Rent has always been one of those musicals on my 'to see' list. Last summer I had a long conversation with Gumby about theatre and musicals, and the fact that she'd been to the Birmingham Hippodrome, which since she lives in Cranston, Rhode Island was only slightly spooky. Rent is one of her favourite musicals and Lemmy said she loved it too. Since it's not on in the West End, I wasn't going to miss seeing it on Broadway so I booked my [half price] ticket and went along arriving in jeans and a t-shirt carrying a Toys R Us bag and acutely aware of the fact that if Corinne and Val had been there I probably would have been banned from the theatre, taken a safe distance away and shot*. It was an amazing experience, I was completely lost in the storyline, the songs and the emotion. I felt the character's pain and it showed in the tears that streamed down my face. I loved it and couldn't wait for their movie adaptation to be released. I love theatre and I wanted to see if that emotion could be portrayed just as well on the big screen, if I would feel as much for the characters as I did when their lives were being played out in front of me on the stage. That was last summer. Rent was released in America in November and by the time Lemmy came to visit in January, she'd seen it three times. It is being released over here tomorrow** and my local cinema is so inept they apparently don't even think it worth showing since it is not appearing on their listings for next week AT ALL. I am decidedly unimpressed.


*In my defence, I dressed up when I went to see Movin' Out on Broadway. I might also have dressed up when I saw Dirty Rotten Scoundrels too, I can't remember.
**Don't get me started on the five month gap! Corinne says it might be because it's very American and it might not appeal as much over here.