I'm pretty sure that she is the only Mimi in the history of the show that could actually pull off the, "I'm 19 but I'm old for my age" line. She looks 19.
She's honestly not THAT bad. You've got to remember that she initially was trained for pop music; Broadway is something different altogether. She just needs a bit more work. And of course, paired w Aaron, she's not gonna look as good. I don't think she was bad. She just needed more training. If she had done this role today, she'd be fantastic.
+Bobbi W It's like how Joe Jonas played Marius at the O2 in England for Les Miserables. He wasn't bad in all reality. He looked more nervous than anything,
Finding this in 2019. Just wanna mention how incredible Aaron is in this. He stays in key even though Vanessa is having a hard time, which is very difficult!
I'm pretty sure it's cause on the other performances she tried to take it but it looked really awkward if you look closely in other videos. Either that, or she forgot that night, but on every other show she took it, or at least she tried.
David Thaler well it's what bothers me the most as it takes away the whole purpose of the scene/interaction and it fails to portray some traits of mimi's character.
Honestly the problem was never about her singing, she can clearly sing. But musicals are just a different animal. Its acting and singing altogether; theres a certain way you hold your voice and range to breathe life into the character you're in. Vanessa is the cute girl next door by nature whereas Mimi is a seasoned ballsy sexual goddess. She tried tho. Everybodys gotta start somewhere.
And the irony is that Vanessa did a much better job than 99% of the people commenting on here criticizing her would've. As for her not taking the stash/touching his butt, well, that's probably not on her. Neil Patrick Harris directed this so how about calling him out on his choice?
But in her performances on other nights, she does take the stash. So it's more likely in the heat of the moment she forgot, I'm not hating on her, but I do believe it was her mistake. That being said, everyone makes mistakes, and the fact she tried at this role is something I can admire, even if I didn't necessarily think it was the best I've seen.
Same here. I don't mind Aaron, but Vanessa just murdered this song, and not in the good way. I too need Renee and Will to cleanse this god awfulness out of my head.
The difference between the vocal skill of these two people is just incredible. This is what you get when you put a Hollywood "actress" on Broadway, even just for a specialty production. Aaron deserved better than this, what a shame.
soli gonzalez thank god i thought i was the only one who noticed that. at least i know i'm not the only one who has seen it so many times that i notice little stuff like that lol!
Yeah, um Vaness Hudgens!?! This wasn't the right role for her if this was supposed to be taken seriously by the audience. And, yeah, she forgot to take the stash and was flat. Aaron, on the other hand, was good as always. However, it's interesting to see him as rocker boy Roger- he's so preppy in real life! I like this look on him! Don't get me wrong, he's beautiful either way...
This wasn't very good. Vanessa Hudgens should never ever play Mimi. Her movements where awkward and her voice wasn't the best. Aaron was great though. Though I still like the film Roger. Anyway. Glad I could watch this and compare it to other better versions.
I don't know, I really like this interpretation of "Light my candle". I mean, one of the interesting yet sad parts about Rent is the fact that Mimi is very young, she's barely nineteen, yet her life is really a mess! In my opinion, Vanessa does very well portraying that youthful, slightly naive yet tortured and experienced spirit of Mimi. So I really like her portrayal of Light My Candle, although I admit Rosario's interpretation of songs such as Goodbye Love or Out Tonight are more of my taste.
Here she was fresh out of High School Musical. So of course she wasn’t the best. Now she has about 8 extra years of training I’m looking forward to see her as Maureen
I don't get why everyone is hating her. She is occasionally flat, but mimi is supposed to be an inexperienced, childish character. I think it kinda fits
Aaron played and sang the part of Roger so well. His vocal range is amazing. I love how his voice can do so much. He can do operatic pieces such as Les Mis. Rent and Next to Normal had a Rock element to them. CMIYC was 60's and almost like jazz. Long story short Aaron Tveit is perfect. Vanessa Hudgens is... I'll stay out of it seeing as though I only have 140 characters remaining to discuss every flawher voice has.
This is basicly Disney Channel Presents "Rent". She can't even cut it as Mimi, how is she going to cut it as Maureen in Fox's version of "Rent" next year?
LAB-Lil' Angry B!tch have u seen Grease Live? I gotta admit Vanessa was terrible as Mimi, but she OWNED Grease:Live. She greatly improved, even more so when you realize she had just heard that her father died mere hours before the show started. At moments she even outshined Julianne Hough who played Sandy there. I have high hopes for her as Maureen.
You know I watched this to see if I was right in thinking Vanessa wasn't as bad as people were saying and I stand by that. She's not great but she doesn't ruin it; there's glimmers of good in there, but bits suffer from a case of Disney voice...
She's terrible, she takes away every little bit of deepness from Mimi. The only Mimi's feature she have is her sexy side which is not enough to make me love a character
Laura Beltrami I don’t know much about Rent but this is only one song and based off the different versions I’ve seen she’s kinda supposed to be flirtatious and sexy in this scene as she doesn’t really show anything else cause we just met her and those are her most recognizable traits. Correct me if I’m wrong and no hate but I think it’s a little too quick to judge based off of only one song.
Who knew she would be playing Maureen in Rent 2019 she is so so much better now then when she played Mimi back then i think its because she's more confident and knows the story i love her so much
I only noticed Aaron Tveit at first XD I don't even see the words Vanessa Hudgens until halfway through the video when I was like "hey that girl sounds like Vanessa"
Am I the only one who really liked both Aaron and Vanessa in this version? I liked the different spin Vanessa put on Mimi and thought it really worked.
I miss Idina and Adam. Perfect together in Chess In Concert, and in this. I love aaron as an actor (see him in wicked with Kerry Ellis or in Les Miserables), but the chemistry was just off
OMFG......I couldn't stand to watch this for more than 15 seconds......so foul was the stench of her performance that it came through my screen and stank up my living room. I hope Tveit got combat pay for this.
![LIGHT MY CANDLE - Aaron Tveit & Vanessa Hudgens [Rent_at_the_Hollywood_Bowl]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
