Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent by Anthony Rapp Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent
Book Review: Insightful and vivid autobiography
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought the audio version of this book a few months ago and I enjoyed it immensely. It is exactly what the title says it is: a memoir of Anthony Rapp's life as it has unfolded so far, focusing on his relationship with his mother as she fights a several year-long battle with terminal cancer. Her final illness occurs at the same time Anthony is starring as Mark Cohen in the musical Rent, so there is quite a bit of information on what is going on behind the scenes there, too. Just be aware that this is more of an autobiography with a lot of personal introspection than a book of little-known trivia about "Rent".
The information about Anthony's childhood and adolescence is particularly moving and vivid, as it seems his entire family has a penchant for both denial and bottling up anger and grievances until they reach a boiling point and then explode - sometimes after months or years of fuming. He charts this history back to his maternal grandmother, whom he never knew well but feared all the same, from stories his mother told him about her violent outbursts.
Rapp talks about how he wants his mother to accept his bisexuality before she dies, and he has a good deal of material about conversations that they have together in which they dance around as well as actually confront the subject, but it also seems the author himself is in some denial about his true sexual identity. Throughout the book he often talks about how he is attracted to women as well as men, but it seems that with the exception of some adolescent dalliances in high school, almost all of his relationships are long term and all of them are with men, not women. Even in the postscript, Rapp talks about how he and his male partner are living in New York City and hoping to adopt a child. Other than this one issue, though, the author seems to have very good insight into his and his somewhat dysfunctional family's behavior, and he is brutally honest about the various aspects of his life.
The parts about the musical "Rent" itself are very good too. The author talks about the audition process, the evolution of "Rent" from workshop to Broadway musical, his personal impressions of Jonathan Larson, the author of "Rent", about how he found out about Larson's death and how it impacted him, about the first performance of the musical after Larson died and the resulting improvisation, the subsequent success of the musical, and the loss of fast friendships as one by one various members of the original cast left the show for other opportunities. I highly recommend it.
Book Review: Highly recommended
Summary: 5 Stars
I was only peripherally aware of Rent's first splash because of the media storm surrounding Johnathan Larson's untimely death. I was halfway through the DVD when I immediately started looking up the cast and found out about Anthony's book. I ordered it on the spot and stayed up all night to finish it the day it arrived.
The honesty is brutal. He pulls no punches on himself, his feelings, or his behaviour although I have a feeling he pulled a few concerning some of his ex-lovers. I can only imagine that the writing of this was both cathartic and nerveracking. Nothing is held back.
I agree with another poster that I would like to know more about how Anthony became a child actor, but the book never claimed to be about that. It covers exactly what it says it does. The evolution of Rent from Workshop, to Broadway Hit, to successful film; and his own personal experiences dealing with his love life and the loss of his mother.
I would recommend this book to anyone who feels that life's challenges should be met head on rather than swept under the rug.
Book Review: Loving Tribute
Summary: 5 Stars
This book was exactly what I was looking for. A mixture of obscure RENT facts mixed with the personal life of Anthony Rapp. He is just as much an amazing writer as he is a gifted singer! I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know Anthony better. Also, this is a great book for anyone who has ever gone through the loss of a relative. Very, very highly recommended!Book Review: Please - may I have some more sir? Rent... that is.
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm a fan of the show... not really a "renthead" but have seen it a few times (3 I think to be exact) over the past 10 years. I did see Anthony in the orignal cast (SRO) and the original west coast cast.. then again in NYC about 4 years ago. So.. I think I can say I like it... a lot. Anyone reading this review probably has a history with the show.. and a favorable one at that. I read Anthony's book and found him to be a credible author (I wonder if he received any assistance from his brother with the manuscript.. I don't see any acknolwedgement of such in the book). I didn't find the narrative to be smooth and enjoyed the interweaving of his past into this present but he never lost focus on the crux of his story - his relationship with a mother who was dieing way too soon. Added to that were snippets of his growing up, coming out, and Rent story. I wanted more of each of those... how he came to be this child actor... that seems to come out of nowhere but is somewhat extraordinary for a kid from Joliet don't you think. And.. I really wanted more about the evolution of Rent. He was there from the beginning. Where was the story of the evolution of the show? That said.. it's a good read for fans of the genre - musical theater, theater, coming of age and coming out stories and love and loss of a loved one.Book Review: Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Musical Rent
Summary: 5 Stars
What a fantastically written book