Rent (1996 Original Broadway Cast)Rent (1996 Original Broadway Cast)
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- 1. Tune Up #1
- 2. Voice Mail #1
- 3. Tune Up #2
- 4. Rent
- 5. You Okay Honey?
- 6. Tune Up #3
- 7. One Song Glory
- 8. Light My Candle
- 9. Voice Mail #2
- 10. Today 4 U
- 11. You'll See
- 12. Tango: Maureen
- 13. Life Support
- 14. Out Tonight
- 15. Another Day
- 16. Will I?
- 17. On The Street
- 18. Santa Fe
- 19. I'll Cover You
- 20. We're Okay
- 21. Christmas Bells
- 22. Over The Moon
- 23. La Vie Boheme
- 24. I Should Tell You
- 25. La Vie Boheme B
- 26. Seasons Of Love
- 27. Happy New Year
- 28. Voice Mail #3
- 29. Happy New Year B
- 30. Take Me Or Leave Me
- 31. Seasons Of Love B
- 32. Without You
- 33. Voice Mail #4
- 34. Contact
- 35. I'll Cover You-Reprise
- 36. Halloween
- 37. Goodbye Love
- 38. What You Own
- 39. Voice Mail #5
- 40. Finale
- 41. Your Eyes
- 42. Finale B
- 43. Seasons Of Love
Transposing Puccini's 100-year-old opera La Bohème into modern day Bohemia (19th-century Paris's Left Bank becomes late-20th-century New York's East Village where the scourge of tuberculosis becomes the plague of AIDS) Rent celebrates life among the young, sick, and unconventional. While Broadway shows are hardly the place for authentic portrayals of the latest marginalized hipsters, composer Jonathan Larson (who died at age 36, days before his musical opened) managed to sculpt vivid characters and scenes that bring Avenue A as close as it will ever come to 42nd Street. And by telling a socially relevant story of living without the guarantee of a future (renting, that is), Larson does his own little bit to define an X'ed generation. At worst, Rent is the Hair of the '90s.
For the majority of us who won't be seeing Rent anytime soon, the Original Cast Recording is more than just an after-show souvenir. Well-packaged with a complete libretto, the two-CD set is a worthwhile album separate of live performance. Full of songs that are funny and catchy, inspiring and touching, smart and hip and not overly sentimental, Rent mixes showtune pop with elements of rock, R&B, dance, gospel, and tango to make one of the best albums of the year--certainly the best rock opera in decades. La vie bohème, indeed. --Roni Sarig
- Audio CD: 0 pages (1996-08-27)
- Publisher: Dreamworks
- Label: Dreamworks
- Format: Cast Recording
- Studio: Dreamworks
- Sales Rank in Music: #2423
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54 of 55 people found the following review helpful:  Even more meaning when you've lived it, This review is from: Rent (1996 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD) I first saw Rent in 1996. That year was quite a year for me. I first tested positive for HIV, my lover died of AIDS, I was an addict at that time. and I saw Rent for the first time (the first of 6 times over the past almost 10 years). Those who claim that Rent is trite, or meaningless, that the characters aren't real clearly haven't been exposed to the things I have in my life. Rent is relevant on so many levels. So many talk about their favorite songs from this recording, and there are so many different lists of favorites, as Rent shows we are all individuals and our spirits are all drawn to different things. Interestingly, my strongest connection is to "Will I?" I never see that listed on any list of favorite selections, but for me it is incredibly moving. For all 6 of the shows I've been to, I've been lucky enough to get the $20 "night of" seats in the front row. Each and every time, "Will I?" turned me into a sobbing mess. Why? Well, every day for the...Read more 80 of 85 people found the following review helpful: "No day but today" - Jonathan Larson's "Rent", By This review is from: Rent (1996 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD) "Rent" is one of those musicals where Barbra Streisand is never going to cover any of the songs on one of her Broadway albums. The pastiche of music styles reminds me of "Hair," "Godspell" and "Cats"--there are 43 tracks, including a reprise of "Seasons of Love" featuring Stevie Wonder singing with the 15-member cast--and to a large extent "Rent" also shares with those shows the ensemble nature of the cast. But just because the songs from this show are not destined to be Broadway standards does not detract from their power. These are songs driven by character and context more than melody and voice, reflecting pretty much the complete spectrum of musical styles. You have straight forward rock-and-roll in "Rent" and "Goodbye Love," but also everything from Gospel in "Seasons of Love to the Tango in "Tango: Maureen." More importantly, what stands out in the performance of these songs is...Read more 29 of 30 people found the following review helpful: Revolutionizing Broadway,, This review is from: Rent (1996 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD) Joy. Hope. Life. Love. Those are just a few of the words that come to mind when describing RENT. Others would include "brilliant", "powerful", and "amazing". Yes, the hype has been a bit much lately. The interviews, the advertisements, the talk shows. Yet RENT manages to encounter each and every one of those and still engulf the audience and all of Broadway in a sea of energy and melody, changing what was becoming a dying and stale art form. RENT has brought back the "hipness" to Broadway, but does not lose any of the theatric traditions that make up a great musical. Its complex plotline includes such Brodway taboos as AIDS, homosexuality (a part of it, but NOT it, drug use, S&M dancing, and, probably the biggest nineties Broadway no-no, substance.All that being said, the highlight of RENT, as is with any musical, is the exciting and stirring pop-rock score contained in this two hour CD. The late Jonathan Larson was able to...Read more |
