I entered the Shubert Theater in Boston thrilled to be part of what expected to be an upbeat, trendy, '90s musical experience The crowd was huge, and the. lines were tremendously long at the Sunday matinee performance of "RENT." Many fresh-looking, young faces took their seats for a "real life show, a viewing of today's modern society."

My seat was five rows back from a slightly disappointing, rather dull-looking set. The atmosphere was plain and somewhat gloomy. The stage resembled a rundown apartment building in the slums of New York City. The building was gray and the whole set lacked spunk and livelihood.

When the show started the audience was introduced to the multicultural characters who were struggling with many problems of today's society. They were all out of money, and needed it desperately to pay their rent. A stopwatch went off and one of the characters informed us that it was time for her AZT break. Along with having AIDS and being poor, all of the characters were either homosexual or bisexual, which was the basis of the whole play. I did not find it an entertaining plot. The music contained some catchy lyrics, although it wasn't as great as it could have been.

Overall, I thought that "RENT" lacked an important element that would have kept the audience on the edge of their seats instead of leaned over on the armrest as I was. If I had the same opinion of the acting and the music as I did about the dull story, line, I would tell you that seeing "RENT" is a complete waste of time. Luckily this is not the case. The original songs and the real-life acting make up for some of what the depressing plot is missing. But they certainly don't make up for the $60.00 per ticket I paid to see the show!!! .