Glory

There was a group of talented kids from Huston and OCSA that decided to direct and produce RENT through Huston. I love Rent. I think I’ve only seen it once on Broadway but I’ve listened to thousands of hours of Glory, Light my Candle, Another Day, Without You, La Vie Boheme, Take Me or Leave Me, to name just a few.

I can not pick a favorite.

I can rap out La Vie Boeme 85% of the way, by heart, without looking at lyrics.

When I heard it was playing for a weekend, I NAGGED my children. I would have gone by myself but both of them have never seen Rent. While they both haunt the Broadway Spotify channel, seeing it is just DIFFERENT.

I got Sam to agree to watch it with me, even if I had to listen to her complain 100x about how it was at her old high school. And how she didn’t want to go there. And it was torture to show up. I had to keep reminding her that her old Director would not even BE there.

The way this Director haunts both of my children is so curious.

I need them to unpack that in therapy.

Anyway.

I don’t know how these talented kids can be just as good – and sometimes better – than the Broadway shows but it was so good. Two of the kids have actually BEEN in touring Broadway shows so maybe that’s it?

I had to clutch at Sam’s hand when One Song Glory came on. Brendan was so good.

There was a live band and the drums made it a LITTLE hard to hear, which Sam complained about later but she enjoyed it.

I just loved it.

Griffin had a packed schedule but went to see it and was also obsessed.

The parents sitting next to me were watching their kid who was playing Tom Collins. I guess he was in music in OCSA and had never acted before. They had watched it the night before and the Dad was so sweet and proud. In the 2nd half, they started fumbling really awkwardly with their phone and I was starting to get really irritated that they were playing with it – until I realized that they were trying to figure out how to film his big song.

This was a few weeks ago but I can’t get it out of my head so I wanted to write it out but wow, this song just HIT me.

I’ll Cover You is a fun bop, watching two people in love be so sweet together.

The Reprise is a slow, tortured, mournful HAUNTING sob fest after his lover died. The singer did such a good job. His voice soared over it.

Okay, I am listening to it right now and yes, crying at 6am in the morning. Maybe I needed it.

I felt so weird with Sam sitting next to me during the play and I didn’t even bother wiping my eyes as tears came down. I have no idea if she realized if I was crying or not (she didn’t say anything later) but I was trying to hide it. I figured if I just let the tears roll down my face and not wipe my eyes, I could get away with it.

There is something really weird about tears rolling down your face and not wiping them away. What is it? Vulnerability? Sitting with it? Surrendering to the moment?

It’s kinda weird. But did I want to answer questions on why I was sobbing at this play? Not really. So I just let them roll and dry on my face.

So with a thousand sweet kisses
(If you’re cold and you’re lonely) I’ll cover you
With a thousand sweet kisses
(You’ve got one nickel only) I’ll cover you
With a thousand sweet kisses
(When you’re worn out and tired) I’ll cover you
With a thousand sweet kisses
(When your heart has expired) I’ll cover you

Which pops into 525,600 minutes and Seasons of Love reprise and it was literally just what I needed in that moment to be able to hear all those lovely Rent songs.

And I had forgotten about how haunting Goodbye Love was. When Mimi was listening to them speak about her and admitted she had heard Roger was leaving and it intertwines Goodbye Love into Glory is just so… perfection.

You don’t want baggage
Without lifetime guarantees
You don’t want to watch me die
I just came to say goodbye love
Goodbye love, came to say goodbye love
Goodbye
Just came to say
Goodbye love (glory)
Goodbye love (one blaze of glory)
Goodbye love, goodbye (I have to find)

I did listen to the soundtrack for a full straight week after that. Okay, maybe just three days because I was switching off with Gracie Abrams. And one night I was cooking dinner and blasting the soundtrack and singing at the top of my lungs and it was so lovely.

I need to watch this play at least once every few years.

I did laugh about the fact that I never really QUITE realized that Angel did kill the dog. I know they sang about it but I thought they were joking? But when I heard the song again in the beginning it all made sense.

Such a great soundtrack. Such a great play. The kids did amazing. Granted, a few of them were in college but still, they were kids.

It amuses me how many plays I see a year. I always think it’s not going to be that many but I’ve seen 5 so far this year and have three more scheduled.