RENT
I can quite honestly say that I have had one of the most thought provoking nights that I have had in a LONG time.
As soon as I was able to get a hold of RENT, I made sure it was in my hot little hands! So many people felt so many different ways about the film and I think it's almost better that way. Gets people thinking. Speaking of getting people thinking, I took some time to watch some of the special features of the DVD. I browsed the deleted scenes and musical numbers (which contained some of my absolute FAVORITE musical interludes, as well as an alternate ending that brought tears to my eyes). I also took the time to watch the documentary about RENT and Jonathan Larson. It was at that moment that I fell in love with the show all over again. So many younger people out there (older folks too) love RENT because of the phenomenon and the popularity; however, there are many of us who love RENT for what it is, an amazingly beautiful expression of not only La Boheme, but one extraordinary man's life.
I knew for a long time that Jonathan Larson was someone I looked up to, the epitome of creative and thought provoking. After that documentary, however, I have a completely new appreciation of the man who lived and breathed the most phenomenal show to ever grace the stage (and now the silver screen). It's no wonder that RENT has become what it is today. The show is a true testament to what Jonathan's life was. Riding his bike through the streets of New York, living for his art, love and loss, death and tragedy. I've always put thought into death. Not necessarily my own, but just death in general. Is it true that, when it's your time to go... you'll go. Regardless of the place or the time... you'll go? I mean, Jonathan died alone on his kitchen floor. He had SO many friends, loving family members and supporters that for him to die alone is tragic in and of itself... but.... what if it was just his time? His show had taken wing and had already become everything he wanted it to be. Was he then completely satisfied with himself, his art, and his life?
The lightening is striking outside of my bedroom window as I sit, in the dark, with the simple glow of the television and the images of everything I strive for in life flashing before me. Beauty, truth, love, generosity, acceptance, diversity, compassion... I'm nearly forced to ponder my own life. My thoughts, feelings, relationships... why do we, as humans, spend so much time concerned with what someone may have said, how someone ELSE feels, and what someone ELSE believes when really, we should be most concerned with ourselves? I guess you could say that I'm sort of emotionally taking an eraser to my chalkboard of the past. On one hand, "how do you leave the past behind when it keeps finding ways to get to your heart?" But on the other, "forget regret, or life is yours to miss." Why worry about the past when there's NOTHING you can do about it now? So we've fought... that doesn't mean I don't love you. So we've hurt one another... that doesn't mean I don't care.
Who knew that one show, one story, one man's life, could do SO much?
Thank you Jonathan Larson.
As soon as I was able to get a hold of RENT, I made sure it was in my hot little hands! So many people felt so many different ways about the film and I think it's almost better that way. Gets people thinking. Speaking of getting people thinking, I took some time to watch some of the special features of the DVD. I browsed the deleted scenes and musical numbers (which contained some of my absolute FAVORITE musical interludes, as well as an alternate ending that brought tears to my eyes). I also took the time to watch the documentary about RENT and Jonathan Larson. It was at that moment that I fell in love with the show all over again. So many younger people out there (older folks too) love RENT because of the phenomenon and the popularity; however, there are many of us who love RENT for what it is, an amazingly beautiful expression of not only La Boheme, but one extraordinary man's life.
I knew for a long time that Jonathan Larson was someone I looked up to, the epitome of creative and thought provoking. After that documentary, however, I have a completely new appreciation of the man who lived and breathed the most phenomenal show to ever grace the stage (and now the silver screen). It's no wonder that RENT has become what it is today. The show is a true testament to what Jonathan's life was. Riding his bike through the streets of New York, living for his art, love and loss, death and tragedy. I've always put thought into death. Not necessarily my own, but just death in general. Is it true that, when it's your time to go... you'll go. Regardless of the place or the time... you'll go? I mean, Jonathan died alone on his kitchen floor. He had SO many friends, loving family members and supporters that for him to die alone is tragic in and of itself... but.... what if it was just his time? His show had taken wing and had already become everything he wanted it to be. Was he then completely satisfied with himself, his art, and his life?
The lightening is striking outside of my bedroom window as I sit, in the dark, with the simple glow of the television and the images of everything I strive for in life flashing before me. Beauty, truth, love, generosity, acceptance, diversity, compassion... I'm nearly forced to ponder my own life. My thoughts, feelings, relationships... why do we, as humans, spend so much time concerned with what someone may have said, how someone ELSE feels, and what someone ELSE believes when really, we should be most concerned with ourselves? I guess you could say that I'm sort of emotionally taking an eraser to my chalkboard of the past. On one hand, "how do you leave the past behind when it keeps finding ways to get to your heart?" But on the other, "forget regret, or life is yours to miss." Why worry about the past when there's NOTHING you can do about it now? So we've fought... that doesn't mean I don't love you. So we've hurt one another... that doesn't mean I don't care.
Who knew that one show, one story, one man's life, could do SO much?
Thank you Jonathan Larson.