Welcome, Anthony Rapp! (part two)- Page 123

[xM3L24x]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 7:24pm

I want my book now, k thanks

[Dramatic_Irony]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 7:25pm

We just got our books today, so we haven't *actually* started yet, either.

I kinda want to PM Anthony about 'Without You' but I know I shouldn't. Even if wasn't getting tons already, it's nothing really I couldn't put in a post. It just feels really...personal, maybe cause the book's so personal. *shrugs*

[Fizz]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 7:32pm

*nods* Same here. I'm going to see how long the chat time will be for the signing on Wednesday and if its too short, THEN I'll write up something. But its something that I'd rather say in person, especially because it has to do with his mom and my mom and illness.

[Dramatic_Irony]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 7:37pm

Mine isn't that personal, although I do have something to say regarding my grandfather. But mostly, it's just that I usually feel awkward writing up a psuedo-review when I know the author is reading it, and it isn't directed specifically to him. I don't know.

Posted: 2/6/06 at 7:37pm

I can't wait till tomorrow. My mom says we are only going to one store to look for it, and its not even a book store!!

So I said "If they don't have it I'm gonna punch someone.":)

She laughed at me.

[RENThead414]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 7:53pm

Fizz, tell Anthony I say hi. lol I'm still sad I can't go. I'm happy for you! (but, sad for me.)

[Fizz]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 8:02pm

I was sad cause apparently he was in St Charles on Saturday for a spur-of-the-moment booksigning... which is the next town over from my school and a lot closer than Oak Park. I didn't find out about it until today. Le sigh. Apparently he got into town on Friday, did it on Saturday cause he knew the store owners, and I'm assuming he's in town through Wednesday, because it would be silly to come and leave and come back again.

[Mandi Moo]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 8:02pm

Eeeee! I get to meet him in a week!

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 8:12pm

Heh, did you post at 8pm just to be able to say that, Mandi?

[Mandi Moo]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 8:15pm

Not on purpose...but maybe it was some subconscious thing?

[pengwendolyn]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 8:24pm

Oh Nun!Adam. He makes me smile.

[Fantabulous428]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 8:26pm

Nice article:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/arts/chi-0602050398feb05,1,563206.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

[Dramatic_Irony]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 8:33pm

The link doesn't work for me.

Can you give a summery of what it's saying?

[RENThead414]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 8:36pm

Rapp adds author to his resume

By Web Behrens
Special to the Tribune
Published February 5, 2006


As Anthony Rapp's book hits store shelves this week, it carries an advantage lacked by most first-time authors: a built-in fan base.

You don't have to search long on the Internet to find conversations among people awaiting his book's release, or eagerly anticipating the chance to meet Rapp as he travels around the country. (The nine-city book tour brings him to Barbara's Bookstore in Oak Park on Wednesday.)

How did the rookie author, a Chicago native, garner such a following? Partly because he had the great fortune, when still in his early 20s, to land a starring role in one of the biggest theatrical hits of the past decade. Stories about that experience form the backbone of his publishing debut, "Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Musical Rent."

Tragic loss

At first glance, the book seems tailor-made for "Rentheads" -- boosters whose love for the revolutionary rock show borders on the obsessive. On the other hand, the tragic, compelling back story to "Rent" extends the book's appeal far beyond the show's fans. Who wouldn't be moved by the poetic fate of its composer, Jonathan Larson? Once a struggling artist, Larson worked for years developing "Rent" but died suddenly in January 1996. The aortic aneurysm struck a few days shy of his 36th birthday -- and just hours after a dress rehearsal that electrified the off-Broadway theater.

Of course, the memoir's title, borrowed from one of Larson's songs, alludes to that narrative. Yet "Without You" extensively explores a second, lesser-known but much deeper loss -- the death of Rapp's mother, to whom he dedicates the book. She succumbed to a long battle with cancer in 1997, but not before witnessing her son flourish in his defining role.

"She always had faith [in me]," recalls Rapp, by telephone from his home in New York City, where both he and his older brother, playwright and filmmaker Adam Rapp, make their home. "I think when you lose your parent, it requires you to have that much more faith in yourself. That's not always easy."

Rapp also writes about his pre-"Rent" understanding of HIV, largely informed by a friend, Ben, who died from AIDS. "Without You" also weaves in a number of other strands, including family stories, anecdotes about various acting gigs and Rapp's coming-out process (which involves an amusing adolescent game of "spin the bottle," also attended by Rapp's childhood friend, comedian Andy Dick).

Born in Chicago's Swedish Covenant Hospital in 1971, Rapp lived in a succession of suburbs but basically grew up in Joliet, where he moved with his mother and siblings after his parents divorced. His acting career began early, first in school productions and community theaters -- playing, for example, the title role in four different mountings of "Oliver!" Soon, people encouraged his mom to bring Anthony to auditions in Chicago. "We didn't know anything," he says. "We just sort of did it."

Mary Lee Rapp (nee Baird) was not a stereotypical stage mother. "It was quite the opposite. I was the one leading the way," Rapp says.

Rapp was in the first national tour of "Evita," he recalls: "That was how I got my Equity card. I was 9." He made his Broadway debut in 1981 in the title role of "The Little Prince," which never made it out of previews, though it led to other things.

