No, I’m not trying to get rid of a motorhome. Instead, the trailer (Quicktime) for the adaptation of the great hit musical Rent was released today. It’s directed by Chris Columbus, who’s had a very unremarkable movie career. Additionally, the actors–being mostly the original Broadway cast–are a bit long in the tooth. Still, I’m looking forward to the film. You may not know that Jesse L. Martin, who plays Detective Ed Green on Law & Order, is also a heck of a singer.
Being pretty familiar with the stage musical, I’m not sure I’d have built the trailer the way they did. It’s a dialogue-free montage entirely constructed around “Seasons of Love”. I’d have gone for something a little more Moulin Rouge-esque. Oddly, as of this morning, you can’t access the trailer from the movie site’s front page.
I see that the movie site has a blog. It’s frequently updated, and even accepts comments. Here Idina Menzel writes about an exhausting day performing La Vie Boheme over and over again:
We must have shot “La Vie Boheme” 723 times today. That’s a lot of mooning for me. For any of you that are new to the show, Maureen tries to embarrass Benny in front of these investors by dropping trou. Needless to say the crew is well acquainted with my ass and that’s ok because they are the coolest guys ever.
She got 355 comments regarding her ass. Clearly the film has a built-in fan base foaming at the mouth for this film. German Wine, Turpentine, Gertrude Stein, Antonioni, Bertolucci, Kurosawa, Carmina Burana…
DarrenBarefoot.com 
I dunno, Tom Collins is supposed to be older than the rest of them, but yah. I came to the musical through the soundtrack – didn’t see it until years after I had every song memorized, and I was surprisingly moved by it; I hope they do the it justice.
So first Phantom, now Rent. Are musicals finally ‘back’ ? Let’s hear it for Paint Your Wagon, everyone!
Or better yet, dragging out Carol Channing for a film version of Hello, Dolly. . .
Jesse L. Martin and his late colleague Jerry Orbach shared singing in common—Orbach first gained fame in Broadway musicals decades ago, and he was the voice of Lumiere in Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.” Even though I know that, and even when I hear it on the film, I have a hard time imagining that the singing French lamp is Lenny from Law & Order.
Martin did a tribute to Orbach on the Tonys last week, singing “Razzle Dazzle” from Chicago, a song Orbach originated.
dunh-dah!