TORONTO - Anthony Rapp has strong memories of being in Toronto some 25 years ago to shoot the teen flick "Adventures in Babysitting."
The actor, who played the mischievous Darryl in the 1987 Chris Columbus film about a night of child-minding gone awry, says he prowled the city during his downtime.
"One of the things I remember so vividly, I was 15 ... we stayed at the Sutton Place (hotel) and I used to walk over to Yonge Street, because were on a night schedule so on my days off I'd be up at night," said Rapp, who went on to star in the Broadway smash "Rent."
"And there was a 24-hour arcade at the time on Yonge Street, and this was in 1987, so I would go play 'Super Mario Bros.'"
He also remembers seeing movies in the city, walking a lot and discovering music at downtown record shops such as the now-closed Sam the Record Man.
"That was when I was really discovering more and more really great pop music and indie music and British music," said Rapp. "So that was very meaningful at the time."
The teen hijinks in Toronto seem a far cry from the weighty material that brings Rapp to the city this time around.
The actor is here to perform his one-man show "Without You," which opens this week at the Panasonic Theatre, just a stone's throw from the music shops he used to frequent.
The production is based on Rapp's memoir of the same name, in which he relates his mother's battle with cancer, an ordeal that coincided with the joys and sorrows of "Rent."
The tragic backstory of the rock opera 鈥� about a group of New Yorkers grappling with AIDS 鈥� has become a part of Broadway lore. "Rent" creator Jonathan Larson died of an aortic dissection just before the show premiered. It went on to become a smash 鈥� running 12 years and earning Larson posthumous Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize.
Rapp decided to put his memories on paper after he was approached by the publisher of a "Rent" coffee table book who asked if the actor would consider writing something.
"I've written, in my life, but I hadn't tried to write a book," Rapp said this week during an interview at the offices of Mirvish Productions, which is mounting "Without You."
"But as we were talking about what the book might be about, he shared with me that his father had died of cancer when he was in his 20s ....and when we first started talking my mom was still alive but very near the end of her life."
"He said: 'Would you think about writing about that?' I don't even know why but I said yes. I tend to say yes to things that present themselves, like as a challenge, as an opportunity."
Rapp calls writing "Without You" "the hardest thing he's ever done." The book was well received and in 2007, Rapp was asked if he'd consider a stage version.
"It seemed like a crazy thing to try," recalled the actor, who also starred in the big-screen version of "Rent" (directed, incidentally, by Columbus).
He decided to give it a go anyway, asking a director friend to take the 320-page memoir and condense it to 100 pages that would form the spine of the show.
He then arranged a reading and sought out the opinion of his brother, writer Adam Rapp, and original "Rent" director Michael Greif. The reaction was positive.
Recalled Rapp: "All of them unequivocally after the reading said: 'Yes, keep going.'"
"Without You" features Rapp's musings as well as music (including songs from "Rent," although he says seeing the musical is by no means a prerequisite).
The show, he says, makes him feel as though he's spending time with his mother, an Illinois nurse who raised Rapp and his siblings largely on her own. Many audience members, meanwhile, have made their own personal connections.
"They come back(stage) thanking me for helping them through something they've gone through," said Rapp.
"My biggest goal with both the book and the show is being honest, to tell the truth. I feel like the truth can be liberating and healing."
"Without You" runs from Dec. 13 until Jan. 6.
