Anthony Rapp Signs Books in Long Beach, CA, May 14

Anthony Rapp, who appeared in the Broadway and touring productions of the Pulitzer Prize winning musical RENT, as well as in the movie of the same name, will hold a lecture/book signing for his new best-selling book, "Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Hit Musical RENT." He will also sing a couple of songs from the musical when he appears at The Library, a coffee house (located at 3412 E Broadway) in Long Beach, CA on Sunday, May 14th at 3pm.

"Anthony Rapp captures the passion and grit unique to the theatre world as he recounts his life-changing experience in the original cast of the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical RENT," state press notes. Anthony Rapp had a special feeling about Jonathan Larson's rock musical from his first audition, so he was thrilled when he landed a starring role as the filmmaker Mark Cohen. With his mom's cancer in remission and a reason to quit his newly acquired job at Starbucks, his life was looking up.

When RENT opened to thunderous acclaim off Broadway, Rapp and his fellow cast members knew that something truly extraordinary had taken shape. But even as friends and family were celebrating the show's success, they were also mourning Jonathan Larson's sudden death from an aortic aneurysm. By the time Rent made its triumphant jump to Broadway, Larson had posthumously won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize.

When Anthony's mom began to lose her battle with cancer, he struggled to balance the demands of life in the theatre with his responsibility to his family. In his book, Anthony recounts the show's magnificent success and his overwhelming loss. He also shares his first experiences discovering his sexuality, the tension it created with his mother, and his struggle into adulthood to gain her acceptance.

Variously marked by fledgling love and devastating loss, piercing frustration and powerful enlightenment, Without You charts the course of Rapp's exhilarating journey with the cast and crew of Rent as well as the intimacies of his personal life behind the curtain."

Rapp has also appeared on Broadway in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Six Degrees of Separation and Precious Sons (for which he received a Drama Desk Award nomination). His film credits include A Beautiful Mind, Twister, Dazed and Confused, Six Degrees of Separation and Adventures in Babysitting.

This event is free. For more information please call 562-433-2329

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