A Review of 'Without You: a Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical RENT' by Anthony Rapp

"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."


This book (which I also read about a year ago) was what made Anthony Rapp my favorite actor ever.  Okay, one of them :)


I like Anthony Rapp's honesty in this book.  How he came out to his mom and how she felt about knowing this about her son.    


It was cool to see how this one musical (and there were several others involved in Anthony Rapp's story) can shape someone's life so dramatically (both Anthony Rapp's and the people around him).  But this memoir wasn't all about RENT.  It only subtley revolved around it.  It was the torque, but not necessarily the force (I know I got that wrong... that's why I'm getting a B- in physics...).


As a humongous fan of this musical, it was really cool to "go backstage" and see the audition process, Jonathan Larson's script writing, sound checks, costumes, etc.  It was amazing and beautiful and you could tell that Rapp cared about everything he did and everything came with it (his own acting performance, the amazing people he was with, the list could go on and on.


If you want to read a memoir that is completely honest and heartfelt and you also love RENT, this book is for you!


I give 'Without You':

Thanks for reading!

--Jude