A good friend of mine (we'll call him Federline) and I enjoy speaking about musical theatre. We also enjoy arguing about it. And we often repeat the same argument over and over. One of our favorite arguments was conceived early on in our friendship when Federline stated, "Rogers and Hammerstein are overrated."
[join me in a moment of shocked silence]
I heartily disagree. Not because I think R&H are the end all be all of musical theatre but because they are simply not overrated. Ask any person who does not like musical theatre and they will immediately cite "old, stupid, frilly" musicals such as Oklahoma! or The King and I. If there happens to be a musical theatre fan around, that person will almost always join in on the R&H bash fest, "Oh yea. Well THOSE musicals ARE horrible. No substance! Blegh." etc....
The Musical Theatre fan might then go on to say,
"I don't like those OLD musicals, I like the NEWER more EDGY musicals, like Rent."
[pause]
Hold on. I need a minute.
[deep breaths.]
Ok. I'm back. Now- RENT?!!??!!! Excuse me?!
Rent. Now THERE is an overrated musical. This musical, which is often considered to be a brilliant work, is terribly flawed. Don't get me wrong, I completely understand its importance in MTR (musical theatre) history. It was one of the first rock musicals (Though- Let's not forget about Hair- which actually is a pretty brilliant work) and it was one of the first to deal with drug use (wait... what about Hair??) and AIDS. THERE! That's it. Rent is important because it had the balls to talk about a disease that no one else would talk about.
Rent is also a musical of note because of the untimely passing of Jonathan Larson (Composer, Librettist of Rent). The show opened on schedule the night after his passing and I am sure it was an extremely emotional evening. The message of "Seize the Day" was embodied in this controversial work and Larson was awarded a Pulitzer Prize, 3 tony awards, and many other awards posthumously for his achievement. Well deserved. I am not disputing the musical's importance or Larson's achievement. I am simply stating that it is NOT a perfect musical.... as so many "Rent heads" seem to think. Let's take a look at Rent without all of the sentimentality that is attached to it. From the top!
"Tune Up 1"
We are introduced to Mark and Roger in a rather creative way. And we even get a "sh*t" less than a minute into the show... OH! So this is going to be an edgy show! Yes. I'm so glad that the lyrics let me know that- because I wouldn't have been able to tell just by the lack of overture and the overtly run down setting (costumes, lighting, etc...)
We should also talk about the fact that this "movie" Mark is making already seems like it is going to be a pile of "sh*t". I mean... is this the musical version of "The Real World"?
"Voice Mail 1"
Why on Earth is she singing her voice mail?? OH!!! It is a Rock OPERA. Got it. But... why does the melody have to suck? [listens] Maureen is a lesbian?! More edge! yes!
"Tune Up 2"
Why is the phone ringing off the hook? Oh... and near the end we get our La Boheme musical allusion ... nice.
"Rent"
Wait. We are supposed to support these guys not paying their rent? Stiffing some guy (their "friend") just because he represents "the man"....? AND! Did we run out of lyrics?! "Rent rent rent rent rent!" (actual lyrics) creative...
Ok.. So I'm not going to go through the entire show but surely you get my point. The show is a little cheesy and bombards the audience with "proof" of how edgy and new it is. But Hey! There is an awesome Lesbian duet that I'll confess I have sung several times at Karaoke.
So- How did I get on this subject?! OH yea! Rogers and Hammerstein (II) overrated? But... most people don't even like R&H and if we want to talk about people that really changed musical theatre. R&H. That's them. Oscar Hammerstein basically created the genre with Oklahoma! A show that people LOVE to HATE. And I get it. It is a little silly. But for the time that it was written- It was new and innovative. (For the record- I love Oklahoma!) Then there is South Pacific. I, myself, was once guilty of hating South Pacific. (I am a reformed sinner). But wait. South Pacific spoke about a subject that was, at the time, taboo: Racism. AND It did this without condemning the audience, but by allowing them to watch characters onstage deal with the issue themselves. "You've got to be carefully taught" (though often mocked) is an incredible song. (disclaimer: personal opinion)
Don't worry, I am not going to go through every R&H musical (and we'll just overlook State Fair).
It isn't that R&H produced only masterpieces. (See above: Carousel and State Fair) I don't think there is a single composing team that has produced only masterpieces. But they were incredibly important in musical theatre history. And we are living at a time in society when people love to bash them because they think it makes them look intelligent. It doesn't. It makes you look annoying... wait... can you look annoying?
