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| Theatergoer Walked Out of 'Rent' Because the 'Show Was About Gays' | |
| Posted by: MockingbirdGirl 12:02 am EDT 03/15/22 | |
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| Link | Theatergoer Walked Out of 'Rent' Because the 'Show Was About Gays' |
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| re: Theatergoer Walked Out of 'Rent' Because the 'Show Was About Gays' | |
| Posted by: Thom915 04:19 pm EDT 03/15/22 | |
| In reply to: Theatergoer Walked Out of 'Rent' Because the 'Show Was About Gays' - MockingbirdGirl 12:02 am EDT 03/15/22 | |
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| Was it Sam Elliot? | |
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| re: Theatergoer Walked Out of 'Rent' Because the 'Show Was About Gays' | |
| Posted by: PurpleMoney 11:46 am EDT 03/15/22 | |
| In reply to: Theatergoer Walked Out of 'Rent' Because the 'Show Was About Gays' - MockingbirdGirl 12:02 am EDT 03/15/22 | |
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| I took a look of the description of the show by the producer and have to say it really is a sanitized description of Rent. I've seen people walk out of shows, or just don't return after intermission. It was not a show for him. Did he ask for a refund? A man at a musical, attending solo and he walkout before The Tango Maureen; now that is more of a story for me. |
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| re: Theatergoer Walked Out of 'Rent' Because the 'Show Was About Gays' | |
| Posted by: mikem 12:33 pm EDT 03/15/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Theatergoer Walked Out of 'Rent' Because the 'Show Was About Gays' - PurpleMoney 11:46 am EDT 03/15/22 | |
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| Although in this case, it sounds like a theatergoer could have done his due diligence and still be clueless about the show content, I am often surprised how little some theatergoers know about the show they are about to see. I've noticed this particularly for some subscribers, who just go to the next show of the season and assume they will like it. I wish I had as much faith in the companies I subscribe to as they do! Another group that doesn't investigate are the ones who are chasing the hot ticket. After Spring Awakening won the Tony for Best Musical, I know someone who saw it on her trip to New York because it was the Tony winner. She was appalled by the subject matter and that there were "people...FORNICATING...ON STAGE!!!" |
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| re: Theatergoer Walked Out of 'Rent' Because the 'Show Was About Gays' | |
| Last Edit: JereNYC 04:19 pm EDT 03/15/22 | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 04:17 pm EDT 03/15/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Theatergoer Walked Out of 'Rent' Because the 'Show Was About Gays' - mikem 12:33 pm EDT 03/15/22 | |
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| For most of us here, RENT has achieved a spot in the repertory alongside classics like OKLAHOMA! and MY FAIR LADY (I hesitate to label anything that opened in my lifetime as a "classic," because...well...you know...I still feel like I'm 30, most of the time). It hit a spot in the mid-90's cultural zeitgeist that few Broadway musicals do. Like HAMILTON more recently, if you were paying attention to culture (pop or not) in the mid-90's, you couldn't miss some reference to RENT. Even if you never saw it, and had no interest in it, you would've known what it was. And it has never left the national repertory in this country. I don't know if the UK is the same in this regard. But I guess we have to admit that there are people who were not at all paying attention or possibly were not yet born and have somehow missed it and have no idea what RENT could possibly be. I think the larger question here, regardless of how the theatre in question blurbed the show in their publicity materials, is are we expecting theatres to alert audience members about things like LGBT themes, drug use, adult language, or sexual situations beyond saying that the production may not be suitable for children? Can we expect adult people in the 2020's to be offended about these things any longer? I don't mean that they have to like seeing these things on stage, but there's a difference between not liking something and being offended by it. I mean...there's nothing in RENT that I don't literally see in my daily life. There's very little in it that I didn't see in the corridors of my suburban high school in the 1980's either. But I know my experience will differ from others'. I would love to go more in depth with this person and learn about their thought process. Are they a regular theatre-goer? If so, had they really never encountered a play with LGBT characters in it? If not, what led them to purchase tickets to RENT if they knew nothing about it? I don't really care why they dislike LGBT people, but given that, why go to the theatre, a well-known liberal bastion of LGBT people, at all? If the very presence of gay people was an issue for me, I'd avoid legitimate theatre altogether. |
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| re: Theatergoer Walked Out of 'Rent' Because the 'Show Was About Gays' | |
