Rent Page #8

ANGEL, COLLINS, MAUREEN, MARK, MR. GREY

Brothers!

MARK, ANGEL, MIMI & THREE OTHERS

Bisexuals, trisexuals, homo sapiens,

Carcinogens, hallucinogens, men, Pee Wee Herman

German wine, turpentine, Gertrude Stein

Antonioni, Bertolucci, Kurosawa

Carmina Burana

ALL:

To apathy, to entropy, to empathy, ecstasy

Vaclav Havel - The Sex Pistols, 8BC,

To no shame - never playing the Fame Game

COLLINS:

To marijuana

ALL:

To sodomy,

It's between God and me

To S & M

(MR. GREY walks out)

BENNY:

Waiter...Waiter...Waiter

ALL:

La vie Boheme

COLLINS:

In honor of the death of Bohemia an impromptu salon will commence

immediately following dinner

Mimi Marquez, clad only in bubble wrap, will perform her famous lawn

chair-handcuff dance to the sounds of iced tea being stirred

ROGER:

Mark Cohen will preview his new documentary about his inability to hold an

erection on high holy days

(ROGER picks up an electric guitar and starts to tune it)

MARK:

Maureen Johnson, back from her spectacular one-night engagement at the

eleventh street lot,

Will sing native american tribal chants backwards through her vocoder,

While accompanying herself on the electric cello

Which she has never studied

(At this point, JOANNE has entered and seen MAUREEN playfully kiss

MARK. JOANNE exits. BENNY pulls MIMI aside)

BENNY:

Your new boyfriend doesn't know about us?

MIMI:

There's nothing to know

BENNY:

Don't you think that we should discuss-

MIMI:

It was three months ago

BENNY:

He doesn't act like he's with you

MIMI:

We're taking it slow

BENNY:

Where is he now?

MIMI:

He's right - hmm

BENNY:

Uh huh

MIMI:

Where'd he go?

MARK:

Roger will attempt to write a bittersweet, evocative song

(ROGER picks up a guitar and plays Musetta's Theme)

That doesn't remind us of "Musetta's Waltz"

COLLINS:

Angel Dumott Schunard will now model the latest fall fashions from Paris

While accompanying herself on the 10 gallon plastic pickle tub

ANGEL:

And Collins will recount his exploits as an anarchist

Including the successful reprogramming of the M.I.T. virtual reality equipment

To self-destruct, as it broadcast the words:

ALL:

"Actual reality -- Act Up -- Fight AIDS"

BENNY:

Check!

(BENNY exits. Lights on MIMI and ROGER)

MIMI:

Excuse me did I do something wrong?

I get invited then ignored all night long

ROGER:

I've been trying I'm not lying

No one's perfect I've got baggage

MIMI:

Life's too short, babe, time is flying

I'm looking for baggage that goes with mine

ROGER:

I should tell, you-

MIMI:

I've got baggage too

ROGER:

I should tell you

MIMI:

I got baggage, too

ROGER:

I should tell you

BOTH:

Baggage - wine

OTHERS:

And beer!

(Several beepers sound. Each turns off his or her beeper)

MIMI:

AZT break

(MIMI, ROGER, ANGEL, and COLLINS take pills)

ROGER:

You?

MIMI:

Me , You?

ROGER:

Mimi

(They hold hands and stare into each other's eyes lovingly. The rest of the

company freezes)

I SHOULD TELL YOU

ROGER:

I should tell you I'm disaster

I forget how to begin it

MIMI:

Let's just make this part go faster

I have yet to be in it

I should tell you

ROGER:

I should tell you

MIMI:

I should tell you

ROGER:

I should tell you

MIMI:

I should tell I blew the candle out

Just to get back in

ROGER:

I'd forgotten how to smile

Until your candle burned my skin

MIMI:

I should tell you

ROGER:

I should tell you

MIMI:

I should tell you

BOTH:

I should tell

Well, here we go

Now we-

MIMI:

Oh no

ROGER:

I know this something is

Here goes

MIMI:

Here goes

ROGER:

Guess so

It's starting to

Who knows?

MIMI:

Who knows

BOTH:

Who knows where

Who goes there

Who knows

Here goes

Trusting desire starting to learn

Walking through fire without a burn

Clinging a shoulder, a leap begins

Stinging and older, asleep on pins

So here we go

Now we

ROGER:

Oh no

MIMI:

I know

ROGER:

Oh no

BOTH:

Who knows where who goes there

Here goes here goes

Here goes here goes

Here goes here goes

LA VIE BOHEME B:

(ROGER and MIMI exit. JOANNE reenters, obviously steamed)

MAUREEN:

Are we packed?

JOANNE:

Yes and by next week

I want you to be

MAUREEN:

Pookie?

JOANNE:

And you should see

They've padlocked your building

And they're rioting on Avenue B

Benny called the cops

MAUREEN:

That f***

JOANNE:

They don't know what they're doing

The cops are sweeping the lot

But no one's leaving

They're just sitting there, mooing!

ALL:

Yeah!!!

(Pandemonium erupts in the restaurant)

To dance

A GIRL:

No way to make a living, masochism, pain, perfection

Muscle spasms, chiropractors, short careers, eating disorders

ALL:

Film

MARK:

Adventure, tedium, no family, boring locations,

Dark rooms, perfect faces, egos, money, Hollywood and sleaze

ALL:

Music

ANGEL:

Food of love, emotion, mathematics, isolation,

Rhythm, feeling, power, harmony, and heavy competition

ALL:

Anarchy

COLLINS & MAUREEN

Revolution, justice, screaming for solutions,

Forcing changes, risk, and danger

Making noise and making pleas

ALL:

To faggots, lezzies, dykes, cross dressers too

MAUREEN:

To me

MARK:

To me

COLLINS & ANGEL

To me

ALL:

To you, and you and you, you and you

To people living with, living with, living with

Not dying from disease

Let he among us without sin

Be the first to condemn

La vie Boheme

La vie Boheme

La vie Boheme

MARK:

Anyone out of the mainstream

Is anyone in the mainstream?

Anyone alive with a sex drive

OTHERS:

La vie boheme

La vie boheme

La vie boheme

MARK:

Tear down the wall

Aren't we all?

The opposite of war isn't peace

It's creation

ALL:

La vie Boheme

MARK:

The riot continues. The Christmas tree goes up in flames. The snow dances.

Oblivious, Mimi and Roger share a small, lovely kiss

ALL:

Viva la vie Boheme

Act II

(The COMPANY enters from all directions and forms a line across the

front of the stage)

SEASONS OF LOVE:

COMPANY:

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred moments so dear

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes

How do you measure - measure a year?

In daylights - In sunsets

In midnights - In cups of coffee

In inches - In miles

In laughter - In strife

In Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes

How do you measure a year in the life?

How about love?

How about love?

How about love?

Measure in love

Seasons of love

Seasons of love

SOLOIST #1

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes

Five hundred twenty-five thousand

Journeys to plan

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes

How do you measure the life

Of a woman or a man?

SOLOIST #2

In truths that she learned

Or in times that he cried

In bridges he burned

Or the way that she died

ALL:

It's time now - to sing out

Tho' the story never ends

Let's celebrate

Remember a year in the life of friends

Remember the love

Remember the love

Remember the love

Measure in love

SOLOIST #1

Measure, measure your life in love

ALL:

Seasons of love

Seasons of love

HAPPY NEW YEAR:

(New Year's Eve. The scene opens on the street outside the apartment.

one table, lying on its end, serves as the door)

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