Rent Check

I was thinking of going to see Rent.

No, really.

At first, I thought, “Phffff… Rent.” But then I thought about it. This movie could be like spinach – I like to try spinach once every coupla years, ‘cause I think it might be good, or that my pallet may have changed. Heck, it worked with mushrooms!

On the other hand, this movie could be like spinach – I like to try spinach once every coupla years, and it sucks every time! There’s a reason musicals tend not to be my thing, and while I like to occasionally test that, more often than not, I was right in the first place.

--First off – the songs. I dunno about you, but I hardly ever burst into spontaneous song. And when I do, it’s never just me singing about me. But then again, I may just be dead inside.
--Secondly – they tend to be very melodramatic. Everyone’s either ecstatic or morbidly depressed. Characters in musicals are hardly ever “okay.” *
--Thirdly – I find there to be a certain quality to musicals that grates on me. Maybe it’s pretentiousness. Maybe it’s the commitment to a device that in the end holds little to no novelty. Maybe it’s just the mass of odd musicals: Cats! Andrew and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat! Hair. Maybe it’s just “modern” musicals? Chicago may have been okay. But then that would eliminate Oklahoma! From the list of baddies, so that idea’s out.

All this being said, I’m not completely against the things. I like Phantom well enough – some good songs and a lot of them are at least somewhat contextual. I never saw it, but Wicked at least had a novel premise. I mighta gone to see that. I really liked the musical episode of Buffy. And who’s not getting’ their walkers ready to see The Producers?

If I do go see it, maybe it’ll be for the same reason I started blogging – I can’t bad-mouth it with credibility unless I tried it.


* If there was a musical based on a character whose primary attitude was “Meh,” that might interest me. Imagine the hit number “Apathy’s… Okay, I Guess”