show review: RENT 20th anniversary tour

i'm typically iffy on most musicals; a full two hours of showtunes tend to make me start twitching. but there are two that i can't get enough of: rock of ages and RENT. i was fortunate to see the latter for the fourth (!) time on wednesday night at the shubert theatre in boston as part of the 20th anniversary tour, and it was fantastic and i teared up about four times.

based on the opera la boheme, the show premiered on broadway in 1996 and centers on a group of artists/musicians/creative types living in manhattan -- most of whom are drug addicts living with HIV/AIDS. not the sunniest subject matter, for sure, but most of the songs are surprisingly upbeat and get stuck in your head immediately. i had to stop myself from mouthing along the entire time like a freak. my favorite, "la vie boheme," from the movie adaptation which includes references to pee-wee herman, the sex pistols, soy burgers, dildos, and even pablo neruda.

the entire cast was incredible this time around, but i've gotta say that aaron harrington, an apparent "musical theater newcomer" who played tom collins, was far and away the best vocalist i've heard in a production (including broadway) in a loooong time. my mouth dropped open every time he sang, legit.

"Without You" from #RENT... voice almost ran away from me 😪  #leslieodomjr #withoutyou #insomniacchronicles #ArnellSings

A post shared by Aaron Harrington (@doubbleayye) on Jul 10, 2016 at 11:43pm PDT

and of course, the iconic "seasons of love" just got me right in the feels as always. i mean, that high note at 1:16? HOW CAN YOU NOT SOB? she nailed it just like in this video, too.

TL;DR: go see RENT if you have the chance.

oh constantine, how far you've come...

last month, i randomly decided that i wanted to take a 4th of july weekend trip to new york city. of course, one of my NYC musts is to see a show of some sort while i'm there - otherwise, it just doesn't feel right. now, i'm not a HUGE fan of musicals in general - mainly because i'm not into the showtunes. however, i did love the pop-rock ditties of RENT so much that i saw it 3 times (twice on broadway, one on the farewell tour in boston). so this time, when i was struggling to think of what to see, i remembered seeing performances from "rock of ages", a show featuring 80s hair band covers and silly american idol alum constantine maroulis,  on the today show and macy's parade and being pretty impressed. it was decided! i took my spot in line at the half-price TKTS booth on saturday morning which was conveniently right across from my hotel (shoutout to the doubletree!) and was pleasantly surprised when i snagged a pair of 7th row orchestra tickets for that day's matinee performance. scoooore. 

my friend gleni joined me, as i know she would likely appreciate this type of thing as much as i. we took our seats, gleeful about the rock 'n' roll lighters - er, little flashlights that looked like lighters - that we were given upon entering the theatre. the show began with a pre-curtain voiceover speech by david coverdale from whitesnake and i immediately knew it was love. for the next 2.5 hours, i was the happiest girl in the rockin' world. styx! warrant! poison! it was like a huge amazing 80s party, complete with lot of glitter and lots of hair. and a strange thing happened....i developed a little crush on constantine. which even frightened me. but his singing was so legit, guys. he was definitely meant for the broadway stage and not for theme weeks on idol. but i digress. i also highly enjoyed the bret michaels-inspired frontman character, "stacee jaxx", who fell into drunken stupors and did a lot of pelvic thrusts. thankfully, the show is just about to start a national tour (featuring constantine!) so i urge you, if you want to have your face melted, you gotta see this, man - totally going again in boston. i found a little clip from last year's tony's that gives you the gist: 

I WANNA ROCK!