[join me in a moment of shocked silence]
I heartily disagree. Not because I think R&H are the end all be all of musical theatre but because they are simply not overrated. Ask any person who does not like musical theatre and they will immediately cite "old, stupid, frilly" musicals such as Oklahoma! or The King and I. If there happens to be a musical theatre fan around, that person will almost always join in on the R&H bash fest, "Oh yea. Well THOSE musicals ARE horrible. No substance! Blegh." etc....
The Musical Theatre fan might then go on to say,
"I don't like those OLD musicals, I like the NEWER more EDGY musicals, like Rent."
[pause]
Hold on. I need a minute.
[deep breaths.]
Ok. I'm back. Now- RENT?!!??!!! Excuse me?!
Rent. Now THERE is an overrated musical. This musical, which is often considered to be a brilliant work, is terribly flawed. Don't get me wrong, I completely understand its importance in MTR (musical theatre) history. It was one of the first rock musicals (Though- Let's not forget about Hair- which actually is a pretty brilliant work) and it was one of the first to deal with drug use (wait... what about Hair??) and AIDS. THERE! That's it. Rent is important because it had the balls to talk about a disease that no one else would talk about.
Rent is also a musical of note because of the untimely passing of Jonathan Larson (Composer, Librettist of Rent). The show opened on schedule the night after his passing and I am sure it was an extremely emotional evening. The message of "Seize the Day" was embodied in this controversial work and Larson was awarded a Pulitzer Prize, 3 tony awards, and many other awards posthumously for his achievement. Well deserved. I am not disputing the musical's importance or Larson's achievement. I am simply stating that it is NOT a perfect musical.... as so many "Rent heads" seem to think. Let's take a look at Rent without all of the sentimentality that is attached to it. From the top!
"Tune Up 1"
We are introduced to Mark and Roger in a rather creative way. And we even get a "sh*t" less than a minute into the show... OH! So this is going to be an edgy show! Yes. I'm so glad that the lyrics let me know that- because I wouldn't have been able to tell just by the lack of overture and the overtly run down setting (costumes, lighting, etc...)
We should also talk about the fact that this "movie" Mark is making already seems like it is going to be a pile of "sh*t". I mean... is this the musical version of "The Real World"?
"Voice Mail 1"
Why on Earth is she singing her voice mail?? OH!!! It is a Rock OPERA. Got it. But... why does the melody have to suck? [listens] Maureen is a lesbian?! More edge! yes!
"Tune Up 2"
Why is the phone ringing off the hook? Oh... and near the end we get our La Boheme musical allusion ... nice.
"Rent"
Wait. We are supposed to support these guys not paying their rent? Stiffing some guy (their "friend") just because he represents "the man"....? AND! Did we run out of lyrics?! "Rent rent rent rent rent!" (actual lyrics) creative...
Ok.. So I'm not going to go through the entire show but surely you get my point. The show is a little cheesy and bombards the audience with "proof" of how edgy and new it is. But Hey! There is an awesome Lesbian duet that I'll confess I have sung several times at Karaoke.
So- How did I get on this subject?! OH yea! Rogers and Hammerstein (II) overrated? But... most people don't even like R&H and if we want to talk about people that really changed musical theatre. R&H. That's them. Oscar Hammerstein basically created the genre with Oklahoma! A show that people LOVE to HATE. And I get it. It is a little silly. But for the time that it was written- It was new and innovative. (For the record- I love Oklahoma!) Then there is South Pacific. I, myself, was once guilty of hating South Pacific. (I am a reformed sinner). But wait. South Pacific spoke about a subject that was, at the time, taboo: Racism. AND It did this without condemning the audience, but by allowing them to watch characters onstage deal with the issue themselves. "You've got to be carefully taught" (though often mocked) is an incredible song. (disclaimer: personal opinion)
Don't worry, I am not going to go through every R&H musical (and we'll just overlook State Fair).
It isn't that R&H produced only masterpieces. (See above: Carousel and State Fair) I don't think there is a single composing team that has produced only masterpieces. But they were incredibly important in musical theatre history. And we are living at a time in society when people love to bash them because they think it makes them look intelligent. It doesn't. It makes you look annoying... wait... can you look annoying?