Anthony Rapp had a special feeling about Jonathan Larson's rock musical Rent as early as his first audition, which won him a starring role as the video artist Mark Cohen. The Pulitzer Prize-winning Rent opened to thunderous acclaim off-Broadway -- but even as friends and family were celebrating the show's first success, they were also mourning Jonathan Larson's sudden death from an aortic aneurysm. And when Anthony's mom began to lose her battle with cancer, Anthony found himself struggling to balance his life in the theater with his responsibility to his family.
In Without You, Anthony tells of his exhilarating journey with the cast and crew of Rent as well as the intimacies of his personal life behind the curtain. Marked by fledgling love and devastating loss, Without You is an exceptional memoir of the world of theater, the love of a son for his mother, and maturity won far too early.
From Publishers Weekly
As Rent hits the big screen, Rapp, who appeared in the film and the original cast of the Broadway hit, has written a sensitive, heartfelt memoir chronicling his life on and off stage. The actor who played video artist Mark Cohen pulls back the curtains to show the musical's genesis, which involved endless rehearsals and false starts. He lauds the genius of Jonathan Larson, its creator, and the supportive New York Theatre Workshop, which lent its facilities to the exuberant troupe and director. Rapp writes most movingly of his friends who lost their battle with AIDS [...] as well as the long, painful demise of his mother from cancer. While the book sometimes plunges too deeply into its twin themes of love and loss, Rapp recognizes the healing power of drama and theater, writing that acting is "an escape of sorts." Absorbing, warm and hopeful, the book celebrates a man, his work and a generation struggling with AIDS but determined to survive. Photos. (Feb.)
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Review
"Anthony Rapp has written a courageous, brutally honest memoir that breaks new ground in writing about the constantly changing arena of the American family experience. The beauty of Rapp's writing lies in his ability to touch the reader with such intense emotional power. His insights into the theatre world are equally perceptive and fresh."
-- Chris Columbus, director of the film adaptation of Rent
"There's a moment in Rent when Roger damns his best friend, the character played by Anthony Rapp, by exclaiming, 'Mark hides in his work!' Here, Anthony hides nothing. In his account of Rent's backstory and the pain of losing friends and family, Anthony shares incidents and feelings most of us would hesitate to reveal to anyone. As the father of Rent's creator, I think Without You is a marvelous testament to the power of the show. As an audience member, I think it's a wonderful read and, even more impressive, a terrifically honest one."
-- Al Larson, aka "Poppa" or "Pop"
"Anthony Rapp's exquisite account of his formative years with Rent is heartbreakingly beautiful, a contemporary portrait of an artist as a young man. This is a memoir filled with love -- a love for the enabling possibilities of the performing arts, for the fragile bonds between family and friends, and for the mysterious enormities of life itself."
-- David RomΠ βΠ Πn, professor of English and American studies, University of Southern California, and author of Performance in America
"Without You deserves accolades purely for its author's courage and candor. I expected to be moved, but I didn't count on being completely swept up in the emotion that carries this story so eloquently and poignantly to its end. Rapp may be an actor, but his ability to lay himself bare is the great talent on display here."
-- Camryn Manheim, Emmy Award-winning costar of The Practice and author of Wake Up, I'm Fat!