Voting has begun for the Without You Sing With Anthony Rapp Contest, where one performer will be selected to sing a duet with Anthony Rapp during the encore of his Off-Broadway musical, Without You.
Throughout the extended run of the musical, Rapp has performed with a wide range of Broadway talent during his encores, including Jenn Colella, Ann Harada, James Monroe Iglehart, and more.
The winner of the contest will be announced May 1, and perform with Rapp May 4. The voting process is being held on the musical's instagram through April 30.
Said producer Liza Dozier in a statement, "Both Anthony and the musical Rent hold an incredibly special place in audiences’ hearts. A big part of what we wanted to create at New World Stages was a supportive community, including our beloved memory wall, which allows audience members to remember someone they have lost. This contest is an extension of the need to connect with an audience and offer our fans and opportunity of a lifetime to share the stage with Anthony, I cannot wait to see who will join him on that stage that night.”
Rapp's Off-Broadway autobiographical solo show Without You plays through June 11. The show began performances January 14 and officially opened January 25. Read reviews here.
Based on his best-selling memoir of the same name, Without You features music from Jonathan Larson's Rent along with original songs by Anthony Rapp, David Matos, Joe Pisapia, and Daniel A. Weiss; and additional arrangements by Tom Kitt. The show picks up as Rapp, broke and working at Starbucks, gets an audition for a new rock opera, going on to tell the story of the early days of the landmark musical.
Steven Maler is at the helm with Weiss serving as music director, along with providing orchestrations. The creative team also includes scenic and lighting designer Eric Southern, costume designer Angela Vesco, sound designer Brian Ronan, and projection designer David Bengali. Denise Savas is production stage manager.
Lisa Dozier with Royal Family Productions, Cue to Cue Productions, Ryohei Otani/Motoko Kimura, Brian J. Heck/Harish Karthikeyan, Jason Turchin/Shimmy Braun, Charlotte Cohn, Abigail E. Disney, and Kim Vasquez are producing, along with creative producer Chris Henry. LDK Productions' Lisa Dozier and Michael Shannon are general managers.
Without You played a world premiere engagement at Pittsburgh's City Theatre in 2008. In the years since, the show has played Boston, Edinburgh Fringe, London, and more. The Off-Broadway bow follows earlier NYC engagements at Joe's Pub and Royal Family Performing Arts Space, the latter in 2022. An album of the show was released by PS Classics in 2012.
Visit WithoutYouMusical.com.
