I've seen the show on Broadway. It's about a group of Bohemian friends- Mark, the dumped Jewish cameraman, Roger, a musician who's HIV+, Mimi, a dancer who's also HIV+, Collins, a computer wizard with AIDS, Angel, a transvestite street drummer, Maureen, a sleazy bisexual activist, Joanne, a lesbian computer technician in love with Maureen, and Benny, once a friend of Mark and Roger until he married money and bought the building they live in.
Basically, it's about the trials and tribulations of these groups of friends fighting mature problems such as AIDS and trying to get enough money to pay rent. Very little was changed from the original- some of the songs were changed into dialogue in order to appease the people who wouldn't want to sit through 2+ hours of nothing but singing and dancing (the Broadway play is a rock opera). An understandable move, if you ask me, but it's very weird how they transferred it all to the big screen.
Now then, I'll list some pet peeves I had of the movie: 1. 90% of the dialogue used to be song, but they changed it for said reasons. The weird part is that the song lyrics they said in dialogue with little of it changed. This is weird because I've listened to the soundtrack a lot, so I'm used to the songs.
2. Some of the songs they just dropped out with little intact. You'll notice they didn't have that little "Christmas bells are ringing" ditty, for one thing. I don't really understand why, though. They also took out "Halloween".
3. They should've gone more into Angel's death. Yes, I realize she had AIDS and was bound to die, but it pretty much lept into it without an explanation of what happened. In the original, she died around the song "Contact", but I forgot much of the play, so I don't remember what happens then.
4. In one scene (particularly the "La Vie Boheme" scene), Maureen actually moons the audience.
5. Wait. That was a good thing.
6. It made me cry too much. I hate crying.
Despite these quirks, yes I loved it. The songs were greatly choreographed, and I was not disappointed. And don't listen to the critics- I love the songs.
9.5 out of 10.
Basically, it's about the trials and tribulations of these groups of friends fighting mature problems such as AIDS and trying to get enough money to pay rent. Very little was changed from the original- some of the songs were changed into dialogue in order to appease the people who wouldn't want to sit through 2+ hours of nothing but singing and dancing (the Broadway play is a rock opera). An understandable move, if you ask me, but it's very weird how they transferred it all to the big screen.
Now then, I'll list some pet peeves I had of the movie: 1. 90% of the dialogue used to be song, but they changed it for said reasons. The weird part is that the song lyrics they said in dialogue with little of it changed. This is weird because I've listened to the soundtrack a lot, so I'm used to the songs.
2. Some of the songs they just dropped out with little intact. You'll notice they didn't have that little "Christmas bells are ringing" ditty, for one thing. I don't really understand why, though. They also took out "Halloween".
3. They should've gone more into Angel's death. Yes, I realize she had AIDS and was bound to die, but it pretty much lept into it without an explanation of what happened. In the original, she died around the song "Contact", but I forgot much of the play, so I don't remember what happens then.
4. In one scene (particularly the "La Vie Boheme" scene), Maureen actually moons the audience.
5. Wait. That was a good thing.
6. It made me cry too much. I hate crying.
Despite these quirks, yes I loved it. The songs were greatly choreographed, and I was not disappointed. And don't listen to the critics- I love the songs.
9.5 out of 10.
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