Former ‘Rent’ star Rapp communicates effortlessly

You'd have to travel back in time, maybe to the days of Perry Como, to find a performer as laid-back as Anthony Rapp.

In his 75-minute Artemus Ham Hall concert Saturday night -- part of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' New York Stage and Beyond series -- the 36-year-old former star of "Rent" combined lyric-driven ballads and show tunes with light conversation about his experiences on Broadway.

Dressed in a T-shirt, jeans and tennis shoes, and accompanied only by a pianist/guitarist, Rapp did his best to play down any sort of show-biz glamour. It was a chummy, small-lounge sort of evening that complemented the performer's intimate style.

Rapp doesn't have a "big" voice, but he's expressive, uncluttered, and unusually sensitive to lyric. His repertoire was pretty much what you'd expect -- original compositions, songs from his shows "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown," "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," and of course "Rent," as well as other material by Jonathan Larson.

He shared some amusing backstage stories. When someone at a birthday party for Rapp asked the young "Rent" composer who he was, Larson reportedly replied, "I am the future of the American musical theater." After joking about Larson's arrogance, Rapp paid tribute to his colleague by asserting that he was correct. He noted the enormous influence "Rent" has had on Broadway, despite the composer's death at age 36, just before his first major show opened.

Curiously, Rapp seems to encourage the same generational divide that "Rent" did. There were many young fans of the rock musical cheering the star's every word, but I sensed that the older crowd didn't quite know what to make of him. "What was there to like?" one older woman said to me afterwards. "He didn't do anything." Another complained, "He's not a legitimate singer."

Well, he's more Harry Chapin than Robert Goulet, and I suppose you either like that sort of thing or you don't. For me, Rapp's ability to communicate so effortlessly is a huge part of his charm, and his "everyman" kind of voice reduces the distance from the stage to audience. He's like an unpretentious friend sitting in your living room on a lazy day sharing stories. He's so uniquely ordinary that he's a star.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at DelValle@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.