After Brennin Hunt broke his ankle toward the end of Saturday's dress rehearsal, Fox decided to show pre-taped rehearsal footage. Meanwhile, a wheelchair-bound Hunt joined the cast Sunday in performing the musical live, but not for the cameras. "A television event of potentially glorious corniness and elemental showbiz bravery dropped into the network’s lap, as if from heaven above, and instead of seizing on it and making something magnificent from it, they ran from it," Matt Zoller Seitz says of the decision to avoid airing most of the live performance. "Imagine the bewilderment, disappointment, and annoyance of Rent fans who tuned into Fox anyway, loyal to the show and the memory of Jonathan Larson, knowing that one of the lead actors had broken his foot and that the network had decided to air a recording instead (apparently, and astonishingly, Fox’s live musicals don’t have understudies), only to learn, via social media, that another production was happening live, at that very same moment, in that very same space, with that very same actor performing the role in a wheelchair. The show must go on. Rings a bell, right? That’s what this was. One of the most amazing, out-of-nowhere, inspirational examples of 'The Show Must Go On' in the history of television. And we didn’t get to see it."
ALSO:
TOPICS: Rent: Live, FOX, Brennin Hunt, TV Musicals