Can Fox's Rent: Live succeed when the original musical feels so outdated?

Slate

The Fox TV musical airing live Sunday will try to capture what was once a groundbreaking musical that has turned into a punchline. Rent: Live "aims to revive the musical’s now-tarnished pop cultural standing," says Amanda Prahl. "But whether on screen or on stage, Rent can’t help being the poster child for what happens when a phenomenon ages poorly. Does the story of Rent foreshadow what’s to come for other theatrical phenoms like Dear Evan Hansen or Hamilton?" Prahl adds: "Time flies, time dies, as the lyrics go, and as time went on, Rent went into decline. What was once a phenomenon, buoyed by those intense emotions, gave way to an audience more willing to be critical of what it saw on stage....Phenomena are all about the moment. Rent tapped into a specific cultural era, as did Hamilton with its revisionist take on American history and Dear Evan Hansen with its focus on social media and teenage mental illness. But some survive the moment that spawned them, and others perish with it. In the case of Rent, the pendulum has swung toward viewing it as a relic of its time, complete with references to 'cyber cafés' and litanies of ’80s artists."

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