'Rent' star and Joliet native comes home with 'If/Then'
Actor and Joliet native Anthony Rapp will forever be known for originating the role of filmmaker Mark in the 1996 cast of "Rent" and recreating it in the 2005 movie. And he's fine with that, even though he's played many other roles since he started out as a child actor in the late 1970s.
Rapp's current acting gig is reprising the supporting role of Lucas in the national tour of "If/Then." The 2014 Broadway musical, penned by the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning creators of "Next to Normal," makes its Chicago debut at the Oriental Theatre from Tuesday, Feb. 23, through Sunday, March 6.
"One of the great gifts of being around for all these years is that I've gotten to know and become friends with some wonderful writers including (composer) Tom Kitt and (writer) Brian Yorkey. I did early versions of 'Next to Normal' with them, playing the doctor," said Rapp about how he became connected to "If/Then." "We became friends and collaborators and colleagues and they wrote the role of Lucas with me in mind."
Likened to the 1998 film "Sliding Doors," "If/Then" shows two divergent paths that a recently divorced woman's life can take in contemporary New York. On Broadway, Tony Award-winner Idina Menzel ("Rent," "Wicked") created the pivotal role of Elizabeth, who takes advice from close friends like Lucas.
"Our show is a contemporary, new piece of theater that hasn't been seen a million of times," Rapp said. "It's been very gratifying and cool to go around the country and to introduce it to audiences."
Menzel and her Tony Award-winning Broadway co-star LaChanze traveled with "If/Then" for the first 14 weeks of the tour last year. But now their roles are respectively played by Jackie Burns (Menzel's Broadway standby) and Tamyra Gray (an "American Idol" alum).
"I knew going in that I would be the only one left," Rapp said about his departing cast mates. "They all have children, and it's hard enough being on the road as it is, so the only way they agreed to tour was to do part of it because it's a real struggle for their families."
Touring isn't new for Rapp. He can even boast about acting opposite Yul Brynner in an early 1980s tour of "The King and I," even though it wasn't a happy experience for the then-child actor.
"He was not the most gracious star I ever worked with," Rapp said about Brynner's habit of barking acting tips to co-stars in the middle of performances.
Rapp hopes his appearance in "If/Then" will partially appease ticketholders who had hoped to see him in a concert last month at the Batavia Fine Arts Centre. Rapp was scheduled to share the stage with his "Rent" co-star Adam Pascal, but the show was canceled when other acting jobs came along.
"We're sorry about that," Rapp said. "The concert booking happened really far in advance and then other things came up."
Rapp got his start in Chicago and has lots of memories starring as the gawky teenager Daryl in the 1987 Chicago-set film "Adventures in Babysitting." Local theater audiences might also remember him in the title role of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" at Skokie's North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in 1998 before it transferred to Broadway.
Yet Rapp is proudest of his association with "Rent." Jonathan Larson's contemporary rock musical, which updated Puccini's opera "La Bohème," became a cultural sensation when it debuted, much in the same way that the Broadway hip-hop musical "Hamilton" is now all the rage.
Rapp even wrote a memoir called "Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss and the Musical Rent," which he adapted into a stage show. He helped co-found the first BroadwayCon fan convention this past January in New York with "Rent" superfan Melissa Anelli and participated in a 20-year reunion panel.
"It transformed my life in every meaningful way," Rapp said of the musical. "So I will forever remain intensely proud of everything having to do with 'Rent,' and I'm pretty sure it will be the lead on my bio and I have absolutely no problem with that."
“If/Then”
Location: Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St., Chicago, (800) 775-2000,
Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday (also Sunday, March 28), 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday (also March 2); from Tuesday, Feb. 23, through Sunday, March 6
Tickets: $22-$95