take me for what I am / who I was meant to be /
and if you give a damn / take me baby / or leave me

I saw Rent last night for the fourth time. (Four? Let's see, New York, Greenville, Birmingham...and Houston. Yeah, four.) Unfortunately, this was probably the worst rendition I've seen. I didn't like Roger because he was too whiny, not enough rock-and-roll, had distracting hair, and kept hitting flat notes. I didn't like Mimi because she couldn't carry "Out Tonight" which is supposed to be her big moment. Mark, Maureen, Angel and Benny were all merely ok. And the theater was not doing a great job with the sound mixing--a lot of the songs would have been unintelligible if I hadn't already known the lyrics. Now, granted, I've seen the show and listened to the soundtrack enough times that I definitely have biases and opinions on what each character should be like...but if this had been my first time seeing the show, I might have left wondering what all the fuss is about.

I did like Collins, and Joanne, and there were a couple shining moments--"La Vie Boheme" was entertaining, and "Take Me or Leave Me" was notable. But half the time I felt like I was watching a high school performance rather than a professional-caliber show. And I don't mean "high school" in a positive, McIntosh-quality way, for the Greens that may be reading. ;)

Anyway. Today I'm listening to the original cast recording on my iPod. Ahhh.

We have softball tonight, and of course I didn't make it to the batting cages this week, so my hitting will likely absolutely suck again. Sigh.

It feels like a Friday, with Becca and Matt already gone for their ski trip, and Gavin and Jen joining them this afternoon. It'll just be me, George and Rich taking over the office tomorrow...