Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent

Anthony Rapp's first audition for the workshop production of Rent begins a journey that takes him all the way to Broadway as the star of the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, experiencing tragedy, loss, and enlightenment along the way. When Rent's brilliant young creator, Jonathan Larson, dies suddenly of an aneurysm the night before the show's first performance, Anthony and the rest of the cast are devastated and open the show that night only to friends and family, performing a tribute to their dear friend and gifted artist. Shortly thereafter, Anthony's mom receives a devastating cancer diagnosis and during the Anthony's first year on Broadway as Mark in Rent, he makes frequent trips to visit her, hoping for her to come to terms with his being gay, as he comes to terms with her impending death. With atmospheric, nostalgic flashbacks to his childhood in small-town Joliet, Illinois, he shares his first experiences discovering his sexuality, the tension it created with his mother, and his struggle into adulthood to gain her acceptance. This is a beautiful, haunting memoir of the world of theatre, the love of son for his mother, sexual awakening, and maturity won at far too early an age.

“"Without Youdeserves accolades purely for its author's courage and candor. I expected to be moved, but I didn't count on being completely swept up in the emotion that carries this story so eloquently and poignantly to its end. Rapp may be an actor, but his ability to lay himself bare is the great talent on display here."-- Camryn Manheim, Emmy Award-winning costar ofThe Practiceand author ofWake Up, I'm Fat!”

"Beautifully written...[Without You] shows that a life story truthfully told can be stranger (as well as more touching) than fiction."

-- William Georgiades, New York Post
"No roar-of-the-crowd, smell-of-the-greasepaint scrapbook; it's a sprawling, tear-streaked life story and unabashedly sentimental ode to his mother...[Rapp's] voice is unpretentious and unfailingly honest."

-- Melissa Rose Bernardo, Entertainment Weekly
"The tragic, compelling back story to Rent extends the book's appeal far beyond the show's fans."

-- Web Behrens, Chicago Tribune
"Pitch-perfect...a book for anyone who has experienced great loss, [and] for anyone who has survived and grown because of that loss."

-- David Weigand, San Francisco Chronicle
"A memoir roiling with personal revelation and uncensored emotion."

-- Christine Dolen, The Miami Herald

Anthony Rapp has been acting professionally since he was nine years old. He's best known for originating the role of Mark Cohen in Jonathan Larson's Pulitzer Prize-winning landmark rock opera Rent, taking the show from off Broadway to Broadway, Chicago, and London. He shared an OBIE Award with the rest of the original cast for his performance. He has appeared in numerous films, including Adventures in Babysitting, Dazed and Confused, the Oscar-winning A Beautiful Mind, and, most recently, the film adaptation of Rent. In 2000, he released his debut album, Look Around. He lives in New York City with his partner, Rodney To, and their three cats, Emma, Sebastian, and Spike. This is his first book.

Anthony Rapp had a special feeling about Jonathan Larson's rock musicalRentas early as his first audition, which won him a starring role as the video artist Mark Cohen. The Pulitzer Prize-winningRentopened 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. InWithout 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 Youis an exceptional memoir of the world of theater, the love of a son for his mother, and maturity won far too early.

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