Broadway shuffle
Movie version of Rent has a rearranged story line, but can stand on its own
Jessica Koroscil, Staff
Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures.
Okay, here’s the problem. Making a movie is not a simple thing, especially if you want to make a good movie. The same can be said for the making of a play. Both need to be incredibly well thought out, original and captivating. So, if it’s hard to make a movie or a play, you can imagine the skill it takes to make an interesting movie based on a play. Not only do you have to make a movie that can stand on its own, you are also faced with the fact that the script is already prewritten and the majority of your viewing audience will be arriving with expectations.
Having seen the movie Rent, based on the Broadway show of the same name, I am still a little fuzzy on whether or not I think it was good. See, the trouble is, is I went to the theatre expecting to see a movie version of the Broadway musical. I expected every song to be in the film. I expected all of the speaking lines to be where I had heard them last time, and I expected lots of dance numbers. I didn’t get what I wanted. This was a bit of a problem.
The film was good, but not Oscar material. But it was different from the play in a way that worked. The thing that you crave when watching a musical on stage is the bigger picture; stage sets just can’t convey everything. I always wanted to know more, see more and see everything closer. I got that in the movie. You get a better picture of everything, from what the apartment block looks like to what Maureen’s Performance Space looks like. The play revolves around a group of friends who are being evicted on Christmas Eve. Half of the group has AIDS and is attempting to come to terms with those implications. It is a gritty, close to the bone play. The stage sets never seem to be able to convey the entire picture.
Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) wrote the screenplay. While he acknowledges that the film is based on a stage play, he does not appear to be bound by this notion. He makes a habit of changing singing lines to speaking lines, reordering parts of the original script and eliminating other parts. He changes the course of action just enough to highlight the fact that this is not a replica of your beloved Broadway show. This is a movie meant to stand on its own merits and not those of its forefathers.
While it wasn’t what I had been expecting, I am beginning to think I liked it. If you have been wanting to go see it, then go. Take these words of advice: Don’t walk into the theatre expecting to see the Broadway show. Don’t go into that theatre expecting to hear your favorite song. Don’t expect oodles of dancing. You will find that the film, in its own way, has everything you had been expecting. Maybe it won’t be exactly where you had expected it to be, but it will be there.