| Last Edit: KingSpeed 12:27 am EDT 03/16/22 | |
| Posted by: KingSpeed 12:27 am EDT 03/16/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Theatergoer Walked Out of 'Rent' Because the 'Show Was About Gays' - JereNYC 04:17 pm EDT 03/15/22 | |
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| You see people take AZT breaks in your daily life? You see people steal from ATMs? I’m just poking fun since you said Nothing. | |
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| re: Theatergoer Walked Out of 'Rent' Because the 'Show Was About Gays' | |
| Last Edit: JereNYC 10:24 am EDT 03/16/22 | |
| Posted by: JereNYC (JereNYC@aol.com) 10:18 am EDT 03/16/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Theatergoer Walked Out of 'Rent' Because the 'Show Was About Gays' - KingSpeed 12:27 am EDT 03/16/22 | |
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| Not AZT anymore, but certainly at that time. I certainly have people in my life currently living with HIV. Reprogramming ATMs? There you've got me, although you do hear about people breaking into them now and then. I don't personally know anyone who's done it. I hope. :) | |
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| re: Theatergoer Walked Out of 'Rent' Because the 'Show Was About Gays' | |
| Posted by: KingSpeed 02:57 pm EDT 03/16/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Theatergoer Walked Out of 'Rent' Because the 'Show Was About Gays' - JereNYC 10:18 am EDT 03/16/22 | |
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| Collins sings that he’s wired an ATM to steal from. | |
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| re: Theatergoer Walked Out of 'Rent' Because the 'Show Was About Gays' | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 03:46 pm EDT 03/15/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Theatergoer Walked Out of 'Rent' Because the 'Show Was About Gays' - mikem 12:33 pm EDT 03/15/22 | |
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| If ''Forbidden Broadway'' were still around, it could've spoofed this incident with a ''Camelot'' parody: ''Before I Gaze at Gays Again ...'' | |
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| I walked out of Dr Zhivago.... | |
| Posted by: andPeggy 08:52 am EDT 03/15/22 | |
| In reply to: Theatergoer Walked Out of 'Rent' Because the 'Show Was About Gays' - MockingbirdGirl 12:02 am EDT 03/15/22 | |
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| ...because it was so bad. Where's my Newsweek story? I did wait until intermission and didn't complain to anyone on the way out. | |
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| I walked out of The Little Prince (no, not the current one) | |
| Last Edit: Delvino 11:58 am EDT 03/15/22 | |
| Posted by: Delvino 11:55 am EDT 03/15/22 | |
| In reply to: I walked out of Dr Zhivago.... - andPeggy 08:52 am EDT 03/15/22 | |
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| The one called "Little Prince and the Aviator," with Michael York, young Anthony Rapp, and, embarrassed to admit, the great Ellen Green. And it had a score by John Barry. It's the only time I can recall leaving a Broadway show at intermission. In my defense, it was one of 20 previews for a show that never opened (folding 1/17/82). Anyone else here see it? I still don't understand the impulse to musicalize this story. Who remembers the film? It had Fosse. And now a new iteration. Maybe it will be wonderful. |
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| re: I walked out of The Little Prince (no, not the current one) | |
| Posted by: Chromolume 06:08 pm EDT 03/16/22 | |
| In reply to: I walked out of The Little Prince (no, not the current one) - Delvino 11:55 am EDT 03/15/22 | |
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| I still don't understand the impulse to musicalize this story. I agree. I've done a production of another version out there (by Rick Cummins and John Scoullar) which had an interesting and sometimes really beautiful score, but I think the essential problem is that it's not an active story. Not much actually happens - it's idea-centered, not action-centered. I think it works as a book, where one can imagine it visually in one's head - but as a theatre piece...I'm just not sure it's crying out to be theatricalized. |
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| A few details about that production of Little Prince | |
| Posted by: Showtunegal 04:50 pm EDT 03/15/22 | |
| In reply to: I walked out of The Little Prince (no, not the current one) - Delvino 11:55 am EDT 03/15/22 | |
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| I know that with the experts on this board, some of you may know it already, but I have been told it the show was in trouble from the moment it started performances I know Rapp was hired to play the Fox and got bumped up to the Little Prince when the actor playing the prince was fired. Then the theater owner closed the show before it had opened and been reviewed, because he knew it was a stinker and wanted Little Johnny Jones starring David Cassidy to go in to the theater. So the Prince's producers were able to sue the theater owner for not allowing them to open --on the idea that, without seeing the reviews, how did the theater owner know it wasn't going to be a hit--and recouped their entire investment. | |
