Rapp, Anthony

Rapp was born in Chicago , Illinois , and grew up near the city of Joliet ^[1] , in the family of Mary Lee (born Baird) and Douglas Rapp ^[2] . After his parents divorced in 1974, he was raised by his mother, who worked as a nurse. His older brother is a playwright, writer and director Adam Rapp . He also has an older sister ^[3] .

As a child, Rapp took an active part in an amateur theater, and in high school he won many awards for singing ^{[3] [4]} . He studied in high school, Joliet West ( Eng. Joliet West High School ) and theatrical camp "Interlochen Arts Camp" in Michigan . Rapp moved to New York in 1989 in order to study at New York University at the Faculty of Cinema, but dropped out of school after one semester ^[3] .

Rapp first appeared on Broadway in 1981, with a role in the musical “The ”, based on the story by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry “The Little Prince ”; production closed during the preview shows. He made his debut on the big screen in the comedy Babysitting Adventure (1987), directed by Chris Columbus , who later also filmed Bohemia's film version with Rapp. He subsequently appeared in several films and Broadway productions. Among his roles are such projects as “ Under the Hope and in Confusion ”, “ Mind Games ”, “ School Ties ”, “ Road Adventure ”, “ Six Degrees of Alienation ” (Rapp appeared both in theatrical and in film version) and “ . ”

Rapp played the role of Mark Cohen as part of the Off-Broadway and original Broadway castes of the musical Jonathan Larson " ." After he got the role in September 1994, Jonathan Larson wrote several new songs specifically for Rapta ^[5] . He returned to his role in the movie version of the musical, released November 23, 2005. He also returned to his role for six-week performances, starting from July 30, 2007, and until October 7, 2007, along with the original cast member Adam Pascal ^[6] . Rapp and Pascal, together with Gwen Stewart, the original actress of the production, returned to their roles in the national tour of the musical, starting January 6, 2009 ^[7] .

In 2000, Rapp released a solo CD entitled "Look Around". In 2006, he published a memoir titled “Without You: Memoirs of Love, Loss and the Musical“ Bogema ”,” which told about the musical “Bohemia” and the relationship with his mother. He later adapted the memoirs for a one-man show, which he performed in the United States ^[8] .

Rapp played the role of Lucas in the If / Then musical, which was also played by Idina Menzel , his former Bohemian colleague. Preview shows of the production began on March 5, 2014, and the premiere on Broadway was held at the Richard Rogers Theater on March 30, 2014. The musical closed on March 22, 2015. Rapp and the original cast of the production have returned to their roles in the national tour ^[9] .

In 2016, Rapp received the role of Officer Paul Stemets in the Star Trek: Discovery television series, which became the first open gay character in the Star Trek universe television shows. ^[ten]

Rapp had a close relationship with her mother, who fought cancer at the start of the Bohemia musical ^[8] . She died at the age of 55 in 1997 ^[11] .

In 2012, the publication Metro Weekly called Rappe "one of the first open gays on Broadway" ^{[12] [13]} . He came out in front of his mother at the age of 18 ^[1] . In an interview with Oasis magazine in 1997, he explained that he identifies himself as a queer rather than as a gay: “I don’t want to go into labels, but I never labeled myself, except that I queer. For me the most important thing is that I was in a loving relationship with men ... I never said that I was gay. The truth is that I also loved women, although, probably, to a greater degree I am still homosexual ” ^[14] . He also called himself “ bisexual ” ^[1] and “four and a half” on the Kinsey Scale ^[9] .

Charges against Kevin Spacey

In October 2017, in an interview with the portal “ BuzzFeed ”, Rapp blamed the actor Kevin Spacey for having sexually harassed him in 1986, when Rapp was 14, and Spacey was 26 years old. Rapp was invited to a party at the Spacey house, and after everyone left, Spacey lifted Rapp in his arms, moved him to bed and tried to initiate sex ^[15] . Rapp added that he once met with a lawyer in order to discuss possible legal actions, but he was told that the case did not deserve attention ^{[16] [17]} . He discussed harassment in an interview with The Advocate magazine in 2001, but the name of Spacey was cut out from the publication in order to avoid legal disputes and public outing ^[18] . Rapp decided to talk about what happened in 2017, on a wave of accusations towards producer Harvey Weinstein , with the support of his family, boyfriend, representatives, and a lawyer ^[19] . In response to the allegations, Spacey wrote on his Twitter account that he didn’t remember such a case, but he was very sorry if it really happened, and also apologized to Rapp for his “unacceptable drunken behavior” ^[20] . Not less than 14 victims reported about harassment by Spacey after the recognition of Rapp ^[21] . Rapp has faced criticism and has also been harassed on the Internet after being charged. ^{[22] [23]}

Cinema

Television

Theater

Discography

• Rapp, Anthony. Without You: Memoirs of Love, Loss and the Musical "La Boheme" = Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent. - Simon & Schuster , 2006. - ISBN 978-0743269773 . - ISBN 0-7432-6976-4 .