Review of Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp Concert

I have been a Renthead now for six years, and in those six years I have had the honor and privlege of seeing both Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp on several different occasions and each time have enjoyed being in their company and/or watching them perform.

This past Monday (1/10/11), however, history was made and I was able to see these two wonderful performers together onstage-not in their iconic Roger Davis and Mark Cohen characters, but simply-as Adam and Anthony.

The concert started at 8:02 (not bad for theatre, which has a 5-10 minute grace period for last minute seaters and those who had to run to the bathroom-actors included), and Adam was the first one onstage, along with his sidekick, and just as much part of the show as himself, piano player Larry Edoff. This concert was different from the others I had seen though, because along with Larry, Adam also had a drummer at this concert named Gary.

For the Adam Pascal fans out there, they know his normal set includes Broadway hits, and his own music that him and Larry have written together. This concert proved no different than any other he would have done. Starting out the set, he performed his now requested rendition of "I dont care much/Rocketman" from Kander and Ebb's Cabaret and Elton John respectively. His set also included songs from his album Blinding Light, such as "Fade Out", "Love will Always Come back" (a song Larry wrote, and dedicated to his now very pregnant wife. He mentioned she was due in 3 weeks-and it's a GIRL!). "Single Drop of You", and "Turn the Lights On" rounded out the selections from his album. Adam also thrilled the audience by performing the song "Red Hill Mining Town" by U2, a song he used fifteen years ago to audition for the ground breaking musical Rent. He also expressed his deep sorrow over the loss of Black Sabbath member Ronnie James Dios, and told the audience that he was one of his biggest ispirations, and how hard he tried to sing like his hero. As a memorial, he sang the man's material.

Adam also enjoys telling stories and jokes during his set, but as he told the audience, that due to something he wrote on facebook he was "nicely advised to keep his comments to himself. However! In true Adam fashion, he said that he had to say one thing, and told the audience that "I never said I wanted Julie Taymore arrested for assault...I think she should be murdered for arson!" for that, he got a HUGE laugh and cheering! We KNEW he was kidding!!!!

He also told his now famous story of a time in Del Ray, Florida where he was practically boo'd offstage, then had to go to a meet and greet with the same people that boo'd him. I personally LOVE hearing that story, because he does such a funny old man/woman impression!

INTERMISSION

After intermission was over, Anthony took to the stage. He started his set with a song from his album 'Look Around', playing the title track. He also played a song entitled "Visits to You", that he shared he had written for his mother in the wake of her illness and his gut wrenching travel between New York, where he was cast in Rent to his home in Joliet, Illinois.

He also treated the audience to his audition song as Adam had. His song is now famous to his fans-R.E.M's "losing my Religion", and I think I actually prefer his version over the original (though I knew the song LONG before I knew this was the song he had performed for the audition).

Anthony then joked to the audience that he loved 80s music, because he was a child of the 80s...so he was going to sing a song from the 80s. The song? "Video Killed the Radio Star"!!! Which the crowd loved and went wild for during and after the song!

Like Adam, Anthony has had a very prolific career on Broadway, being seen in musicals such as You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, Little Shop of Horrors, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch. His next song, was from Hedwig. Now, I beg your forgiveness as I'm not all that familiar with hedwig, so I'm not sure what song it was that was actually performed. But, he did tell the audience to image him in 5" heels and a big, blonde wig.

He then went into the song "Chasing Cars", and rounded out his set with the Rent ballad Without You, which he dedicated to both Jonathan Larson (composer of Rent) and his mother.

When he was done, he announced that the next song in the set would be the last, and beginning chords of What You Own, a song made famous to Rentheads by Adam and Anthony began. Adam returned to the stage for his part to thunderous applause from the audience, who was more than thrilled to hear this iconic song, done by the two people who made it famous.

After bows with Anthony's band, Albinokid, they exited the stage. The audience was on its feet, cheering and clapping in appreciation-but we all knew the show wasn't over yet.

As if in a movie, there was a slight lull, followed by more thunderous applause as Adam made his way back out with Larry to perform their rendition of One Song Glory, Adam's crowning moment in his set- another song he made iconic from Larson's musical. Anthony then joined him back onstage with his band, where they really concluded their set with Seasons of Love.

When the final cord was played, the audience rose to its feet, giving them and their band more thunderous, appreciative applause as they all took their bows, thanking the audience (Anthony giving his usual claps to Jonathan as he does at the end of each perfomance he does), and exiting the stage.

I have seen Adam in concert six times, and I saw Anthony's one man show, based on his book Wthout You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical RENT, but the powerhouse performance of these two performers and friends was probably the most amazing thing I have seen in a long, long time.