A/N: Little bit of explaing for this fic. I had a sudden fit of RENT-love. I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about. And I had to put it down on paper-or rather, type it out. This is about the Broadway show and RENT onstage, but you can read it even if you've never seen RENT onstage. It's just about RENT and love. That's all.
There's so much more to say about RENT and what it means to me...and millions of others. No one can ever write down the extent of their true feelings, and I've barely touched upon the surface of mine here. But loving RENT is part of me, and sometimes I just have to say it out loud.
She twists and gyrates along the metal bars, her hips fluid in the shining blue, her body curved like a question mark as she undulates. Her lips are painted dark purple and her boots cling to the makeshift fire escape like mechanical clamp. She's dance embodied, fiery and sexy and loud as hell.
You want to watch her forever.
He sits on the flat metal table, plaid pants stretching to cover his legs as his head tilts backwards in song. The light casts a gigantic shadow on the opposite wall, bending with the steps and the fire escape. The notes explode from him one by one, soft and pained and then growled with volume, yearning in every ringing sound.
You want to listen to him forever.
The two of them can't stop smiling as they dance across the stage, his arms wrapped around her waist and her heels flashing in the stage lights. They have real love in their eyes, real joy in their bodies as they sing about sheltering and loving and kisses. Her clothes are gorgeous, beautiful on a body they were not designed for. He is big and cheerful and the person you want to be your best friend. They may not be real in some terms, but in others they are reality itself.
You want to smile with them forever.
She's loud and goofy and dirty-hot, while she is curvier and drier and just as loud. The two of them circle on stage, shouting words of love laced with aggravation. The music crescendos and you want to leap from your seat in pure joy. They start syncing, voices blasting the roof off as the tension builds and breaks in a flood of energy.
You want them to sing forever.
He's sharp, sarcastic, wrong and right at the same time. You can feel how they turn their backs to him, how he wants back in and yet, at the same time, he wants to stay free. He darts back and forth, trying to make amends and breaking bridges at the same time. And finally, at the end, you realize he isn't so bad after all.
You want to find out more about him…forever.
And finally there's the last one: the one without an opposite, the one who can explode with energy and yet sings as mournfully as one in prayer. He narrates the story to you, becomes your friend through the feeling of being removed from the action. His scarf and camera are like little comforts to you as you go up and down the emotional roller coaster. He is the bridge between the audience and the show: you learn to hang onto him as your heart aches and glows.
You want to be stay with him forever.
Love is in many different forms. Family, friends, enemies even, all share a kind of love. And when you step inside that theater and feel that rush of terrific love, both from the stage and music that change you into something you've always wanted to be but never really tried to be, then you understand. You understand how it accepts everyone, how it offers love and support through pain and sadness. This show has seen both, and it has also seen joy and beauty. It survives death and misfortune by celebration. It does not exclude, it does not cause real hurt. It reawakens your heart and sends you spinning into an abyss where magic waits.
And this show speaks truth. For those who never knew the pain of past times, it brings it to life. It shows the younger ones how life used to be; it provides a tunnel backwards. Maybe it isn't verbatim of those times…but it's a window in a darkened house. Maybe you weren't there back then, maybe you didn't love it back then. But that's the thing about love: it can appear everywhere and whenever it wants. Love keeps coming and this show loves back.
Rent changes people and lives. It loves you when you need it to. It will never forget you, even if you forget it.
Thank you, Jonathan Larson.
