Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway

On September 7, 2008, the Broadway production of the infamous rock musical, "Rent," closed after more than 12 years. The final performance was filmed for a limited theatrical release, and then released on DVD in February 2009 to allow the stage version of the show to live on in "Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway."

Many believe that the 2005 film adaptation of the late Jonathan Larson musical was a failure because it didn't capture the elusive magic of the stage production. While I think that the movie translated beautifully, it is true that nothing compares to the experience of seeing "Rent" live on Broadway; and you can trust me on that because I have gone to see it three times. For those die-hard fans, commonly known as Rentheads, they will remember "Rent" onstage, and this DVD gives them that, with some added Hi-def production value, frenetic camera maneuvering and the emotional goodbye bow.For those that don't know, "Rent" is a story about one full year in the life of eight friends living in New York City's gritty East Village in the late 1980s. They mostly live in squalor while pursuing their dreams and fighting their demons. For Roger, Mimi, Collins and Angel, those demons come from within in the form of the AIDS virus. This issue grounds the plot in the lethal reality of the time the play is set in, when AIDS was still a death sentence.

But don't get the wrong impression. "Rent" is about life. The darkness of the film creates an urgency to live for today, as expressed in the dramatic song that has become its mantra, "No Day But Today."

Roger (Will Chase) and Mark (Adam Kantor) are roommates. The power in their rent-free squat gets shut off on Christmas Eve by their landlord/former roommate Benny (Rodney Hicks), who has turned his back on his bohemian friends and gone corporate, demanding last year's rent. Soon after, Collins (Michael McElroy) returns home from his teaching gig at NYU, only to be mugged, and then patched up by the dancing, singing drag queen, Angel (Justin Johnston). They go to a life support group for people with AIDS and fall in love

Larson spared no creative expense in making this a diverse ensemble of characters. His goal was to bring what he called the "MTV generation" into the theaters, and while he did just that, he fell into a few agonizing cliches along the way; not that a singing, dancing drag queen is a cliche, but the story line does turn cheesy at the end.

Meanwhile, back at the squat, after singing "Glory," a self-loathing rock jam, Roger meets Mimi (Renee Elise Goldsberry), a junkie stripper who also has no power thanks to Benny and asks the faltering musician to light her candle, which becomes a masterful bit of storytelling in song format. Roger, whose girlfriend April killed herself a year ago after they both tested HIV positive, chases Mimi away, but can't help but fall for her.

Mark's ex-girlfriend, Maureen (Eden Espinosa), who turned lesbian and hooked up with a lawyer named Joanne (Tracie Thoms), is a rebellious performance artist with a free spirit.

While the story evolves out of the need to pay the rent, the musical is truly about living for the moment for these characters cursed by disease and dysfunction, but filled with life and the capacity to love and create. This spirit is captured best at the end of scene one when everyone converges on the Life Cafe to sing "La Vie Boheme," which stands as an ode to the play that inspired much of the plot, Puccini's "La Boheme."

While the last company of "Rent" lacked any bonafide star power, the characters are filled with a level of depth and pulsating energy that easily overcomes that deficiency. Sticking to the basic three-table set director Michael Grief created over 12 years ago for the original Broadway cast, "Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway" takes you closer than front row and into the often hard-to-follow-action.

The music of "Rent" made an undeniable impact on the culture of the American musical. I remember singing "Seasons of Love" for my elementary school's performing arts program and being moved by it back then. Now, it's nice to look back on it with the show's final Broadway performance.