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Position:Home>Theater & Acting> Question about Angel's death in the play RENT?Question: Question about Angel's death in the play RENT!? I understand that she dies from AIDS, but in the actual stage production of it, it's all very confusing to me!.
In the movie she dies in the hospital, but in the show she dies during the song "Contact"!. Like she just dies right when she's done singing! It doesn't really make any sense!. She showed so signs of it or anything!. I know she dies from AIDS, but it happened so suddenly!. Can anyone explain her death a little more to me!? ThanksWww@QuestionHome@Com Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: The movie gets it wrong!. Angel dies at home with Collins!. "Contact" isn't literal!. You have to interpret it!. I think everything from Seasons of Love onwards is like a flashback!. "Without You" is like Mimi's point of view of what happens over a few months!. Angel's death really hits Mimi hard, her drug problem is getting worse and Roger thinks she's cheating on him so her song is very sad!. In between "Without You" and "Contact" Alexi Darling leaves a really silly Voice Mail!. Because so many people were dying of AIDS people stopped caring almost, and I think that scene represents how life goes on for everyone else!. "Contact" is Angel's view on death!. Because she has made the most of her life when she dies it's like a climax!. She's ready to die because she has lived such a great life!. Some people say it's like a fever dream and Angel's final thoughts!. "Contact" is also about how because of the AIDS epidemic sex takes on a new meaning for all of the characters!. The bedroom is where Angel died, where Angel and Collins (and perhaps Roger & Mimi) contracted HIV!. Mimi uses sex to hurt herself and to hide from real feelings (she's an S&M dancer)!. Maureen doesn't really know what she's doing ("I think I missed")!. It's about all of the fears and the problems that they face and Angel being able to escape from them all by dying!. And after "Contact" you get Collins' point of view in "Reprise"!. Collins is sad, but Collins can also see that they made the most out of the time they had, so he knows that Angel's life should be celebrated!. Www@QuestionHome@Com I interpret it differently!.!.!. I saw Rent in London in 2002/2003, which was an amazing production!. "Without You" is the soundtrack, but the action onstage is Angel and Collins!. Angel's in hospital, Collins is caring for him!. Eventually Collins carries Angel home, tends to him, holds him!.!.!. the song ends with a freeze on the MOMENT Angel dies!. Collins reacts with heartbreak in that moment!.!.!. Then Contact starts, it's a cut scene!. It's telling the story of how Angel got to be where he is!. All the actors around him are not in character, they had a partial costume change (Benny, for instance, lost his jacket and was just in black!. No longer acting as Benny) The lighting state changes, it's not the same reality as everything else!.!.!. at the end of Contact, "It's over! It's over!" Collins' "It's Over" snaps back into reality, as Angel is dead in Collins' arms!. The movie fails!. As I've described it, soundtrack, cut scene, the stage show is written to be filmed- yet the film direction failed to pick up on any of the clues onstage!. Www@QuestionHome@Com During Without You, while Mimi is singing, what's going on in the background is Angel is in the hospital, and by the end, he's pretty much dead!. Then Contact is his last few moments, proclaiming his love for Collins while begging to be taken into heaven and put out of his misery!. Then he just falls over and dies!. The end!. (Haha, I make this sound so terrible!.) I hope that made sense, because I'm terrible at explaining things!.Www@QuestionHome@Com "Contact" are his last words in the play as he slowly dies!. So sad! I wish Angel didn't die instead Benny or Joanne should have!. Www@QuestionHome@Com |