Rapp, RENT & REM

Yesterday we got to cross one more thing off our life list of things we want to do or see before we die.
 
We saw Anthony Rapp in RENT on Broadway (in Chicago). Sarah got to fulfill another on her list by getting the chance to meet him and have him autograph her copy of his autobiography With Out You.

We almost had the chance at an almost private audience with him but Sarah chickened out. We got to the theater early Sunday afternoon so we stopped in at the Tea Shop located next door. While we were sitting there enjoying our Chais, Earl Grey, and Hibiscus Teas she looks up and says that the guy at the counter looks a lot like Anthony. I casually turn to see and we all agree that it not only looks like Mark Anthony, but it is in fact him. There are two or three other guys talking to him and she doesn't want to be rude and interrupt. (I've done a good job in raising polite children at least!) I encourage her and assure her that he will probably be very nice about it. If he didn't expect to get noticed I doubt he would go to the shop right next to the theater an hour before curtain when there are certain to be fans around. But her shyness overcomes her and she doesn't do it. Within minutes of his leaving the cafe she is almost literally kicking herself for the lost opportunity to talk to one of her idols.
 
I don't remember exactly when we first discovered RENT. I don't know if it was the music or the movie that we saw/heard first. She was in 6th or 7th grade. I could ask her, she has a memory like an elephant but she is sleeping off the excitement of the weekend now. But whenever it was, it became an instant favorite. We bought the DVD and she downloaded all of the music on iTunes. We watched it over and over, memorizing all the lines. Falling impossibly in love with Mark (her) and Collins (me) and Angel (everyone!).

A few years back the touring company came to Milwaukee and Steve took her to see that production. I couldn't go for some forgotten reason. She had wanted to see it when she was in NYC on Broadway but she was on a school sponsored trip and it was deemed inappropriate for middle schoolers. I promised her that if we ever got back to NYC together and it was still playing we would see it. It closed last year so that dream was dashed. (We did see the final show at the movie theater when it came around.) But then we heard that Anthony and Adam Pasqual were reviving their original roles and going on one last tour we started watching for show dates in Chicago. We actually first bought tickets for last weekend but soon realized that Sarah would not be back from her trip to Florida in time and later Steve's work schedule changed and he would also be out of town on Palm Sunday. Luckily we were able to sell our tickets to friends and purchase new tickets for Easter Sunday.

The performance was fabulous! Everything we had imagined and hoped it would be. The casts voices were as strong as ever. The only negative I had was the tall young man in front of me with the rather large afro. But I managed. Sarah's piano teacher is also a big RENT-head and she had already seen the show in Chicago the previous week and told us the inside scoop on getting to the Stage Door and securing a good place to get autographs when the cast came out. We followed her instructions and Sarah was in good position to see her idol one more time. This time prepared and steeled with the mutual energies of fellow fans surrounding her with similar intent. She had also run into a school friend during intermission and had brought her along on their stage door expedition. At first they were told that the cast would not be coming out that day because it was the last show in Chicago and they had other commitments. But they persisted and their patience eventually paid off. Anthony came out and signed her book and thanked all the fans for coming out. She was thrilled and completely starstruck.

 
If you look really close you can see the top of his head. Sarah is one of the brunettes near the front. I stayed at the back with Emma for fear of her getting crushed and to leave room for other autograph seekers.

 
That is the face of a very happy girl.

*I didn't really say anything about REM in this post yet did I? I used it partly for the alliteration but I will try to connect it in briefly. First of all, Steve and I have been REM fans from way back in the 80s with their first few albums. When we met Steve says he was instantly impressed because I knew a lot of the older REM songs and was also a fan. Anthony Rapp also tells of his first audition for RENT with Jonathon Larson in his book. He chose to sing REM's "Losing My Religion" as his audition song because he had also always been a big fan of REM and particularly of Michael Stipe's vocals. When Sarah first became a fan she had to once again admit that her parents do have pretty good taste in music and raised her right in that regard.