of their surroundings.

richard haase <hotprojects at nyc.rr.com> wrote: understand im from the village
greenwhich village director
i am very familiar with the whole scene as depicted in rent
i just wonder about its universality
wonder how it will do as film
for general world audiences
as opposed to the obvious success for theatrical audiences in nyc los angeles boston
wonder how they will warm to rent on a wide wide level in middle america
should be interesting

?

these issues need to be gone into
there is a paucity of good stuff
and there is great difficulty now mounting anything
costwise politics union considerations

the problem in our business is we dont have the kind of interchange of ideas etc
that other businesses/ disciplines have
there is not enough serious intellectual thought on these dramaturgical matters i think

i would also say again

it is not negative to say watch out for the pothole

it is positive because then maybe you wont fall into it

?

----- Original Message ----- 
From: James Pappaconstantine 
To: mb-hair at islandlists.com 
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 9:17 AM
Subject: Re: [Mb-hair] Re: Hair/Rent

OK.. So I started this ball and then have been sitting back watching it roll around.. Ha ha .. But I feel I should pipe my 2 cents in again.. 

To me Rent wasn't as much about transsexual.. as much as it was about Aides. Just as Hair for me wasn't so much about Hippies as it was about Vietnam. For me both plays used a certain vehicle ie: hippie, and transsexual as the general public would see them closest to the subject.. or that they would be more passionate about the cause. I know that Hair for me, gave me the opportunity to play a Hippy and to come as close as I could to that style of life just as Rent (If I had done it) would give me a closer look at that side of life. I feel that you become a certain character to get the story across, and though the characters themselves may be strong.. the story is still the most important. 

As far as songs... I feel Rent has many strong songs.. The first time I heard it, I was doing Jesus Christ Superstar and before a rehearsal cast members were hanging around a boom box listening to it.. I didn't get it.. Nothing jumped out at me as catchy.. but then I wasn't listening that close.. Maybe a year later.. I was watching the Today show and they had the cast of Rent doing two songs.. The first was, Today for you, tomorrow for me.. I stopped getting ready for work and started watching it.. It totally captivated me. The second song was 525600 minutes.. And again.. I was hooked right in... Nice melodies, great voices.. I went out and bought the CD.. Playing it in the car, even on the first listen my kids tunned right in.. and I explained the story to them. They loved it. I'd later take them and my Mother to see it on Broadway and all felt it was a fabulous show. 

I'm not trying to take anything away from HAIR.. I also think HAIR is a wonderful play and look inside a lifestyle who is sharing this great story with a great moral. And I am not saying that Rent may Mirror Hair as I really don't think it does.. I think they both stand on their own as great works.. As a Virgo though.. I can see both sides of the fence and I do see similarities.. 

I think it's the same with anything.. Back in the day.. Beatles fans were outraged that people might say the Monkees were similar to the Beatles.. (Hell I'm still outraged about that.. ha ha ) But I think it is human nature to compare and find the closest likenesses to something we are familiar with. People often ask me.."What does your band sound like?" or "What kind of music does your band play?" my answers are always "us" and "rock n roll" but they press on.. "But who would you compare yourselves too?" How do you do that? How can you compare yourself to another band that has made it on another level than yourselves? I always then mix up a bunch of bands... "We're like Aerosmith meets Alice Cooper, add a little Bowie ,some Marilyn Manson then a touch of Beatles." That'll come close. We're an original band, in our 40's, We play like us, We are not out to impress or take over the world.. If people dig our sound cool, if they don't that's fine too.. Whoops.. of f task here.. I
  guess
 my point is.. That people can't understand what they don't know or haven't seen or heard.. so someone asking what Rent is like.. may get the answer it is similar to Hair only in current time.. Even though it may not be.. It is something to compare it too. 

Anyway.. Time to get ready for work.. 

Jimmy P. 

Oh and lastly.. I don't feel anyone on this list has dissd. Rent.. I know someone mentioned that this topic should be left alone ... On the contrary.. I think it has been a good open discussion and an answer to my query of what people think of the topic. It has also made the list that seemed to be pretty quiet for the past couple of weeks.. come alive again.

the problem with rent why rent is narrower i think in my opinion
is that so much of it revolves around transexuals homosexuals the late night
scene in NYC etc
which although this is very familiar indigenous to us in the theater, in
greenwhich village etc
in cosmpolitan cities such as NY and San Francisco
is not universal in the way that the hippies of HAIR were in their time
that was the problem i had with rent
it dealt for me with too small a subpopulation
eg im first a wild village director and i dont have a visceral response to
the transexuals
it is not familiar or immediate to me
i dont know just my opinion

R

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Amy Kazan" 

To: 
Sent: Sunday, October 30, 2005 3:59 PM
Subject: [Mb-hair] Re: Hair/Rent

> >>>
& gt; I for one can't wait to
> see the movie.. The soundtrack, atleast what I have
> heard of it.. (just
> got it 20 minutes ago) seems really good, great voices
> and good
> production. I saw the play twice and loved it both
> times.. Guess I am just
> wondering what other Hairy folks think about the play,
> the score, the
> movie, and the conection if any to HAIR.
> >>>
>
> I can't wait to see the movie either.... I have seen
> previews and I am really excited.
>
> I love RENT. I think it is a wonderful play and
> although I don't think it's really "Hair of the 90s"
> as some have said, I do see similarities. The
> biggested similarity for me is the feeling I'm left
> with at the end of both plays. Both with Hair and
> Rent, I'm left with this feeling of togetherness and
> support and joy in spite of problems in the world.
>
>
> - Amy
>
> "in time of lilacs who proclaim/ the aim of waking is to dream" - e.e.
cummings
>
> "Life is around you and in you . . . Let the sunshine in!" - HAIR (the
musical)
>
>
>
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