Anthony Rapp Launches 6-City Book Signing Tour, May 14
By: BWW News Desk May. 10, 2006
Anthony Rapp, who appeared in the Broadway and touring productions of the Pulitzer Prize winning musical RENT,
as well as in the movie of the same name, will hold a lecture/book
signing for his new best-selling book, "Without You: A Memoir of Love,
Loss and the Hit Musical RENT" in six U.S. cities this May.He will appear at The Library in Long Beach, CA on May 14th, the Gay and Lesbian Community Center in Las Vegas, NV on May 15th, The Actors Cabaret Theatre in Eugene, OR on May 16th, the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center in Seattle, WA on May 17th, the World Trade Center Theatre in Portland, OR on May 19th and The Three Dollar Bill Cafe in San Francisco, CA on May 20th."Anthony Rapp
captures the passion and grit unique to the theatre world as he
recounts his life-changing experience in the original cast of the
Pulitzer Prize-winning musical RENT," state press notes. Anthony Rapp
had a special feeling about Jonathan Larson's rock musical from his
first audition, so he was thrilled when he landed a starring role as
the filmmaker Mark Cohen. With his mom's cancer in remission and a
reason to quit his newly acquired job at Starbucks, his life was
looking up.
When RENT opened to thunderous acclaim off Broadway,
Rapp and his fellow cast members knew that something truly
extraordinary had taken shape. But even as friends and family were
celebrating the show's success, they were also mourning Jonathan
Larson's sudden death from an aortic aneurysm. By the time Rent made
its triumphant jump to Broadway, Larson had posthumously won the 1996
Pulitzer Prize.When Anthony's mom began to lose her battle with
cancer, he struggled to balance the demands of life in the theatre with
his responsibility to his family. In his book, Anthony recounts the
show's magnificent success and his overwhelming loss. He also shares
his first experiences discovering his sexuality, the tension it created
with his mother, and his struggle into adulthood to gain her acceptance.Variously
marked by fledgling love and devastating loss, piercing frustration and
powerful enlightenment, Without You charts the course of Rapp's
exhilarating journey with the cast and crew of Rent as well as the intimacies of his personal life behind the curtain."
Rapp has also appeared on Broadway in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Six Degrees of Separation and Precious Sons (for which he received a Drama Desk Award nomination). His film credits include A Beautiful Mind, Twister, Dazed and Confused, Six Degrees of Separation and Adventures in Babysitting.All events are free. To learn more about each individual book signing, visit BroadwayWorld's regional pages (Oregon residents should check under the Seattle page).
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