"I had actually seen him as a child doing `The Little Prince'," says Robert Falls, artistic director of the Goodman Theatre.

Goodman role

A few years later, when Falls directed the Goodman's 1988 production of John Guare's "Landscape of the Body," he cast Rapp, then a senior in high school, in the pivotal role of the murdered son. "I don't even recall if I had auditions or not. I just think I found out that he was available and I knew his work, had seen his work, so I was just thrilled he could do it," Falls says. "He's obviously a really talented actor, and he was even then."

Even before "Landscape," Rapp had begun his film career, having landed a major role in the 1987 comedy "Adventures in Babysitting," which filmed in Toronto (and a few days in Chicago). Eventually, he performed in another Guare work, "Six Degrees of Separation," both on Broadway and on film; other movie roles ranged from the stoner comedy "Dazed and Confused" to the Oscar-winning "A Beautiful Mind." But to his many fans, he will always be most identified with the role of Mark Cohen, the struggling filmmaker and sort-of narrator in "Rent," which he re-created for the recent movie directed by Chris Columbus.

"Here's what's amazing about Anthony," recalls Columbus. "When he was 15, he was exactly the same way he was when I met him again for `Rent.' He was very shy, very reserved. But when he actually did a reading for us for `Adventures of Babysitting,' I was amazed at two things: his naturalistic acting ability, and his comic timing, which was superb."

A fan of the musical, Columbus made the refreshing but largely unheard-of choice to cast six of the original performers in the film adaptation. "I met a lot of [other] people for `Rent,' and once I made the decision to go for the original cast, I knew Anthony had to be the first person I got," Columbus says. "To me, he was the glue that held everyone else together."

It's a good time to be a Renthead: In addition to Rapp's book, the DVD comes out Feb. 21; extras include commentary from Columbus, Rapp and co-star Adam Pascal, plus a feature-length documentary about Larson and the musical that puts faces to many of the people Rapp writes about.

Jonathan's dream

"I have no doubt it's making a difference," Rapp says of the film. "I just started doing public events for my book, and I've gone to a couple of colleges and the response has been incredible. One of [Jonathan's] goals was ... to talk about issues and concerns that don't normally get talked about. For a major studio to finance a film that has eight characters, only three of whom are white, four of whom are gay or lesbian and four of whom are HIV-positive, that's amazing."

Looking into his future, Rapp has a number of projects in the works, including the 10th anniversary benefit performance of "Rent" on Broadway that will reunite the original cast for one night only in April. He will also appear in Andy Dick's first film ("It's very meta: I play myself playing him; it's very silly").

Meanwhile, now that he's successfully got one book under his belt, the actor/singer has discovered a new artistic love. Although working on "Without You" was "the hardest thing I've ever done in life, by far ... I'm teasing out a new idea for a novel," Rapp says. He adds with a chuckle, "It's going to be a little lighter in tone. I realized I needed to write something that wasn't quite so emotionally intense."

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Anthony Rapp, author of "Without You" (Simon and Schuster), will appear Wednesday (Feb. at Barbara's Bookstore, 1100 Lake St., Oak Park, 708-848-9140

[Fantabulous428]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 8:38pm

Nm

Updated On: 2/6/06 at 08:38 PM

[secondstar05]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 8:44pm

Okay, I'm going to read more. And then MAYBE I will study...

[Dramatic_Irony]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 8:50pm

Heh, I love that he describes the spin-the-bottle anecdote as "amusing". That's one word for it...

But another book? I would die- in a good way.

[opiv]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 9:05pm

Im glad that I know for a fact its Anthony and Adam doing the commentary.

[RENThead414]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 9:11pm

It is? Huzzah!

[MissMonika]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 9:13pm

oh, i hope he writes another book. that would be great.

i should get my copy of Without You in the mail this week. and i'm super xcited for the 15th when he comes to LA. *squeals* hehehe

[Dramatic_Irony]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 9:13pm

Yep. By Anthony himself. What I want to know is how many of his co-stars have read 'Without You' and what they think of it.

I really hope he writes another book, too- and I hope by not as intense he means something that won't have me sobbing every time I try and re-read it.

[elphatine]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 9:15pm

Just popping in to say I got my book yesterday!! I'm so excited. People have been commenting on it all day (only good things, don't worry... I would've smacked some bitches up if there had been any negative remarks). I've only read the first chapter so far, but I love it. I'm so excited to keep reading it.

I miss this thread. I've kind of abandoned it...

Now homework. Maybe. If I don't go off and read some more.

[RENThead414]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 9:27pm

I'm assuming his "co-stars" (friends?) all know, at least in some part, about most of what's in "Without You" already.

[xM3L24x]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 9:28pm

I don't know if anybodys mentioned this but Road Trip is gonna be on TBS at 11 PM tonight.

[Wanderingchild5]

Posted: 2/6/06 at 9:31pm

I just watched Daivd Searching it was great! I loved when that lady said her mother lived in Naperville I'm like omg so do I lol. And I didnt know that John Cameron Mitchell was in it too. That made it even better ( :