There. I said it. I’m out of the closet. I like musicals. Particularly musicals adapted to film. The Sound of Music? Love it! Chicago? Moulin Rouge? Yes and yes. Jesus Christ Superstar? One of my top three all time films.
So, last night Kerri and I watched Rent, and I quite enjoyed it. Good songs. Good stories. And who wouldn’t want to see Detective Greene pirouette? I missed the firestorm when Rent first arrived, and it’s probably a good thing. I doubt that I would have given it a fair shot. Today, however, I’m glad to have seen it. It’ll be one I keep my eye out for should a touring company come through Dayton. If I’m forced to complain, I’ll say the vocals could have been a little stronger over the music is some places. There were times where I found it hard to understand the lyrics.
Rent’s central question remains: “How do you measure a year in the life?” Perspective is a theme I often find myself revisiting. (Warning: Brutal honesty and unfocused rambling ahead!) Late last night Kerri and I sat on the back porch listening to the drunken idiot with the megaphone lead his fellow morons through an orgy of mud wrestling and pyrotechnics. In the depression of the moment, my thoughts vaccilated between wanting them to blow off a few fingers and die of alcohol poisoning to lamenting the fact I had to live in a neighborhood where this, or something similar, occurred nearly every 4th of July. At some point, Kerri said, “It could be worse,” and as usual she’s right. I’ll take fireworks over car bombs any day… though I’d rather there be neither.
But then, what is the real problem? It is that there are destructive idiots in the world? Or is it that there are destructive idiots near me and my family? My how easy it is to recast everything in terms of the second question. Out of sight, out of mind, right? A big part of life is striving to maintain the right perspective, one that sees the larger world and not just the one that exists within the walls of my home, my job, my car. That’s the challenge I face. That’s the challenge we all face.
“How do you measure a year in the life? How about love?“
Seems like a good standard for measurement to me.
