rent @ playhouse square

i hope my "narration pops with incendiary wit..."

so as a self-proclaimed theater geek growing up 30 minutes south of NYC, i was spoiled rotten by the proximity of broadway.  my friends and i would often hop the train and buy cheap tickets to our favorite shows on any given weekend.  my favorite musical is RENT and i remember the first time i saw it (with the original broadway cast) in 1997...whoa i feel old.  i've seen my fair share of musicals and outstanding performances by extremely talented casts, but nothing as incredible as RENT.  after seeing daphne rubin-vega, anthony rapp, adam pascal, idina menzel, taye diggs and jesse l. martin give earth-shattering performances, i was hooked and continued to see the show so many times, i've lost count. 

      as i have moved all over the place, i can always adapt to new cities and ways of life,  but i always miss broadway.  luckily for me, when i moved to cleveland, i knew that there was a great theater scene here.  playhouse square always has a show worth seeing, so when i heard that Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal would be reprising their roles in the tour, i knew i had to see it!  i have had the pleasure of seeing anthony and adam not only in rent but in their original broadway roles as charlie brown and radames (aida) respectively.  they really are incredibly talented artists. so i  went to the theater in hopes of winning the ticket lottery (the first two rows of RENT are not available for purchase until the day of the show when winners are chosen and tickets are only $20), but i had no idea the show would be so popular and i missed out.  i was pretty bummed and about to leave when i decided ask if there were any tickets available for purchase.  i figured that sitting in the rafters to see two of my favorite broadway actors in my favorite show for the last time.  i neglected to mention that this is RENT's final tour before the show becomes available for community theaters to butcher nationwide.    long story short, i ended up getting a single seat on the center aisle of the 3rd row! i was beside myself.  the show was INCREDIBLE and i couldn't believe how anthony and adam hadn't aged a day in 12 years!  the rest of the cast rocked and i was so amped with energy from the performance and hearing my favorite songs, "one song, glory" and "la vie boheme."  i was also excited when they changed a line in the show to be "you can take the girl out of jersey, but you can't take the jersey out of the girl." (HOLLER!)

 

just when i thought my experience couldn't get any better, the girl next to me told me anthony and adam were doing a meet-and-greet at the barnes and noble at crocker park the next morning! well, can you guess where i was on thursday morning?!?!? top 10 best experiences of my life, hands down.  i got to ask a question and i brought my framed picture of my friend and i outside of the nederlander theater in '97 for them to autograph.  the guys were so nice and i was absolutely star struck.  

i know theater, especially musical theater isn't for everyone, but playhouse square hosts such a wide variety of touring entertainment, you will definitely be able to find something that interests you.  treat yourself and support the arts at the same time!  

here are some pictures of my fantastic day: