Voice Mail 2 Lyrics – Rent

Song Overview

Personal Review

“Voice Mail #2” is brisk character x-ray: 46 seconds of crisp voicemail theatre where the lyrics sketch Joanne’s world without Joanne saying a word. The bit lands like a postcard from a different tax bracket - polite, controlling, oddly loving - and it slides the plot toward “Tango: Maureen” with a raised eyebrow rather than a cymbal crash. Snapshot version: rich parents call, expectations pile up, Doc Martens become a political act.

Song Meaning and Annotations

This interlude works like a doorbell - ring, message, reveal. It lives in Rent’s sung-through grammar as rock recitative, but swaps guitars for etiquette. Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson call with travel logistics, career advice, and wardrobe notes. No duet, no chorus, just status updates that say the quiet part loud: image first, daughter second. On the original cast album it sits as Track 9 between “Light My Candle” and “Today 4 U,” a pressure valve between flirtation and farce. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}

“Call Daisy for our itinerary or Alfred at Pound Ridge”

Names-as-props paint pedigree. This is a house with assistants and senators, which instantly frames Joanne’s steady job and conflict with Maureen’s chaos. The voicemail form is perfect: a one-way conversation where control feels natural - and a little icy.

“Mummy’s confirmation hearing begins on the tenth”

The single word “confirmation” drops Washington into the bohemian loft, hinting at a Senate process and a family orbiting power. That line gives the song its timestamped realism and grounds the holiday setting in calendar anxiety. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}

“For Mummy’s sake, Kitten - no Doc Martens this time and wear a dress”

Wardrobe as battleground. In three seconds we get queerness, class, and presentation politics. The request to arrive “alone” reads like a quiet veto of Maureen’s presence, and the tag “And a bra!!” is comic punctuation with a pointed edge.

Placement and performers. On the Rent Original Broadway Cast Recording, “Voice Mail #2” clocks 0:46 and credits Byron Utley and Gwen Stewart as the Jeffersons - some track lists additionally include Idina Menzel, likely due to edit edges around the segue. :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}

Stage, screen, and live TV. The 2008 Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway preserves the mini-scene as a lead-in to “Today 4 U.” Fox’s Rent: Live (2019) restores it on the official soundtrack, performed by Jennifer Leigh Warren and Alton Fitzgerald White. The connective tissue may be compact, but losing it flattens Joanne; keeping it adds bite. :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}

Why it matters. Rent’s bigger anthems preach community; these miniatures explain the frictions that test it. “Voice Mail #2” makes class visible in a show better known for rent strikes and found family. It’s a tiny dramaturgical crowbar: by the time we reach “Tango: Maureen,” we understand why Joanne’s balancing act is so hard.

Creation history

Rent opened on Broadway in 1996 after its New York Theatre Workshop run, winning that season’s Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Score, plus the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Even in a 46-second phone call, you feel the show’s larger ethos - time is short, love is stubborn, and every choice broadcasts a value. :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4}

Verse Highlights

“We’ll need you - alone - by the sixth”

Subtext in triplicate: manage our optics, ditch your partner, come dressed for our world. The line puts a clean crack down the middle of Joanne’s loyalties.

“No Doc Martens this time”

Footwear as politics. It plays as a joke, but the joke lands on identity - a queer woman asked to sand down her edges for a photo op.

Key Facts

• Featured: Gwen Stewart, Byron Utley - some album listings also include Idina Menzel.
• Producer: Arif Mardin - album production also credits Steve Skinner.
• Composer/Lyricist: Jonathan Larson.
• Release Date: August 27, 1996.
• Genre: Show tune, rock musical recitative.
• Instruments: spoken-sung voices, telephone beep SFX, ensemble pit bed.
• Label: DreamWorks Records.
• Mood: arch, controlling, funny, revealing.
• Length: 0:46.
• Track #: 9.
• Language: English.
• Album: Rent (Original Broadway Cast Recording).
• Music style: voicemail miniature - plot connective tissue.
• Poetic meter: clipped conversational phrasing with scattered iambic flickers.
• © Copyrights: © 1996 DreamWorks Records - All rights reserved.

Questions and Answers

Who performs on “Voice Mail #2” on the cast album?

Byron Utley and Gwen Stewart voice Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson; some listings also credit Idina Menzel on the track. :contentReference[oaicite:6]{index=6}

Where does the number sit in the show?

It’s Act I after “Light My Candle” and right before “Today 4 U,” and Track 9 on the 1996 OBCR. :contentReference[oaicite:7]{index=7}

Did it appear in screen adaptations?

Yes. It’s included in Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway (2008) and on Rent: Live (2019)’s official soundtrack with Jennifer Leigh Warren and Alton Fitzgerald White. :contentReference[oaicite:8]{index=8}

Who produced the album featuring “Voice Mail #2”?

Arif Mardin led production for DreamWorks Records, with Steve Skinner involved across the album. :contentReference[oaicite:9]{index=9}

How big was the parent album’s impact?

It debuted at #19 on the Billboard 200 in early September 1996 and later earned RIAA 2x Multi-Platinum certification on March 25, 2003. :contentReference[oaicite:10]{index=10}

Awards and Chart Positions

The song itself didn’t chart, but its parent album made noise fast: the two-disc OBCR entered the Billboard 200 at #19 in the week reported September 5, 1996. The show won four 1996 Tony Awards - Best Musical, Best Book, Best Original Score, and Best Featured Actor - and earned the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The album was certified RIAA 2x Multi-Platinum on March 25, 2003. :contentReference[oaicite:11]{index=11}

Songs Exploring Themes of class, image, and family pressure

“Tango: Maureen” - Original Broadway Cast of Rent. If “Voice Mail #2” is parental spin-control, “Tango: Maureen” is the fallout dance. Joanne and Mark pick through jealousies with tango bite, swapping grievances like dance steps. The humor is sharp, the rhythm steady, the lyrics slyly legalistic on Joanne’s side and nervy on Mark’s - two lawyers of the heart cross-examining each other. It refracts the same theme: image vs intimacy.

“Take Me or Leave Me” - Original Broadway Cast of Rent. Meanwhile, the wardrobe line in the voicemail grows into a full courtroom rock duet. Joanne and Maureen argue self-presentation with power belts and counter-arguments. The groove is clubby, the melody sticky, and the thesis simple: authenticity beats performance only when both sides stop negotiating the other’s outfit.

“Waving Through a Window” - Dear Evan Hansen (Original Broadway Cast). Different era, similar pressure cooker. Here the parents aren’t on the line, but the gaze is just as loud. Pop-theatre production frames a teen trying to dress and speak correctly for a world that won’t pick up the call. Where “Voice Mail #2” is a crisp scold, this is an anxious confession - two sides of the same social mirror.