Rent/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Adaptation Displacement: The musical is probably more well-known in some circles than La Boheme, the opera it was based off of.
  • Alternative Character Interpretation: Some people who don't care for the protagonists view Benny as the Only Sane Man.
  • Awesome Music: Finale B. It incorporates several songs from before in an all-out, heartwrenching, and simply awesome finale, with the entire cast. Higher voices get one layer, lower ones get another, and the melodies simply interact with perfection. Heck, Angel even sings in it! This is evident in the Broadway version, as s/he runs out to join them in the end. Not so much in the movie, but if you listen closely you can hear him/her.
    • In an alternate ending available on the DVD, Angel DOES come out for it.
    • "La Vie Boheme". Loud, raucous, and infectious, complete with table-dancing, mooning, and "up-yours" gestures. If you're not singing and dancing along by the time Mark hits "To days of inspiration, playing hooky, making something out of nothing...", there's something wrong.
    • Pretty much every song has its fans for one reason or another.
  • Designated Hero: How much you like the show may be limited to the amount of sympathy you're willing to feel for somewhat elitist and morally questionable (read: dog-killing) characters complaining about poverty they imposed on themselves.
  • Designated Villain: Benny, to an extent. Although he keeps telling the main characters to pay the rent or be evicted, on closer scrutiny he doesn't really do anything that bad. His biggest crime seems to be being a yuppie snob. And then there are those times when the main characters annoy or freak him out for no apparent reason (i.e., the "La Vie Boheme" sequence). And especially in the stage version, it's made clear he does have the best intentions for Mimi.
  • Ear Worm: Every song in the show. Every. Freaking. SONG. Particular offenders are "La Vie Boheme A" (see the entry), "Take Me Or Leave Me", "Light My Candle" and you guessed it, "Seasons Of Love" (Five-hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes...).
  • Ending Fatigue: After the non-stop action of the first act, the second act seems a bit disjointed by comparison, allegedly due to the author never completing his revisions to the script.
    • That's partially a structural thing as well: the first act has no scene breaks and (on stage at least) depicts almost in Real Time the course of one Christmas Eve. Then the second act brings in lot of Time Skips because it gives an overview of the year that follows.
  • Fan Dumb: The Rentheads. Oh God, the Rentheads...
  • Heartwarming Moments: On opening night, the day after Larson's very sudden death, the entire cast paid tribute by performing the musical that night sitting down at a table on the stage. By the time they reached La Vie Boheme, they realized they couldn't do the song justice without getting up and acting crazy and that Jonathan would have wanted them to do it right. Cue Anthony Rapp (Mark) getting on the table and starting the song, with the rest of the cast following--not just because it was supposed to happen, but because they got genuinely caught up in the song.
  • Ho Yay: Even beyond the Cast Full of Gay, there seems to be a lot of Subtext between Roger and Mark.
  • Narm Charm: Maureen's performance-art piece.
  • Signature Song: Roger Davis' "One Song Glory".
  • Tear Jerker: It varies from person to person, but especially, as noted above, the Dark Reprise of I'll Cover You.
    • Multiple fans can't get through "Goodbye Love" without crying.
    • This troper has taken a poll on when it's acceptable to cry during Rent. "One Song Glory", "Without You", "I'll Cover You (Reprise)", "Goodbye Love" and "Your Eyes" were all mentioned.
      • Hey! Did you forget "Finale B"? Or "Life Support" or "Will I?"
    • "Halloween" is a quieter one.
    • Who else cried Tears of Joy during the first "I'll Cover You"?
      • *Troper raises hand* It's just so sweet!
  • Unfortunate Implications: Despite Rent's diverse cast, the two central characters whom we spend the most time with are the two straight white guys.
    • Also, the only character who dies is Angel Dumott Schunard, a gay drag queen. Mimi, who's done some objectionable things but is straight, manages to live, at least for a little while.
      • Wait, are you saying that Angel hasn't done anything objectionable? Killing a dog isn't a good thing to do.
    • Mimi forces herself on an initially unwilling Roger, but then he falls in love with her so it's OK. Imagine if it was Roger forcing himself on an unwilling Mimi...
  • The Woobie: Collins. Admit it, you wanted to give him a hug during the Dark Reprise of "I'll Cover You".
    • Hell, half the cast qualifies, but this troper'd like to add Mark--hiding behind a camera to avoid facing the inevitable fact that his friends will die, and faking smiles to attempt to seem the pillar of the group? Awwwwww.
    • Tracie Thoms made Joanne especially Woobie-ish in the movie version as well. Even though she's supposed to be stronger and more uptight, Tracie is just so helpless-looking sometimes. This Troper wanted to hug her during "I'm Okay".
    • Rosario Dawson's Mimi is so hopelessly in love with Roger, it makes you want to smack him for throwing her out.
      • She also seems to have trouble saving herself from self-destructive decisions, so add that to the woobie pile.
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