So I didn’t wake up today and say to myself, “Dude, you should totally be a paparazzi specializing in CW stars,” but it seems as though I ended up being one today… I just happen to spot almost all the major players in the cast of Gossip Girl! I was walking around the tent for Diane von Furstenberg at Bryant Park today and all of a sudden out the corner of my eye I saw a girl wearing yellow, and then a herd of people instantly swarming around her and her friend.

Walking closer, I recognized Miss Leighton Meester! I snapped a few photos, and then only later did I realize that the other girl accompanying her was none other than Jessica Szohr!

Then an hour or so later, I stopped by the Nederlander Theater (the home of the Broadway cast of RENT) for one last pass. (Today was the last performance of the show on the Great White Way. RENT RIP!)

As I’m standing there I hear people shouting “Luther! Luther!”…as in Luther Creek, a replacement ensemble member of the Bway cast of RENT who was infamous for having the worst “Mark” known to man. As everyone was screaming “Luther! Luther!” I noticed a pretty blonde walking toward him and realized it was none other than Blake Lively wearing a cropped black leather jacket and awesome wedges that had straps snaking up her foot. When I took a moment to stop staring at her perfectly wavy hair, I noticed the shlubby guy next to her was boyfriend and co-start Penn Badgley. Michelle Hurd, who plays Laurel was also there. Who knew they were theater fans?!?!

More from the final day of RENT…

Fans wait outside…

The Nederlander!

Original cast members Jesse L. Martin, Daphne Rubin Vega, Anthony Rapp, Wilson J. Heredia, Byron Utley, Freddie Walker showed up to the final performance. Past RENT alum like Jay Rodriguez, Frenchie Davis also appeared and random folks like Chris from Project Runway.

This morning I got up at the buttcrack of dawn in order to get to Bryant Park by 6am. “Why?” you may ask? Because the current cast of RENT, alongside original cast members Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp, were performing as part of the Good Morning America (GMA) Summer Concert series, and I had good enough fortune to get a VIP entrance with a fellow “RENThead” friend who worked at ABC.

Yes, yes, as you are probably already aware, I’m a long-time RENT fan, so although it was not *fun* trying to catch the subway when it was nearly pitch black out, I did it anyway (for the sake of the LOLz).

After 7am there were a few sound checks–first with Adam and Anthony (practicing “What You Own”), then with the full current cast, which just happens to feature two additional original cast members: “Seasons of Love” soloist Gwen Stewart and former ensemble member Rodney Hicks (now playing Benny). Tracie Thoms, who played the role of Joanne in the 2005 movie remake of the musical has also joined the production for it’s final months. (RENT will close September 7, 2008, making it the seventh longest running show in Broadway history.)

During sound check, one of the current members of the Bway cast handed Anthony their camcorder and Anthony went gonzo filming them as they rehearsed “Seasons”–to the point where he was directly in the audience’s sightlines, up in all the performer’s faces. I guess once a “Mark” always a “Mark.”

During the live show Diane Sawyer interviewed Adam and Anthony and talked about the plans for them to reprise their original roles as part of the final national touring company of RENT which begins on January 6, 2009 in Cleveland, OH. She asked the men how they and their “mid-30-year-old” bodies were holding up in rehearsals. (Um… try LATE-30s… both Adam and Anthony are just a couple years shy of 40!!) They said that they were holding up pretty well, and that the music pretty much came back to them quickly.

I find it slightly sad to see near 40-year-olds pretending to be early 20-somethings on a nightly basis, but hey, I suppose it’s nice work if you can get it. In fact, judging by the crowd reaction, many of today’s younger RENT fans don’t seem to be perturbed by the age difference whatsoever. One young woman in the front row held up a sign that said “Tomorrow is my birthday and all I want was a kiss from Adam Pascal.” When the warm-up comic read this sign aloud, the audience in my area kinda groaned an uncomfortable, “Um…. ew.”

What do you think–are Adam and Anthony really too old to be taking a crack at Roger and Mark one last time?

I’m kinda gonna cry. After 12 years of being on Broadway, the hit musical RENT will CLOSE. The last performance perform at the Nederlander Theater in NYC will be on June 1. RENT will be the seventh-longest running show in Broadway history. [UPDATE: The run of RENT has been extended until September 7, 2008]

As longtime readers of the site will know, I was a HUGE RENThead back in the day. Seeing RENT in movie form at the movie premiere at the Ziegfeld 2 years ago was one of the most awesome things ever.

Adam Pascal does not approve of this blog post.

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