#Joanne Jefferson

[danceblr]

Might as well dance a tango to hell. At least I'll have tangoed at all.

[incorrent-quotes]

[erodingsinner]

JOANNE & MAUREEN | RENT ( 2005 )

[natashasbitxh]

tracie thoms trying not to play a queer character

[fivesessions-layturr]

if i had a nickel for every time tracie thoms played a lesbian in a broadway musical where a gay character dies of AIDS, i would have two nickels. which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

p.s. both angel's death & whizzer's death makes me cry EVERY. FUCKING. TIME.

[dingus0401]

me: today is my favorite holiday of the year!

friend: but christmas is tmrw?

me:😈😈😈

DECEMBER 24th 9 PM EASTERN STANDARD TIME FROM HERE ON IN I SHOOT WITHOUT A SCRIPT. SEE IF ANYTHING COMES OF IT INSTEAD OF MY OLD SHIT. FIRST SHOT ROGER TUNING THE FENDER GUITAR HE HASN’T PLAYED IN A YEAR. tHiS wOnT tUnE. so we hear heh. HES JUST COMING BACK, FROM HALF A YEAR OF WITHDRAWAL. u taking to me? NOT AT ALLLLLLL. ARE YOU READY HOLD THAT FOCUS STEADYYYY. TELL THE FOLKS AT HOME WHAT UR DOING ROGERRRR i’m writing one great songgg

THE PHONE RINGS

saveddd

WE SCREENNN ZOOM IN ON THE ANSWERING MACHINE.

[wafflelovingbatgirl]

Everyone’s talking about “toxic yuri” now, but they’re not talking about them:

There’s two separate songs about how bad they are for each other in a 2 hour movie.

[tangoboheme]

Maureen coded

[shouldtheydivorce]

[imkazz]

Rent?! No one ever talks about rent. Tell me rent things.

AUGHHHH RENT!!!!

i went to watch it at the stratford festival like three days ago!!!

(press for better quality)

I LOVE RENT! FROM SO MANY PERSPECTIVES! IT TALKS ABOUT THE AIDS CRISIS AND TRANS PEOPLE AND GAY PEOPLE AND DEATH AND GRIEF AND HOMELESSNESS AND SO MANY IMPORTANT TOPICS IN JUST ONE MUSICAL

keep reading if you want to see my theatre nerd side, i basically swoon over set design, backstage, lights, model choices, etc.

AS SOMEONE WHO LOVES THEATRE PRODUCTION A LOT MORE THAN ACTING, THE STAGE THEY USED TO CONVEY THIS MUSICAL HAS SO MUCH AS WELL!

LIGHTS, SOUND, PROPS AND MANAGEMENT OF SPACE WENT SO WELL AT THE FESTIVAL THEATRE!

its something called a thrust stage at the festival theatre, which is different than your usual type of stage, aka the proscenium stage. the thrust stage thrusts to the centre of the room, making it so that you can watch the play from all angles, and not specifically need to get centre, front row seats. you can see with the second photo below that even the people at the edge get an interesting perspective.

the actors and designers also have a fun time with thrust stages! you have to act with your entire body, as all pov seats can watch you, and designers have to be careful about props and use space wisely, especially since its a much smaller space than your usual, and theres no curtains meaning that scene changes have to be imaginative as well.

as you can see with the photo i took, i did in fact get centre front seats, only because a huge tour group backed out last seconds and my mom was able to snag the tickets.

(i actually watched it twice! first time at the festival was with the theatre group where i was looking at all the lights and cues and analyzing shit, but second time was bc my siblings wanted to watch it live and i could sit back and enjoy the show, looking at some things i wanted to rewatch that other campers had talked about that i missed (the first photo i took of the stage is from camp, on the balcony, while the second is the most recent and from in front of the stage))

from theatre camp, i also got the absolute privlage to get a tour of the festival theatre, and watch a changeover. since the festival theatre goes through multiple plays a day (richard III for a matinee, rent as a night show just as an example) they change the entire set.

i dont care about shakespeare, so were here to talk about the changeover to rent. they expanded the stage and made it much denser material, since people will be dancing on it, and changed the sudden drop to stairs, so the actors wouldnt trip on stage or while dancing. they also added that small platform to the centre of the stage, and did so much with it!

at first, that small platform was used as mark and rogers apartment, and there were metaphorical walls that everyone could see. even though collins was standing RIGHT NEXT TO THEM, he wasnt on the platform and was looking upwards, while mark was looking downwards, signalling they were on different floors.

for the 'la vie boheme' dance scene, they used it as a huge table to seat all the people around it, on the ground. they simly laid a cloth on the edges to make it a table, and the audience could take it as a table.

there was also a trapdoor in the centre of that thing, so for one musical number involving rogers and mimi, they were brought up, being the centre of attention while everyone else danced around them. it also became a small table for one scene.

the next thing the trapdoor did. it went down under the stage, where angel would climb onto it, and 'today 4 u' song, she rose out onto the stage in a puff of smoke and a badass christmas fit!!! so cool!

trapdoor was then used as a makeshift bed for angel, where collins helped her lie as she died of aids. they covered her with a huge cloth, which each of the group threw in and yelled 'im done!' and walked away, leaving collins still clutching it with angel underneath, the trapdoor going inwards as her grave.

