Rent - A Hit at the Jacksonville's Times Union

On Saturday, February 10^th, I went to see the show "Rent," a musical about living with AIDS in the twentieth century, at the Times-Union Center in Downtown Jacksonville.

And needless to say, I was amazed.

Having only watched the movie before, and having a few misgivings about the musical, I'm happy announcing those misgivings were completely unfounded and biased.

With a few differences, the story is very much the same as the movie. One of the few differences is that there are no scene changes. The audience is meant to imagine scenes that take place at the café, the church, and the New Year's party. Unlike the movie, where there were numerous scene changes, taking viewers all over the place.

There are also several scenes that they cut out of the movie, such as an entire sex scene accompanied by the song "Contact." True, no one sees anything, but you can hear enough to accurately guess what's going on up there.

When I was there, I ran into a couple of people who were very offended by the musical. "The fact that most of the audience was under 30 shows how much this country's youth is declining in morality," one Michael Hopkins said. Michael Hopkins is around his 50s.

And I say to you, sir, that if you don't like homosexuality, the truth about AIDS, or the ongoing struggle to stay alive in a place like New York, then don't bother going to the show. Sheesh.

I may be biased because I loved the movie so much, but there is one thing I have to say about the musical. Their choice for Mimi was not the best. Her singing wasn't constantly off-key, but it was enough to be noticeable.

The choreography, however, and the overall sense of rehearsal, is uncanny. I'm very happy I was able to go to this show.