TOO MUCH IS NOT ENOUGH

A Grammy Award–winning actor and singer recalls his unique
childhood and ascent to notoriety.

In a spirited debut saturated with personality and frank humor,
Rannells tells the stories of his youth growing up as the fourth of five
siblings in Omaha, Nebraska. The son of an advertising salesman and a former
teen model, the author fostered his love of live theater by watching musicals
from the 1940s and ’50s and by viewing the Tony Awards broadcast, which “was so
much better than the movies; it was live!” Moving swiftly through
the trajectory of his budding career, Rannells shares amusing anecdotes on his
Midwestern upbringing, being taught “how to throw shade” by his grandma
Josephine, becoming a busy “shameless entertainer” on the Omaha theater scene, and
his timely decision to come out to his conservative parents mere days before
moving to New York City in 1997 to study the arts. These chapters form a
descriptive rainbow of personal mishaps as the author describes his sexual
awakenings; having to endure priestly inappropriateness while he was a student
at an all-boys Jesuit Catholic high school; meeting his best friend, Zuzanna,
at an audition; nightclub adventures; and formative work at upstate New York
summer stock. Despite a series of rude awakenings and rejections in the
business—including an exhaustive tour with Pokemon Live!—Rannells,
a model of persistence and dedication, ultimately found his footing and
branched out toward a momentous Broadway debut in Hairspray in
2006. Later, he earned a Tony Award nomination for the originating role of
Elder Price in The Book of Mormon. The author is a natural
raconteur who engages readers with self-effacing honesty about his life’s great
expectations and fumbles. His life story will be encouraging and inspirational
particularly for theater buffs and readers pursuing a stage career, and musical
fans will savor his enticingly told journey from awkward childhood to fame in
the spotlight.