Anthony Rapp: “Without You”

Anthony Rapp’s New York Times best-selling memoir becomes a stunning one-man show about grief, hope and triumph. Without You begins in 1994, with Rapp, then working at Starbucks, about to audition for a new musical called Rent. From there, Rapp movingly intertwines two stories: his experience as part of the original production of Rent (in which he created the role of Mark Cohen) – his audition, the casting process, rehearsals and the shared grief when its young composer (and Adelphi alum) Jonathan Larson died suddenly the night before the musical’s off-Broadway premiere – and Rapp’s achingly beautiful relationship with his mother, who was battling cancer during this turbulent time. Backed by a five-piece band, Rapp fuses a mix of original music and songs by Jonathan Larson and REM into an evening the London Times hailed, in a five-star review, as “transfixing in its truthfulness, an honest portrait of grief and growing up.”