Rent (musical)

"(Roger) This won't tune!"

"(Mark) So we hear."

"(Mark) He's just coming back from half a year of withdrawal."

"(Roger) You talking to me?"

"(Mark) Not at all. Are you ready? Hold that focus steady, tell the folks at home what you're doing, Roger."

"(Roger) I'm writing one great song before I"

"(Mark) The phone rings. (Roger) Saved! (Mark) We screen, zoom in on the answering machine."

"(Mark) Tell the folks at home what you're doing, Roger."

"(Roger) I'm writing one last song-"

"(Mark) The phone rings! (Roger) Yes! (Mark) We screen..."

"(Collins) Chestnuts roasting- (Mark and Roger) Collins! (Collins) I'm downstairs. (Mark) Hey! (Collins) Roger picked up the phone? (Mark) No it's me. (Collins) Throw down the keys. (Mark) A wild night is now preordained. (Collins) I may be detained."

"(Mark) What? What do you mean detained?"

"(Benny) Hohoho! (Mark) Benny! (Roger and Mark) Shit! (Benny) Dudes on my way. (Roger and Mark) Great! Fuck! (Benny) I need the rent! (Mark) What rent? (Benny) This past year's rent which I let slide. (Mark) Let slide? You said we were golden! (Roger) When you bought the building, (Mark) When we were roommates? Remember? You lived here. (Benny) How could I forget? You, me, Collins, and Maureen. How is the drama queen? (Mark) She's performing tonight. (Benny and Mark trading off) I know. Still her production manager? Two days ago I was bumped. You still dating her? Last month I was dumped. (Roger) She's in love. (Benny) She got a new man? (Mark) Well, no. (Benny) What's his name? (Mark and Roger) Joanne. (Benny) Rent, my amigos, is due, or I will have to evict you. Be there in a few."

"(Mark) The power blows!"

"(Mark spoken) Don't suppose you'd like to come see Maureen's show in the lot tonight, or come to dinner?"

"(Roger spoken) Zoom in on my empty wallet."

"(Mark spoken) Touché. Take your AZT. (sung) Close on Roger, his girlfriend April left a note saying, "We've got AIDS," before slitting her wrists in the bathroom."

"(Mark) How do you document real life when real life's getting more like fiction each day. Headline, breadlines, blow my mind and now this deadline: eviction or pay. Rent!"

"(Roger) How do you write a song when the chords sound wrong, though they once sounded right and rare? When the notes are sour where is the power you once had to ignite the air?"

"(Mark) And we're hungry and frozen. (Roger) Some life that we've chosen!"

"(Joanne) Have you eaten today? You won't throw up. You won't throw up! The digital delay didn't blow up exactly... there may have been one teeny, tiny spark. You're not calling Mark!"

"(Collins) How do you stay on your feet when on every street it's trick or treat, and tonight it's trick!"

"(Mark) Where is he? (Collins) Getting dizzy."

"(All) How we gonna pay last year's rent?"

"(Mark) The music ignites the night with passion and fire. (Joanne) Maureen, I'm not a theater person! (Roger) The narration crackles and pops with incendiary wit."

"(Mark) Zoom in as they burn the past to the ground, and feel the heat of the future's glow!"

"(All) How do you leave the past behind when it keeps finding ways to get to your heart? It reaches way down deep and tears you inside out 'til you're torn apart. Rent! How do you connect in an age where strangers, landlords, lovers, your own blood cells betray? What binds the fabric together when the raging, shifting winds of change keep ripping away?"

"(Benny) Draw a line in the sand and then make a stand! (Roger) Use your camera to spar! (Mark) Use your guitar!"

"(All) We're not gonna pay, we're not gonna pay, we're not gonna pay last year's rent. This year's Rent. Next year's rent. Rent, rent, rent, rent, rent. We're not gonna pay rent. 'Cause everything is rent!"

"(Benny) Maureen is protesting losing her performance space—not my attitude."

"(Roger) What happened to Benny, what happened to his heart? And the ideals he once pursued?"

"(Benny) And the owner of that lot next door has the right to do with it as he pleases."

"(Collins) Happy birthday Jesus."

"(Benny) The rent! (Mark) You're wasting your time. (Roger) We're broke. (Mark) And you broke your word. This is absurd!"

"(Benny) I'll forgo your rent and on paper guarantee that you can stay here for free, (spoken) if you do me one small favor."

"(Mark spoken) What? (Benny spoken) Convince Maureen to cancel her protest. (Mark spoken) Why not just get an injunction or call the cops? (Benny spoken) I did and they're on standby."

"(Benny) But my investors would rather I handle this quietly."

"(Roger) You can't quietly wipe off a tent city then watch, "It's a Wonderful Life" on TV!"

"(Benny) You want to produce films and write songs? You need somewhere to do it. It's what we used to dream about! Think twice before you pooh-pooh it."

"(Benny) You'll see boys. You'll see boys. You'll see, the beauty of a studio that lets us do our work and get paid. With condos on the top. Whose rent keeps open our shops. Just stop the protest and you'll have it made. You'll see... or you'll pack!"

"(Angel) That boy needs some Prozac. (Roger) Or heavy drugs. (Mark) Or group hugs."

"(Collins) Which reminds me, we have a detour to make. Anyone who wants to can come along!"

"(Mark) First I've got a protest to save!"

"(Angel) Roger?"

"(Roger) I'm not much company you'll find."

"(Mark) Behave!"

"(Angel) Just catch up later, he's just got other things on his mind. You'll see boys, you'll see boys."

"(Collins) I like boys."

"(Angel) Boys like me."

"(Mark) December 24th, 9:00PM, eastern standard time. From here on in, I shoot without a script. See if anything comes of it, instead of my old shit. First shot Roger, tuning the Fender guitar he hasn't played in a year."