Without You
A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent
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4.7 • 51 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
The New York Times bestselling memoir of Anthony Rapp, star of Broadway's Pulitzer Prize–winning musical Rent.
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.
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 Larsen, 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 including Larsen, who died before the April 1996 Broadway opening night of his Pulitzer-winning show 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.
Customer Reviews
Amazing
Anthony Rapp is probably most famous for his role of Mark in Rent and here is a book that tells Rent fans a bit about the life of their favorite film maker and what it was like putting the show together. Anthony is such a great writer, he actually makes you feel all the excitement, grief, and happiness that he felt through out the events in the book. This is a must read for any Anthony Rapp or Rent fan!
Wow
I remember the first time I saw rent. Anthony was not there that night and I realize now that he was probably in the midst of the aftermath of his mom's death. I love the show so much, and what it represented in my life, but I never thought too much about the actors playing the roles and what might have been going on backstage, besides the budding romance of Idina and Taye.
For anyone who has ever seen the show or saw the movie, this book is a must read.
Thank you for sharing your story with us and I only wish I read it earlier.
Amazing!!!!
Absolutely loved this book!!!