Rent Page #2
COLLINS:
Getting dizzy
(He collapses.)
MARK & ROGER
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
Last year's rent
(MARK and ROGER stoke the fire. Crosscut to BENNY's Range Rover)
BENNY:
(On cellular phone)
Alison baby -- you sound sad
I don't believe those two after everything I've done
Ever since our wedding I'm dirt -- They'll see
I can help them all out in the long run
(Three locales:
JOANNE at the pay phone, MARK and ROGER in theirloft, and COLLINS on the ground. The following is sung simultaneously)
BENNY:
Forces are gathering
Forces are gathering
Can't turn away
Forces are gathering
COLLINS:
Ughhhhh--
Ughhhhh--
Ughhhhh-- I can't think
Ughhhhh--
Ughhhhh--
Ughhhhh-- I need a drink
MARK (reading from a script page)
"The music ignites the night with passionate fire"
JOANNE:
Maureen -- I'm not a theatre person
ROGER:
"The narration crackles and pops with incendiary wit"
JOANNE:
Could never be a theatre person
MARK:
Zoom in as they burn the past to the ground
JOANNE (realizing she's been cut off)
Hello?
MARK & ROGER
And feel the heat of the future's glow
JOANNE:
Hello?
(The phone rings in the loft. MARK picks it up)
MARK:
(On phone)
Hello? Maureen?
--Your equipment won't work?
Okay, all right, I'll go!
How do you leave the past behind
When it keeps finding ways to get to your heart
It reaches way down deep and tears you inside out
Till you're torn apart
Rent!
How can you connect in an age
Where strangers, landlords, lovers
ALL:
What binds the fabric together
When the raging, shifting winds of change
Keep ripping away
BENNY:
Draw a line in the sand
And then make a stand
ROGER:
Use your camera to spar
MARK:
Use your guitar
ALL:
When they act tough - you call their bluff
MARK & ROGER
We're not gonna pay
MARK & ROGER W/HALF THE COMPANY
We're not gonna pay
MARK & ROGER W/OTHER HALF OF COMPANY
We're not gonna pay
ALL:
Last year's rent
This year's rent
Next year's rent
Rent rent rent rent rent
We're not gonna pay rent
ROGER & MARK
'Cause everything is rent
"YOU OKAY HONEY? (The street)"
(The street in front of the pay phone. A HOMELESS MAN appears above
on the right. Across the stage, ANGEL DUMOTT SCHUNARD is seated
on the Christmas tree sculpture, with a plastic pickle tub balanced like a
drum between his knees)
A HOMELESS MAN:
Christmas bells are ringing
Christmas bells are ringing
Christmas bells are ringing
Somewhere else!
Not here
(The HOMELESS MAN exits. ANGEL gets a good beat going on the tub,
but is interrupted by a moan. He starts to drum again and sees COLLINS
limp to downstage-left proscenium)
ANGEL:
You okay honey?
COLLINS:
I'm afraid so
ANGEL:
They get any money?
COLLINS:
No
Had none to get
But they purloined my coat
Well you missed a sleeve! - Thanks
ANGEL:
Hell, it's Christmas Eve
I'm Angel
COLLINS:
Angel..? Indeed
Friends call me Collins - Tom Collins
Nice tree..
ANGEL:
Let's get a band-aid for your knee
I'll change, there's a "Life Support" meeting at nine-thirty
Yes this body provides a comfortable home
For the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
COLLINS:
As does mine
ANGEL:
We'll get along fine
Get you a coat, have a bite
Make a night I'm flush
COLLINS:
My friends are waiting
ANGEL:
You're cute when you blush
The more the merri ho ho ho
And I do not take no
(ANGEL and COLLINS walk off stage right.)
"TUNE UP #3 (The loft)"
(Lights come up on loft)
ROGER:
Where are you going?
MARK:
Maureen calls.
ROGER:
You're such a sucker!
MARK:
I don't suppose you'd like to see her show in the lot tonight?
(ROGER shrugs)
Or come to dinner?
ROGER:
Zoom in on my empty wallet
MARK:
Touche. Take your AZT
Close on Roger
His girlfriend April
Left a note saying "We've got AIDS"
Before slitting her wrists in the bathroom
I'll check up on you later - Change your mind. You have to get out of the
house.
(He exits)
ROGER:
I'm writing one great song before I.
"ONE SONG GLORY"
One song
Glory
One song
Before I go
Glory
One song to leave behind
Find one song
One last refrain
Glory
Who wasted opportunity
One song
He had the world at his feet
Glory
In the eyes of a young girl
A young girl
Find glory
Beyond the cheap colored lights
One song
Before the sun sets
Time flies - time dies
Glory - One blaze of glory
Find
Glory
In a song that rings true
Truth like a blazing fire
An eternal flame
Find
One song
A song about love
Glory
From the soul of a young man
A young man
Find
The one song
Glory
Like a sunset
One song
Time flies
And then - no need to endure anymore
Time dies
(ROGER is interrupted by a sharp knock on the door. It is MIMI
MARQUEZ, a beautiful stranger from downstairs)
The door
(ROGER crosses to the door)
"LIGHT MY CANDLE"
ROGER:
What'd you forget?
(MIMI enters, holding a candle and looking for a match; her electricity is
down, too)
MIMI:
Got a light?
ROGER:
I know you? You're
You're shivering
MIMI:
It's nothing
They turned off my heat
And I'm just a little
Weak on my feet
Would you light my candle?
What are you staring at?
ROGER:
Nothing
Your hair in the moonlight
You look familiar
(He lights her candle. MIMI starts to leave, but stumbles)
Can you make it?
MIMI:
Just haven't eaten much today
At least the room stopped spinning
Anyway, What?
ROGER:
Nothing
MIMI:
I always remind people of who is she?
ROGER:
She died, Her name was April
(MIMI discreetly blows out the candle)
MIMI:
It's out again
Sorry about your friend
Would you light my candle?
(ROGER lights the candle. They linger, awkwardly)
ROGER:
Well-
MIMI:
Yeah. Ow!
ROGER:
Oh, the wax it's --
MIMI:
Dripping! I like it -- between my --
ROGER:
Fingers. I figured...
Oh, well. Goodnight
(MIMI exits. ROGER heads back toward his guitar on the table. There is
another knock, which he answers)
It blew out again?
MIMI:
No - I think that I dropped my stash
ROGER:
I know I've seen you out and about
When I used to go out
Your candle's out
MIMI:
I'm illin'
I had it when I walked in the door
It was pure
Is it on the floor?
ROGER:
The floor?
(MIMI gets down on all fours and starts searching the floor for her stash.
She looks back at ROGER, who is staring at her again)
MIMI:
They say I have the best ass below 14th street
Is it true?
ROGER:
What?
MIMI:
You're staring again
ROGER:
Oh no
I mean you do - have a nice-
I mean , You look familiar
MIMI:
Like your dead girlfriend?
ROGER:
Only when you smile
But I'm sure I've seen you somewhere else
MIMI:
Do you go to the Cat Scratch Club?
That's where I work - I dance - help me look
ROGER:
Yes!
They used to tie you up-
MIMI:
It's a living
ROGER:
I didn't recognize you
Without the handcuffs
MIMI:
Oh won't you light the candle?
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"Rent" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/rent_738>.
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