Introduction to Rent musical: a presentation script
报告讲稿 后勤准备：Yanhua Zheng，Zelong Chen 主讲姓名：Jinyi Wu，Zixin Xu 课程标题：英语音乐剧与西方音乐文化选修 2020年4月3日
A：Hello！welcome to today’s musical FM，this is Zixin，today we want to share something about musical rent with you，It tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists struggling to survive and create a life in Lower Manhattan’s East Village in the thriving days under the shadow of AIDS.for better introduction，we have special guest Jinyi here to tell us the stories in the musical
B：Hello everybody，this is Jinyi here
A：Rent is a rock musical with music, lyrics, and book by Jonathan Larson.since its first stage show in 1996，it has receped lots of honors including a Pulitzer Prize and four Tony Awards.We are curious about where Larson’s inspiration came from？
B：well…Larson’s inspiration for Rent’s content came from several different sources. Many of the characters and plot elements are drawn directly from Giacomo Puccini’s opera La Bohème, the world premiere of which was in 1896, a century before Rent’s premiere
A：I see… emmm…before further discussion，would you introduce the main roles here？
B：okay…in the story，we usually focus on the main 3 couples，they are Roger&Mimi，Angel&Colin，Maureen&Joanne，Roger is A once-successful-but-now-struggling musician and ex-lead singer and rock guitarist who is HIV-positive and an ex-junkie. He hopes to write one last meaningful song before he dies. He is a roommate of Mark.Mimi is A Hispanic-American S&M club dancer and drug addict. She lives downstairs from Mark and Roger, she is also HIV-positive. She is also Benny（the landlord）’s ex-lover.Collin is An anarchist professor with AIDS.Collins dreams of opening a restaurant in Santa Fe, where the problems in New York will not affect him and his friends. He was formerly a roommate of Roger, Mark, Benny, and Maureen…Angel is A young drag queen who is addressed as a female when in drag and as a male when out of drag. she has AIDS,too .Maureen is A performance artist who is Mark’s ex-girlfriend and Joanne’s current girlfriend.Joanne is An public interest lawyer，Ivy League-educated， and a lesbian.
A：wow…It seems like the relationship is huge complex among people，I remember that this musical tells stories of people break and up between tow Christmas ，Mimi and Roger‘s relationship come into crisis serval times，maybe there is something relevant to Benny，right？
B：you are right，in act 1，Benny brings many conflicts，He has reneged on an earlier agreement and now demands last year’s rent, before shutting down his ex-roommate‘s electrical power，and then offers that, if Mark and Roger convince Maureen to cancel the protest, then they can officially remain rent-free tenants.
A:as we mentioned before, Benny and them once were roommates,why did he asked for the payment and …what did maureen protest against？
B：well…Benny got rich by marrying an rich wife，he actually became the landlord of the building，he had a commercial plan so that he wanted to kick people out…
A：so He bring trouble with the rent for this poor men，and this act1 mainly talk about，couples meets each other and they come into crisis
B：yeah…not only this，He also plays a role in the relationship between Roger and Mimi in act2 ，in that sence，Benny saying he wants to call a truce and revealing that Mimi convinced him to change his mind. He hints that Mimi rekinde her relationship with Benny, Mimi denies it，but Roger gets upset…
A：apparently，there are much misunderstanding between them，Roger refuses Mimi‘s love at first unknowing she is also Hiv-positive when Mimi sings not day but today to him，after Angel‘s death Roger reveals that he is leaving for Santa Fe, which sparks an argument about commitment between him and Mimi，by contrast，love story between Angel and Collin seems sweeter but pitiful at the end
B：this is the tragedy，after Angel‘s death，everything changes，people realize the monster of Hiv is gradually taking their lives away，santa fe ，The Royal City of the Holy Faith ,is a special place among the hopeless minds
A：in sante fe，Roger finds his glory song in Mimi ，he decides to return to New York in time for Christmas,but he can not find Mimi…
B：this comes the amazing sence,Maureen and Joanne abruptly enter carrying Mimi, she is close to death. She begins to fade, telling Roger that she loves him (“Finale”). Roger tells her to hold on as he plays the song he wrote for her, revealing the depth of his feelings for her (“Your Eyes”). Mimi appears to die, but abruptly awakens, claiming to have been heading into a white light before a vision of Angel appeared, telling her to go back and stay with Roger.
A：The remaining friends gather together in a final moment of shared happiness and resolve to enjoy whatever time they have left with each other,this is the end of musical. B：yeah …a moving happy ending
A:now here comes the end of our program,we are going to read some messages coming from our audience telling us their feelings after watching the musical
B:the first message says that The song “without you” impress me most.It is a song sang by mimi and Roger in the musical after an argument between them . This happens when angel becomes weaker and weaker because of ADIS and mimi is also facing the same fate that he can’t face with. This song is not only for Roger and mimi but also relevant to Maureen and Joanne, it tells the meaning of lover in the other’s eyes.I think it is a song expressing one’s heart to his lover and telling us the meaning of love in life.（ Zelong Chen）
A:someone says I notice that the song “no day but today” occurs twice in the musical，and each appearance shows us different relationship and situation between Roger and Mimi，It is a quiet and grief song with strong sense of substiton,driving me think of our own life.The regertable past and hopeless future,are not the excuse to escape the moment we are living.This song shows the magic power couraging us to regain bravery to face the tragedies of life.
B:an audience says The twice appearances of song I’ll Cover You tells us the love story between Angel and Collins，it first appeared in a happy rhythm when Collins first met Angel, and fell in love with her, they sang to each other “You’ll be my king, and I’ll be your castle. You’ll be my queen, and I’ll be your moat.” They have a beautiful vision for the future, and they failed to make it come true for Angel’death. At Angel’s funeral, the song was sung with sadness for the second time,Through the song, we can see their passionate love, and know that everyone has the right to love and be loved.
A:another audience says Honestly，I never expected to meet with Rent，and soon I realized I would regeat if I turned to other musicals，The songs recalling me the style of classic 1990s are comfortable for listening，When I watch the musical ，I never think deeper about the plot going on but follow the beatings of music，But the ending really surprises me for the surprising design，I recommend this musical for you guys and I am sure that you will enjoy it
A&B:this is today’s musical FM.thank you for listening,byebye.