Yes, this post will probably mostly be Rent. I won lotto!

Oh, and a summary from last post, cause I forgot:
Travelling: Sucked. Threw up.
Celebrity spotting: Met James Rado, the writer of Hair and original Claude. Also Sandra Oh from Grey's Anatomy, and some guy from the West Wing.
Hair: Amazing. Perfect cast. Excellent use of space. Great lighting and sound despite being outside. At the end, everyone is invited onstage to dance.
Hanke: Brilliant Claude. Not as disturbing with a wig as we expected. Had some gorgeous solos. Fails at dancing, but otherwise excellent.
Bryce: Surprisingly awesome. Big penis.
Stagedoor: Got a new picture with Hanke. He remembered me. He was great.
Norm Lewis: Was there. Was flattered when I came up to say he was amazing. Invited me and Carina to get a backstage tour of Little Mermaid from him.

Also I forgot to mention how Hanke at one point came up all the way back to us (we were row P -- still could see great) during Hair, singing, and he put his (fake) hair all over the somewhat-bald-guy's head in front of me, and we were sitting there laughing at him. I had aisle seat, so I could like, touch him at that point. (I didn't.)

Carina interjects without Krissy noticing: And when Hanke came up, he suddenly noticed I was sitting there along with 3 other Rent fans he recognizes, and got the deer-in-the-headlights look. Slightly awkward.

(Krissy noticed. She almost got it.)



Yes, I won Rent lotto! BB 104&3. And actually, my first time actually seeing the show with Carina.

Guess I'll start with the cast.
Adam Kantor as Mark: I liked him about as much as I expected. He wasn't great, but he wasn't BAD, he didn't annoy me, he was just so Anthony like and boring. But, he was cute and had his moments, and was a pretty good singer. I enjoy seeing someone new. He's also really short. Shorter than Tim. I got a picture with him and we're almost the same height.

Will Chase as Roger: Now, he surprised me with awesome. He does lots of random shit, and I love how angry he is, and his voice is pretty, and he made me giggle way too often. Like when he inserts lines. A lot. He was like "Mark-- ...I'll call." Or, my favourite, in finale, when they bring Mimi. "NOOOOOOOO! ...fuck!" Mimi's dying, and Carina and I are cracking up. There was more, but either we couldn't hear, or don't remember. Also, his face at some points was great, like Out Tonight, he was not like whoa hot, he was like "...What the fuck are you doing in my apartment?" Also his face when telling Mark to get a candle was like... I don't know what the hell to do but find a candle and we'll work it out! Also I love it when Rogers play with Benny's cellphone and Benny comes back to take it from him.

Renee Elise Goldberry as Mimi: I didn't much care for her at first. Then Carina explained some stuff that I hadn't thought about and her acting made a bit more sense. She bugged me in LMC because she wasn't really flirting, she just seemed annoyed. But that's also kind of amusing if you think about it. She plays her a lot more like a 19 year old. But she was very good vocally yesterday, which was good. I liked her better in act 2, at least enough that she didn't bother me. Her yeah and uh uh shouts during Out Tonight sounded really out of place. But oh well.

Eden Espinosa as Maureen: Was great. I'm glad I'm seeing this when people have gotten a bit more into their roles. Vocally, she was awesome, and she was funny in OTM because she did stuff I hadn't seen before. She also had great chemistry with...

Tracie Thoms as Joanne: And she was great. She wasn't my favourite KIND of Joanne, I like it when they're a bit more in control, her tango wasn't anything special, but her TMoLM was fierce. I enjoyed her more in act 2 than act 1 also. But yeah, she was great. And pretty. Although we're kind of upset I never got to see Merle.

Todd E. Pettiford as understudy Collins: I wasn't sure in the beginning how much I'd like him, but then he was vocally great, and he had some really funny moments, and, again, great to see someone new. His reprise was beautiful.

Justin Johnston as Angel: Same old, same old.
Rodney Hicks as Benny: He's adorable, but I might like D'Monroe better.
Karmine Alers as Mark's Mom: Adorable. And hopefully seeing her as Mimi tonight.
Gwen Stewart as Soloist: Kicks. Ass. She can belt like crazy and make it sound easy. Of course, reason she's original cast.
Marcus Paul James as Soloist: Same old, same old excellent. Oh, and he's doing In The Heights at the same time, 4 shows per week of each. Randomly.
Andrea Goss as Alexi: She's there. She doesn't suck. We ran her down at stagedoor before she runs off.
Telly Leung as Steve: Same old adorable.
Shaun Earl as Paul: See above.

The band fucked up the intro to We're Okay. And I think I mentioned everything of importance in the cast bits. We managed to get most autographs for my Rent pants too. Yay.


Oh, and we stayed up till like 4 am, watching bootlegs, and then discussing bootlegs and stuff. NPH as Mark is the cutest, flailiest thing ever. So adorable.

Aaaand now we have to go do stuff.

Specifically: Rent lotto. Listen to Daniel Radcliffe talk or something. See Rent (if not lotto, then past date, for Karmine as Mimi). Also, get tickets for Chatterbox with [tos] Susan and Heidi, and for [tos] the same day.