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| re: A few details about that production of Little Prince | |
| Posted by: tandelor 12:04 pm EDT 03/16/22 | |
| In reply to: A few details about that production of Little Prince - Showtunegal 04:50 pm EDT 03/15/22 | |
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| I saw the stage musical Lerner and Loewe version at ArtPark in 1979. Talk about a stinker, it was Wagnerian is all the wrong ways. | |
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| re: I walked out of The Little Prince (no, not the current one) | |
| Posted by: EasyToRemember 02:36 pm EDT 03/15/22 | |
| In reply to: I walked out of The Little Prince (no, not the current one) - Delvino 11:55 am EDT 03/15/22 | |
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| I believe that the impulse may come from the original source material (book but not the painting?) falling into the public domain. Although some aspects remain protected by trademark instead of by copyright, so color me confused. | |
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| I walked out of Dr Zhivago.... Were there Gays in the Urals? (nmi) | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 10:06 am EDT 03/15/22 | |
| In reply to: I walked out of Dr Zhivago.... - andPeggy 08:52 am EDT 03/15/22 | |
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| You always used to hear stories about Rabbis . . . | |
| Posted by: StageManager 07:58 am EDT 03/15/22 | |
| In reply to: Theatergoer Walked Out of 'Rent' Because the 'Show Was About Gays' - MockingbirdGirl 12:02 am EDT 03/15/22 | |
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| who brought squads of old Hadassah ladies to see the rather raunchy "Let My People Come" back in the old days. Always though it was a funny story that was not really totally believable. But you never know . . . |
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| re: Theatergoer Walked Out of 'Rent' Because the 'Show Was About Gays' | |
| Last Edit: KingSpeed 01:33 am EDT 03/15/22 | |
| Posted by: KingSpeed 01:33 am EDT 03/15/22 | |
| In reply to: Theatergoer Walked Out of 'Rent' Because the 'Show Was About Gays' - MockingbirdGirl 12:02 am EDT 03/15/22 | |
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| Why is this a story (in Newsweek no less!)? ONE person just walked out a show and didn't like the subject matter. So what? Why did RENT dignify it with a response.? Bizarre. It'd be different if he went on Twitter about it or something like that. There are worse things one could say.... | |
| Link | My brother got fired for this ridiculous tweet. |
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| In the age of "don't say gay"... | |
| Last Edit: MockingbirdGirl 08:29 am EDT 03/15/22 | |
| Posted by: MockingbirdGirl 08:21 am EDT 03/15/22 | |
| In reply to: re: Theatergoer Walked Out of 'Rent' Because the 'Show Was About Gays' - KingSpeed 01:33 am EDT 03/15/22 | |
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| ... I see no down side to a theatre making lemonade from a patron's sour remarks and highlighting a donation to a gay advocacy group. As for "in Newsweek no less"—when's the last time you read it, pops? This author's previous stories include TikTok trends and video of a monkey getting a drink. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ |
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| re: In the age of "don't say gay"... | |
| Posted by: KingSpeed 03:31 pm EDT 03/15/22 | |
| In reply to: In the age of "don't say gay"... - MockingbirdGirl 08:21 am EDT 03/15/22 | |
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| Gotcha. I just didn’t understand why this person would get so much attention. | |
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| re: In the age of "don't say gay"... | |
| Posted by: BruceinIthaca 11:53 am EDT 03/16/22 | |
| In reply to: re: In the age of "don't say gay"... - KingSpeed 03:31 pm EDT 03/15/22 | |
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| Anybody, of course, has the right to leave any performance they no longer wish to attend...but that right comes with the responsibility not to disturb the experience of other people. And if there was a play I was attending that turned out to be about a pro-Trump family and I felt like I couldn't continue to sit through it, I would exit as unobtrusively as possible and not go to the box office in high dudgeon. If this theatregoer wants to avoid "the gays," they would do well to skip all musical theater and a fair amount of "straight" plays. Mqybe Netflix true crime documentaries (which I enjoy as a very guilty pleasure) would mirror their worldview more comfortably. Calling Keith Morrison--wouldn't he be a great Narrator/Mysterious Man for a very dark production of "Into the Woods"? |
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| re: In the age of "don't say gay"... | |
| Posted by: KingSpeed 02:58 pm EDT 03/16/22 | |
| In reply to: re: In the age of "don't say gay"... - BruceinIthaca 11:53 am EDT 03/16/22 | |
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| Most musicals don’t have gay characters. | |
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