Anthony Rapp's WITHOUT YOU Comes to Panasonic Theater, 12/13-1/6

In 1994 Anthony Rapp was working at a Starbucks and about to audition for Rent a new musical by a young guy named Jonathan Larson. An inspiring story about friends and artists struggling in New York's Lower East Side, it was based loosely on Puccini's La Bohème. Anthony got the part, but Jonathan died suddenly the night before the musical's off-Broadway premiere.

This is where Without You begins.  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 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 REM in a stunning one-man show about grief, hope and triumph.

David Mirvish is proud to present Without You for a limited Toronto engagement, December 13, 2012 to January 6, 2013 (media night is on Sunday, December 16 at 5 PM) at the Panasonic Theatre.  The show, which was a sold-out success at the Edinburgh Festival this August and then went on to play London at the prestigious Menier Chocolate Factory, travels to New York after its Toronto run.

Jonathan Larson's groundbreaking musical went on to be a Tony and Pulitzer Prize Award winner after it opened in New York in 1996.  The Broadway production closed in 2008 after a 12-year run, making it the ninth-longest-running Broadway show at the time.

Anthony Rapp has been acting and singing professionally since he was nine years old. He is best known for originating the role of Mark Cohen Rent, for which he shared an OBIE Award with the rest of the cast.  He reprised his role in Chris Columbus' film version opposite other members of the original cast.  His Broadway credits include the revival of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation.  His Broadway debut was in Precious Sons with Judith Ivey and Ed Harris, for which he received an Outer Critics Circle Award and a Drama Desk nomination. 

Film credits include Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, Adventures in Babysitting (which was filmed in Toronto), School Ties, Dazed and Confused, Six Degrees of Separation, Man of the Century, David Searching,  Road Trip and A Beautiful Mind (SAG Award nomination for ensemble).  He has also appeared in Winter Passing, a film written and directed by his brother, Adam Rapp.  On television, Rapp has appeared in "The Lazarus Man," "The X-Files," "The Beach Boys: An American Family," "Kidnapped" and "Law & Order: SVU."  In 2000, he released his debut album, Look Around.  

Without You is directed by Steve Maler; set design by Timothy Bird for Knifedge; lighting design by Tim Mascall; sound design by Gareth Owen. Musical Direction and Arrangements are by Daniel A Weiss with Cello Arrangements by Tom Kitt. 

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