Welcome, Anthony Rapp!- Page 119

[kates]

Posted: 4/6/05 at 9:12pm

Hey Anthony! (And everyone else of course)

I haven't posted in this thread in a while, but I had a really touching experience regarding Rent a few hours ago and wanted to share it...I have a 9 year brother who is pretty severely developmentally delayed due to a reaction in his brain to the mercury they put in a vaccine when he was 18 months old. He is severely language delayed and has the linguistic ability of about a 3 year old. He is also very shy and has some self esteem issues. Anyway, I was on the phone with my mother and she said my brother was asking to talk to me. Now, my brother has never spoken more than 10 words together in a cohesive sentence, but he got on the phone and told me he wanted to sing a song. He then proceeded to sing "What You Own" all the way through, rather well. I was in tears because it made me so happy and started saying good job and wow and he said "Not Done Yet!". He then sang "Today 4U", singing everyone's lines and instead of 'Evita' said "the vita". I was so happy and wanted him to sing more but he was done on the phone. I asked my mom if she had bought another copy of Rent because I brought mine with me to school, and she (also in tears) told me no, he hadn't heard the cd since this summer when I was home, but she thought she had heard him singing those songs when he didn't think anyone was listening.
Anyway, I really want to say thank you, as corny as it, for bringing not only music, but words into this kid's life. I had no idea that recording had meant that much to him, but obviously it had. I know this isn't the usual way Rent touches someone, but it meant so much to me and to him. Thank you and good luck with filming!

[jacobtsf]

Posted: 4/6/05 at 9:40pm

Kates- Your post choked me up. Sometimes I find it amazing what music can do to someone, especially children.

[kangaroo]

Posted: 4/6/05 at 9:45pm

Kates... that is a touching story

[ElphieDefiesGravity]

Posted: 4/6/05 at 9:46pm

Your story made me cry.

[One Song Glory]

Posted: 4/6/05 at 9:51pm

man, that story really made my day. it feels good that Rent did that to a kid. very touching.

[kates]

Posted: 4/6/05 at 9:52pm

Oh, I'm glad all you enjoyed it-I wasn't sure it was appropriate to post because it's mushy and personal and some people aren't into that, but I am extremely pleased I could share this with you.

[Dreamcatcher]

Posted: 4/6/05 at 10:01pm

That was indeed a very touching story Kates. It's pretty amazing, the influence music can have on people. Never ceases to amaze me really.

[Ad_Libbing]

Posted: 4/6/05 at 10:21pm

That was incredibly moving and inspiring, Kates. Thank you so much for sharing that and for yet another thing to smile about.

[iheartmark]

Posted: 4/6/05 at 10:23pm

That was an amazing story. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. :)

[rice and beans AND cheese]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 2:37am

Thank you for the story. I touched me.

[Whiteboy Spice]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 3:05am

Hi everybody --

First of all, Kates, that's kind of an amazing story. Do you have any notion of whether or not he's aware of the context of what he's singing? I'm just curious what his level of comprehension is, and if there's a possibility that music can help people like him to improve their comprehension skills...

Anyway, hello again everybody. I mentioned something before that I have now gotten official word about: the studio has asked me to stop posting here about the movie, since the official site will be launched soon. On that site there will be blogging, by myself and others, opportunities for messages to be posted (I assume), and streaming video diaries and other goodies. So even though I won't be posting about the movie here, I will be keeping some posts on my laptop until they're ready to launch. And I will make sure that I or somebody from the studio gives you all the appropriate info for the site when it's ready to go. I think it should be cool.

This doesn't mean, however, that I can't still post answers to the many non-Rent-movie related questions that have piled up, although it will still take a while, with my schedule being what it is, to get to them in as timely a manner as I'd like.

I hope that all makes sense...

Thanks as always for your interest and support. It truly means a great deal.

Take care --

Anthony

[broadway betty]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 3:13am

Thank you for this, Anthony! It amazes me how good you are to us! Take your time, we know you're kinda busy! Take care!

Kates-That's such a touching story. Thank you for sharing it with us!

Updated On: 4/7/05 at 03:13 AM

[DiRrTy_ReNtHEAD420]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 4:58am

Thanks Anthony for keeping us up to date as much as you could.

[Ad_Libbing]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 7:21am

Wow. That site sounds very, very awesome. Thanks for letting us know what's going on, Anthony!

[WesternSky2]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 8:02am

Thanks again, Anthony! It's always nice to wake up for school and see a post from you. I can't wait for the movie site to launch. The mention of video diaries is very exciting!

And Kates - that story was really amazing. Really, really amazing.

[KelRel]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 8:45am

Anthony,
Thank you so much for keeping us informed and for being so good to us. We can't wait to see the official site. Take care and best wishes.
Kelley

[oscardarling]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 10:18am

Hi Anthony! I just wanted to say I think it's very cool that you take time out to chat here! I've just completed a masters in acting musical theatre and am now kind of struggling to find work! I was wondering if there have been times in your career when you've found it hard to get auditions and then to get jobs from those auditions-have you had 'dry spells'? I guess you must have just kept going because look where you are now, but I was wondering if you had any 'words of wisdom' you might want to share with a struggling actress/shop girl?! hope filming's going well! Thanks!

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 11:02am

Hey Anthony! That website sounds like it's going to be great. Can't wait to see it.

[FabalaCohen]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 11:29am

Ditto to seeing the site. *prepares to add to favorites* I can't wait to see the video diaries!

[FabalaYero85]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 11:48am

the anticipation is killing us...

thanks for the update, looking forward to the new site and the marvelous stuff that will be launched there. excited for videos and trailers and pictures...oh my

thanks again

[chaos_dragon]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 2:56pm

oh my....cant WAIT for the rent website to come out. Its awesome that its comming out soon. And VERY cool about the video diaries and blog posts.

May I just say, when I see the Rent trailer for the first time, either on TV or, even better, in a movie theater, i MIGHT just happen to spaz out and scream, just cuz. And people already think im weird cuz im counting down the days till November 11th...i think we should make it a holiday

[sassypanz]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 3:37pm

Wow! This must be the longest thread.

[Ad_Libbing]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 3:44pm

You'd think that, but here are some nutty fans of a certain person who shall go unnamed, who keep a thread growing and growing on the off-topic board. ^_____^ Not that that's a bad thing, at all.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 3:51pm

Hey now. You can only use the word nutty if it's in a nice way. And believe it or not, that's not the longest thread we've ever had.

[LariTheLoud]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 4:06pm

Really? I'm impressed. I've been thinking the Adam Pascal fan thread's the longest... but if there's an even LONGER one, maybe I don't want to see it! :)

Thanks for the awesome info, Anthony. I'm sure all of us (including the more quiet lurkers) will leap on the RENT movie website when it's finally up.