let me tell you. they transitioned so well. the trapdoor went back into the trap room, where collins would also let go of the cloth and got it to sink into the hole. id assume the actor got out, the people down there would take the cloth, and while everyone on stage was doing the funeral scene, the people down there would put angels bucket with a bouquet inside and place it on the trapdoor.

theyd then let the trap back up onto stage, replacing the cloth and angel with her bucket and a bouquet in it. that made me sob the first time i saw it. holy shit.

now, away from the sad stuff and back to set design.

if you look at the photo, you can see windows in the backgrounds. they look like normal windows, until you look closer to see silhouettes in them. men and woman.

those were used A LOT to convey the scene. i cant remember the orders, but the main examples that stuck out to me:

for the 'tango maureen', the windows lit up red and you could see the people a lot better, which implies all the people shes slept with/cheated with

when they got together for the aids meeting, the windows lit up in rainbow colours to signify all the people who suffer to aids and the general lgbtq colours

when they were talking about homeless people with benny, the lights shone in different cold hues, showing all the people in tent city and how they must be freezing in the winter

'rent' the song, the windows were flashing with the song, and when the power got cut, all the lights went out except a faint blue from the lights above so the audience could still somewhat see what was happening

sound. all the cast used mics, id guess that the chorus would trade mics based on who had huge lines. before it started, you could hear general city sounds, cars, beeping, general business that you would get from new york that i found a bit cool. i think you can tell im not that passionate about sound.

alright, what else? costumes. costumes, costumes. I LOVED ANGELS FITS. HOLY FUCK, HER NEW YEARS EVE DRESS WAS SORTA TRANSPARENT BUT HAD A RAINBOW SHIMMER TO IT?! I LOVED IT SO MUCHHHHH AAAAAAAAA other than that i have little to no things about costumes... they were all wearing basic fits that were usual for the 80's, all sorts of hip-hop, t-shirts, jeans, your usual.

found some from the web! first photo is that outfit i scream about up there, and the second is her coming out of the trapdoor for 'today 4 u'!!!

okok now actors... I MET THE GUY WHO PLAYED COLLINS FOR THIS SEASON AT THE FESTIVAL!!! or, me and my entire theatre production camp did. we all got autographs, and got to speak to him bc we waited for everyone else to leave the theatre before we could go as a group, so all the actors had the time to change out of things and stuff. it turns out that someone he knew died of aids not too long ago, so his reaction to angel's death is pretty spot-on. he was so cool! the name's Lee Siegel if you wanted to look more into that.

last thing (i think). at the end, after an amazing scene where the cloth used on angel to lower her down the trapdoor was used to present all the little clips mark got over the year they all had together, angel came out of the centre door draped in this blanket, which all the cast would lay onto the stage.

and everything would go to applause.

in all, rent is amazing! <3 especially after watching tick tick boom!

(sorry for ranting i love theatre (realised i should probably save this to talk about in drama class when school starts...))

[breebreeluv]

mini intro

hey yall!! im bree, im 15, and im a renthead 4 life. im mainly into musicals and plays, like rent (ofc), falsettos, lempicka, wicked—basically if you name if i probably have watched it!! im new to the tumblr community and hope to see if i can meet some friends!!

I have some specials on other apps if you wanna check that out too!

ig: @definetlynotbree

tiktok: @breebreelg09

[incorrent-quotes]

Joanne: I need you to swear-

Maureen: Fuck.

Joanne:

Joanne: I need you to promise-

[erodingsinner]

TRACIE THOMS as JOANNE JEFFERSON.

— RENT ( 2005 )

[paloma-ascends-into-hellfire]

fun fact. musetta’s waltz, the song that roger plays on his guitar, is from la bohème, the opera rent was based off of. maureen is based on musetta. the lyrics of musetta’s waltz, translated, are:

When I walk When I walk all alone in the street, people stop and stare at me and look for my whole beauty from head to feet ...

And then I taste the slight yearning which transpires from their eyes and which is able to perceive from manifest charms to most hidden beauties. So the scent of desire is all around me, it makes me happy!

And you, while knowing, reminding and longing, you shrink from me? I know it very well: you don't want to express your anguish, but you feel as if you're dying!

sound familiar? here is the first verse of “take me or leave me”:

Every single day, I walk down the street I hear people say "baby’s so sweet” Ever since puberty Everybody stares at me Boys, girls, I can't help it baby So be kind, and don't lose your mind Just remember that I'm your baby

and some from “tango maureen”:

[MARK:] Feel like going insane Got a fire in your brain And you're thinking of drinking gasoline?

[JOANNE:] As a matter of fact-

[MARK:] Honey, I know this act It's called the Tango: Maureen

[moowithmidnight]

Maureen Johnson

[dingus0401]

525,600 minutes ago at this very moment, my life was literally changed forever. one year ago, the curtain raised and tune up #1 from Rent began in the theatre. I had been going thru a very rough time, so in many ways it feels like this show, Rent, has saved me. so thanks jonathan larson and to that entire first cast i saw who will always hold a special place in my heart