Yay! I totally agree about "meeting" favorite actors. I had that with Gwen Stewart, which is in the Top Three Greatest and Most Incredible Experiences of My Life. You'll all see what I;m talking about in a bit...I realize it's stupid to do my comments up at the top...but oh well.

So, it's around October '05. Wait, no. September. No. October. I think. Yes. Okay. Moving on. It's October, I'm thirteen, in eighth grade. I'm at my friend's house for her birthday. We're just hanging out, going through her music player or something, when we stumble upon the Grease soundtrack. Now, I'd heard of Grease, but I never really knew what it was about. My parents weren't very into musicals, and so I was one of those rare people that hadn't seen Grease. So my friend made me watch it. I liked it. So then I was suddenly obsessed with musicals.

All right, fast-forwarding. It's November of '05. I'm downstairs in my basement, most likely curled up on the couch underneath a large blanket, watching television with my family. A commercial for this movie called RENT comes on. I didn't really think too much about it, until my mom said something like, "Oh, that's a musical. You'd love it." Which, of course, excited me. My mom promised to take me to see it. Unfortunately, we never found the time. I kept the movie in the back of my mind for a while. I remember a bunch of people singing "Seasons of Love" at callbacks for the school play.

So now it's February (of '06, of course) and I see a commercial for the DVD, being released on the 21st. It turns out that I was going to be on winter break (or something to that effect) during that week, and my dad will be home. I basically begged him to bring me to the video store the moment it opened, so I'd be able to rent a copy right away. (Let me just point out that I rented RENT. Squeeee. Okay, moving on.) And so I watched it. I remember having SUCH high expectations for the movie, and at first I was just kind of like, "huh?" I kept going back-and-forth, from, "Oh hey this is amazing!" to "What the hell am I watching?" I watched it all on subtitles because I was afraid to miss anything.

The first time I started to cry was during Without You. And when I say crying, I mean sobbing. And I didn't stop crying (sobbing) until What You Own, and then started up again by the time Mimi told Roger "I should tell you...I love you," during Finale A. And cried the whole time. I knew this movie was something really special.

The next day we went on a hunt for the movie, seeing as it was sold out everywhere. I remember walking into Circuit City and asking where the DVD section was, and having the salesman go, "It's over there, but if you're looking for copies of RENT, we're sold out." So funny. I ended up buying it at a random video store no where near my house. I think I went home and watched it again.

The rest of my memory is kind of fuzzy, but I know I came back to school after break raving about the movie to everyone who would listen. I was probably searching online for
everything I could learn about the cast and the history of the show as well.

I remember this being around April, when my friend, (who I'd temporarily turned into a Renthead) borrowed a copy of the OBCR, and made a copy of it for herself. But not for me, oddly enough. I borrow it all the time, though, because she doesn't listen to it anymore. I remember being appalled at Daphne's voice compared to Rosario's, although now I prefer Daphne's Mimi. I saw the show on Broadway for the first time on September 16th, 2006. I was in love, while my mother sat next to me asking annoying plot-related questions and I tried not to sing along and annoy the people around me.

Between that day and today, I think I've done about ten projects in school relating to or somehow including RENT in one form or another. It's sickening.

OH MY GOSH HOW COULD I FORGET. I was just about to be like, "Thanks for reading" when I haven't mentioned August 11th, 2007. How could I forget? Holy Rogerpants! (Coined that one myself ;) That's the day I saw Anthony and Adam!!!! Ahh best day of my life. Their performance was great and it was so surreal to be there, seeing them perform live. I had to fight myself really hard not to break out into hysterics. Really. The second Anthony walked out onstage I could feel my eyes filling with tears of joy and my bottom lip trembling. I held it together, though, because I was sitting in between my friend and her mom and it would have been awkward. I didn't get to meet them at the stage door, but seeing them perform was an amazing experience in itself and I'm so grateful I was able to go see them. I mean, I wasn't really too upset about being unable to meet them, anyway, because, by my standards, it wouldn't really be meeting them. It would be more like, "OH HAY ANTHONY/ADAM COULD U PLZ SIGN MY PLAYBILL KTHNXBYE" which I wouldn't really count as 'meeting' them. My definition of 'meeting' a favorite actor of mine would be a chance to speak to them and tell them how much I admire their work and their performance and whatnot. Okay, done babbling.

Oh, random things I forgot to add:

1) Because of RENT, I'm now the HUGEST Idina Menzel fangirl in the entire world. If it wasn't for RENT, I probably wouldn't have discovered her wonderfulmusic. Seriously, people. Listen to her stuff. It's amazing.

2) Originally, I don't know why, but I thought Idina was Tracie and vice versa. I was really confused when I read the end credits, lol

3) I hated Mimi when I first saw the movie and thought it was just her character until I saw Tamyra Gray and realized it was Rosario the whole time.

4) "Wanna see my tango pose?" ß Just thought of that randomly; I love the commentary.

RENT has really changed my life. I try to live each day to the fullest and live by the "no day but today" kind of attitude. I think I have a completely different outlook on life after seeing the show. Also, my views on homosexuality, stereotypes, etc have changed. I'm much more accepting of people's opinions and ideas and I'm very into being my own person and not caring what everyone else thinks of me.

By Vicki aka The Heart Yearns (I hope this is the right pen name)