Without You

Synopsis

Anthony Rapp shares his experience of being a part of Rent - his audition, the casting process, rehearsals and his view from the stage during the tribute performance on the night after Jonathan's Larson tragic death. Without You also details Anthony's achingly beautiful relationship with his mother during this turbulent time. Based on his New York Times best-selling memoir, Anthony Rapp, backed by a five-piece rock band uses a mix of original music and songs by Larson and R.E.M. in a stunning one-man show about grief, hope and triumph.

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 8 August 2012

A line can be crossed in theatre as therapy, and the wonderful New York singer Anthony Rapp, who starred in the original production of Jonathan Larson’s Rent, goes dangerously close.

His late-night show comes to the Menier Chocolate Factory later this month and I hope they find a way of shaking out the schmaltz before it’s too late. This will be hard, as the whole point of Rapp’s rap is to register his pain at the loss of two significant loved ones: Larson, and his mother.

It starts so well, with the audition for Rent, his portrait of Larson – “I’m the future of musical theatre” the doomed genius declared – and his pulsating delivery of one or two of the show’s great numbers, backed by a punchy onstage band. Musically, the show is a gas.

But lamentation soon turns to mawkishness with the double whammy of two untimely losses, 35 year-old Larson from an aortic aneurysm before the show opened off B...

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