This Saturday, when we went to watch La Boheme, I found it to be a pleasant experience. The cast was incredibly talented, the costume design and set design were exceptional, and I was truly shocked when they brought out live animals. I also really loved the second act, because it was so crazy seeing so many people on the stage, and all of them were doing their own thing. I lost track of the main characters sometimes because I was so focused on watching what the background characters were doing. However, I found the plot to be quite uninteresting, and I was not incredibly invested in the relationship between Mimi and Rodolfo.
By contrast, the plot of Rent was far more dynamic, and I enjoyed how the characters appeared to be layered, like how Rents Mimi suffered from a drug addiction and HIV, rather than TB, and we could actually see her struggle. I also found that the extended cast aside from Mimi and Rodolfo in La Boheme was entirely forgettable, while in Rent characters appear to actually all have storylines. The storylines were emotionally impactful too, unlike La Boheme. For example, I was actually invested in the relationship between Tom Collins and Angel, and was sad when Angel died. My annoyance for Maureen and her scandalous ways was also very real. I think as a person, Maureen’s counterpart in La Boheme was preferable, but Maureen was a better written character nonetheless. In La Boheme, I was not incredibly moved by Mimi’s death, because her character was mostly bland, and didn’t really show me much of her personality. However, Mimi’s survival in Rent was more impactful because I was actually concerned with whether she will live or die, and Angels death was far sadder than Mimi’s in La Boheme, even though Mimi was a main character. I also enjoyed that we could see how the depths of the characters passions for what they do, and how it motivates them to continue even when they are in absolute poverty, rather than in La Boheme where we don’t see much of the casts work. All in all, I preferred Rent, but I do want to say I thought Angel being named Angel was kind of on the nose.
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