Quote:
Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB
I recognize that both musicals are based on old stories.
West Side Story is about race relations, and the racially segregated gangs in the story are still around today - and when you combine that with the debates going on in this country today about immigration and race, WSS is just as relevant as ever. But, a major part of Rent's storyline is AIDS, and although it's still a serious issue in this country, the attitude about it has changed since the early 90s. The majority of the main characters in Rent have AIDS and go through the whole thing acting as if their days are numbered - and for one of the characters, it's true. That may have been the way it was when the story was written, but people diagnosed with AIDS nowadays can actually live their whole lives with AIDS - the treatment and prognosis is completely different...it's no longer a death sentence. So now the story comes off as cliched. The storyline is a little too literal to be able to apply its lessons to life today.
|
They pretty well establish that the story takes place in the 90's. It's not one of those shows that they play off as present day, no matter how old the show is. If there was a show set in the late 1800's, would it be too literal and cliche if someone in that show died of a simple disease that we now have treatments for, like influenza or dysynystry (Ok, that just made me decide that someone needs to write "OREGON TRAIL, THE MUSICAL")??
Threaded Mode