Mon dernier article, parce que je suis fucking essoufflée, gang : Tout en même temps.

So Raiontzukai and I went to see RENT last weekend. That tour was actually the reason we've been working so hard to find a regular babysitter since this summer - because it seems simple guys, but trust me, it isn't. But I'll get into that some other time.

The first time I saw RENT was in Montreal seventeen years ago. (Frankly, I find it pretty funny that I can link back to old, specific events on this blog. But anyway.) Then I saw it on Broadway twelve years ago. (And I could link. But I won't. Because you guys don't care.) (Okay, nevermind that, there you go.)

So when I saw that RENT was stopping in Ottawa, I obviously had to see the show. So Coco and Bout d'Chou had a sleepover at a friend's, and off we went.

I got excited just seeing the stage when we got to our seats. Because RENT is amazing because of the story, because of the songs, but also in great part because of the way the stage is set up and used. There is no curtain. Only a handful of fade-outs. The actors actually just walk onto the stage at the beginning of each part. When Roger came in and started tuning his guitar, the audience wasn't 100% positive the show was actually beginning, because a couple of minutes before a technician was doing the exact same thing onstage. The musicians are in a back corner of the stage, very visible. The actors are often standing next to each other while clearly being in different places (inside an appartment, downstairs by the door, a hospital, in the street, in another state!), and are sometimes far apart on the stage while clearly being in the same place (Life Support). That just about kills me with genius.

The actors were amazing. Roger wasn't my favourite Roger, but I have extremely high criteria of perfection for Roger. And he was still very good. There was a funny incident at the beginning of the show (Rent) where Roger actually started bleeding above his right eye (I didn't see what happened, if he got a nick during the first couple of lines or if he had an existing nick that started bleeding again.) and Mark took Roger's hand during the song to hand him a handkerchief. Roger looked utterly troubled for a sec ("why is he taking my hand?") and then grabbed the handkerchief and held it against his head for every black-out in which he was to be frozen. Then after a couple of songs he came back with a band-aid above his eye.

As for the others, Mark was great - so much of the show relies on Mark being Mark. Angel was also great and the audience cheered for him just seeing him walk onstage in his dragqueen outfit.

So Rent wasn't as good as I was hoping, One Song Glory was great, I had a bit of disappointment with Out Tonight as, just like in the movie, Mimi sang all the song but the three last lines outside of Roger's appartment, I loved Tango: Maureen (Mark!) and La Vie Bohème (it's just so hilarious to see everyone making simultaneous head movements around the table I'll never get tired of it). Also, at the end of Seasons of Love, Angel remained onstage a couple seconds with the soloist after everyone had left and she squeezed his hand as she sang "Measure your life in love", which I thought was a nice touch as he dies in that second part. Yeah, about that, I'm thinking I might have to stop going to see that show because I don't think I can see Angel die one more time without crying.

Raiotnzukai had already seen the movie (a while ago, before we even moved in together, because you can't be with me if you haven't seen RENT, it's that simple), but the show seems to have really won him over as he's been listening to the soundtrack everyday since Saturday, even playing random songs to the boys as they take their shower. Which is causing Coco to randomly burst into an approximative "five hundred, twenty-four thousand, six hundred minutes" regularly throughout the day now.

So, in case I haven't said it to you personally yet, go see RENT.