No day but today

I remember my very first encounter with Jonathan Larson’s insanely popular musical Rent. It was almost exactly a decade ago when a good friend of mine who knew I enjoyed theater told me to finally give the classics a rest and try listening to a new, fresh, inspiring, and wholly passionate musical about love, friendship, living, and making the most of every single minute of every year of your life.

I figured why not, and as soon as the "Rent Original Cast Recording" double disc arrived from the US I popped it into my player and it honestly feels like it has never left. Even at the risk of sounding cheesy and/or geeky I can easily confess that I am a Renthead, and proudly so too! Rent has easily defined almost an entire genre of my life. From the moment Mark (Anthony Rapp who is one of my favorite Broadway actors by the way and who also played Charlie Brown in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown) begins with that famous "December 24th, 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time..." I knew I would love the musical... and love it I did. I went all out. The CD played non-stop, I read as much about the Broadway performances as I could, and I even researched some of the actors who I thought did an amazing job – namely Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Idina Menzel, and my favorite Wilson Jermaine Heredia (he’s adorable) not to mention reading everything I could about the passionate creator Jonathon Larson who continues to inspire me today.

It was love at first sight (or sound to be exact) and it wasn’t long before I knew every single lyric, every line, and every note of the libretto. It bordered on obsession but luckily I wasn’t the only one loving it.

You can only imagine the excitement I felt when I learned a few years back that Rent would be gracing the Philippine stage. In the hands of Atlantis and director Bobby Garcia in collaboration with Monique Wilson and New Voice Company, Filipinos would finally be exposed to the beauty of the musical. I was ecstatic! I was even more excited when I learned that several good friends and immensely talented actors were cast in the lead roles. I knew it was going to be incredible and that even more Filipinos would fall in love with Rent.

And my prediction was right. As soon as production got underway Rentheads started blossoming all over Manila. Though this article is a bit late to praise Rent Philippines, I have to say that the production was incredible and the performances were unforgettable including JM Rodriguez’s completely on-point Mark Cohen, Michael de Mesa’s believable loveable Collins (prairie dogs!), Lynn Sherman’s powerful Joanne Jefferson, and Ricci Chan’s indescribable and very bewitching Angel, truly he will forever remain Angel to me! Not to mention Bituin Escalante whose tremendous high note in Seasons of Love never failed to illicit thunderous applause from the audience.

In either case, the production was such a phenomenon that they extended the run several times over even going so far as to take Rent Philippines for an out-of-the-country performance. I couldn’t have been happier as so many more people would be exposed to Jonathon Larson’s timeless message of life and love and living every single day as fully and as wonderfully as you possibly can.

That was roughly four years ago and ever since then there was already rumored talk of a movie adaptation of the musical. I was a bit skeptical when I heard that at first because rarely have I seen a movie made from a play that equaled or surpassed seeing it being performed live in front of you. In most cases it turned out just okay and in some I thought it was a pure disaster. I was worried that some second rate, money-hungry Hollywood producers would latch onto the musical and simply turn it into a money-making, cheesy cinematic experience which would truly destroy one of the musical’s central themes of art, passion, and freedom. To do that would be disastrous and would be like drawing a box around something that was conceived and created with out-of-the-box thinking.

Anyway, years passed and the rumors of the movie remained just that, rumors. Finally though I read an article on the web announcing that it was indeed in the making. Luckily several of the stage production’s creative staff and many of Jonathan Larson’s own creative team were involved in the project so that fostered hope that the movie would be true to the original. Not to mention, several of the original Broadway cast were already set to star in the movie such as Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Idina Menzel, Taye Diggs, and Wilson Jermaine Heredia, to name a few. It was certainly starting to look like the movie might not be such a failure after all.

After the movie opened abroad several friends who had seen it told me that it was beautiful. There were several components removed from the musical but the message remained intact and the moving passion that made Rent the musical such a success was still evident on the silver screen. Indeed my good friend, Carlo, himself from Rent Philippines told me that he loved the movie, praise indeed coming from a harsh film critic and a veteran Renthead.

Rent the movie opened in Manila recently. I was finally going to be able to see it. I was not disappointed. I loved the film! I still love the stage version as well, but the film was a great adaptation and a wonderful new way of looking at the musical. After all, on the stage you would just see an implication of New York through the backdrop. In the movie, New York actually comes to life and you get to see the characters actually doing what they were only singing about doing while on stage. It was a smooth and flawless transition and only served to make me love the entire work of Rent even more.

I could go on forever but as I always believe, this time included, to truly appreciate Rent and love it, one should not just read about it, one should experience it for themselves. I highly recommend that everyone catch the movie while it’s still showing and see firsthand why Rent has become such a worldwide phenomenon, additionally if at all possible and you go abroad, catch the musical as well. I have no doubt that it will touch your heart as much as it has touched the hearts of thousands around the world that have fallen in love with it. Jonathan Larson was the perfect embodiment of everything he tried to convey in his story, a lover of life, creation, and passion, loving every single day and striving to achieve his dreams. His sudden and unexpected death just as his dream was, at last, realized is a poignant reminder to us all of the truth he wanted to express – live your life with as much laughter, love, friendship, creation, and passion as you can. Truly, "No Day but Today!"