Smalltown high school performing Rent, the musical?

Question

i live in a town, pop. about 20,000. what do u think about the high school of a conservative town performing the musical, Rent, for the fall play? I was discussing it with my friends and they thought that if it was even suggest, there would be a lot of contraversy.

Answer 1

Rent was a very disappointing musical to me.

Consider AIDA

The Elton John/Tim Rice version.

The high school here did it and I thought it was better than the professional version. The kids showed such emotion.

Answer 2

Rent is a great show, but it would be incredibly hard if not impossible to do it at a high school. I can almost gaurentee parents would complain about the subject matter, especially if you live in a small, conservative town. Cross dressers, AIDS, gays and lesbians, and strippers aren't really appropriate for kids to perform. I would also be afraid that some of the kids wouldn't take it seriously (especially songs like I'll Cover You, Take Me or Leave Me, etc.) I'd stick with something like Grease because it has the same rock and roll feel, but is more appropriate for a high school

Answer 3

The rights to Rent have been restricted. It may currently only be performed on Broadway and on the national tour. If you performed it and were found out or reported your school would be fined. It's a huge violation to perform a show without getting the proper rights... I suggest you get a show you have the proper license to perform.

Once the rights become available, I think Rent is a great show to perform regardless of how liberal or conservative a place is. In fact, I think a conservative town could use a show like Rent. Maybe it could help change some ignorant minds.

Answer 4

I'm an acting teacher and if my students wanted to put on Rent, I would probably say no. Rent is one of my favorite musicals and I have been in it. Rent is too inappropriate for a high school production. If you were in college, then I would say go for it, but you're not. There will be a lot of younger siblings in the audience and Rent is something that they should see when they are older. Rent has a lot of foul language, sexual content, and homosexual content. You don't want to accidentally offend someone by putting Rent on. But, if you really want to, then go for it. But, with my experience of being a high school drama teacher and dealing with parents' complaints, I would say don't do it. Rent is a fantastic musical though and I would reccommend everyone to go see and experience it.

Answer 5

I absolutely love Rent, but I can't see it being performed by a High School - Did they just do selections from Rent? I know a local teen company that did that - the ones that wouldn't freak out their parents, changing a few lyrics here and there, you know.

My school did Sweet Charity this past year, and there was a ton of controversy. The local papers had articles questioning the appropriateness of that show for our age group, etc. Just for Sweet Charity! Plus, the tour of that show had just come to our city, so it got a LOT of publicity.

But I just can't see Rent as a high school play.

Answer 6

Honestly, I don't think RENT would be a good play for a high school to do. It's one of my favorite musicals, but I don't think it's approprite for school. I think you should consider doing something else. My school did a performace called "Once on this Island" this year. The music was difficult, but good. And it's really a touching story. Chicago or Grease could also be done, though they also have some questionable material. Whatever you do, though, I wish you luck with this performance!

If you want... go to www.mtishows.com: They've got a bunch of stuff.

Answer 7

Rent is one of my favorite musicals, as long as you can pull it off well with your high school, it should be great. But if you can't it'll suck and I'll be really dissapointed!
Also Rent being preformed by a high school... not really sure, especially if your town's really conservative. You might not be able to deal with the gay themes of the play. But give it a shot anyway

Answer 8

if your town is conservative be prepared for the heat. Rent is a wonderful show but it's subject matter includes gay themes, aids, transvestites, and drug use. I know what it's like to live in a small town and want to open the doors to something like that and try to make people think but be prepared for a lot of people to be upset about it.

And the rights are no longer restricted, they are available on MTIshows.com. They are restricted because the show is on broadway and on tour, if your town is within a certain distance of NYC or a venue that the tour is playing you may not be able to get the rights.

Answer 9

Rent is an amazing musical.
If you can get the rights to it, and your school will allow it, I say go for it.
However there is some seriously controversial subject matters. The song "contact" for instance, you might want to cut.
I've seen Rent, and it's one of my absolute favorites.

Answer 10

I agree .... Rent is my favorite show, but I would rather (and no offense) see 14,15,16, year old kids playing out the parts of HIV positive homosexuals, druggies, transexuals, sex scenes, etc....not appropriate for even a liberal town. I always like the classic's - Joe and the Techno colored dream coat, footloose, maybe some kind of compilation - like Smokey Joes...

Answer 11

Outside of the subject matter, even if you wanted to do RENT, you couldn't. The rights are still restricted due to it still playing on Broadway. And to produce the show without rights is a major no-no, legally speaking.

EDITED TO ADD:

I'm not sure why someone has said that the rights are not restricted when the link I supplied clearly said it was.