Rents' Anthony Rapp Brings Book Tour to Boston

Anthony Rapp didn't know how to tango before he was cast in Rent.

The actor, a veteran of stage and screen, had done a great deal of singing and dancing in his career but had never completed the steps of the sensual dance before.

After being cast as Mark Cohen, the lead and narrator of Jonathan Larson's rock opera adaptation of La Bohème, he learned quickly in order to perform his character's song, "The Tango Maureen."

Ten years later, his tango skills increased greatly when he revisited the role of Mark for the film adaptation of the show. Several months-and several tango lessons later-the "Tango Maureen" was immortalized on film.

Rapp, who recently held a reading at the Wang Center for his book Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Musical Rent, took time out of his book signing to talk with The Beacon about his acting, writing and the musical Rent.

Rapp, whose credits include the title role in You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown, Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors and Ben in Six Degrees of Separation, as well as films such as A Beautiful Mind, Road Trip and Adventures in Babysitting, recently published a memoir that chronicles both his professional and personal life, as his acting career skyrocketed and his mother's cancer worsened.

He has been writing since he was a child and has worked on both stage and screenplays. When discussing the possibility of writing about his mother's death, he said he knew that he could not write about it without incorporating his experiences with the musical Rent and its author, Jonathan Larson.

He worked on the book for six years before completing it and said it was the hardest thing he had ever done.

At the Wang on Tuesday, Rapp read from the chapters about the development of Rent off-Broadway and his relationship with Larson, who died suddenly of an aortic brain aneurysm the day after the play's off-Broadway dress rehearsal.

He then performed the song "Seasons of Love" with several students from Boston, including senior musical theatre major Briana Carlson-Goodman. He dedicated the performance to the memory of Larson.

Rent, which opened on Broadway 10 years ago, has proven to be a long-lasting musical with a large base of fiercely loyal fans. This past November, a film version of the play was released, with six of the eight original stars reprising their roles.

Rapp credits the play's appeal to its subject matter and the way it is presented through the characters. He said the issues are timeless.

"Being young and struggling and falling in love and facing difficult circumstances," he told The Beacon in a phone interview. "There's a vibrancy and immediacy to the characters in it that people identify with. So much of entertainment is escapist. It's so rare that people feel truly connected to something, which is why they keep going back to Rent."

After becoming Mark for the New York and London productions, Rapp said he enjoyed returning to the role for the film