The multi-faceted Mario Cantone will play a special two-performance-only engagement at the American Airlines Theater May 19 and 20 in New York City. The Roundabout Theatre Company production of An Evening With Mario Cantone will reteam the performer with his Love! Valour! Compassion! director Joe Mantello.
The Evening, as Cantone himself told Playbill On-Line, will be "a lot of my stand-up stuff that I've been developing at Caroline's [Comedy Club in NYC] over the years and all the musical parodies that I've ever done." Cantone will take on Judy Garland, Jim Morrison, Peggy Lee, and, of course, Liza in the two-act program which will feature his "greatest hits" and some new material the actor has never done before.
In a Broadway season filled with one-person shows, Cantone jokingly contrasted his work, "No, I'm not going to come out in a white shirt and leggings and miss the last note of 'Ladies Who Lunch' a few times." Instead, he offers, "It's going to be fun. Everybody thinks 'Well, you need a theme' [or] 'you should have a play.' It's not a play. Dame Edna didn't have a play, she had no theme at all and she was hysterical."
An Evening With Mario Cantone will take place, however, on the set of the play, The Man Who Had All the Luck. Cantone said to honor the Arthur Miller drama, he will "kill himself at the end for your enjoyment."
The production written and performed by Cantone will feature musical accompaniment The Tom Kitt Band. Lyrics are by Cantone, tick, tick...Boom!'s Jerry Dixon and Harold Lubin. Music is composed by Dixon. Lisa Leguillo helped with the musical staging. Cantone is probably first remembered by New York metro-area television audiences for his hosting of the children show "Steampipe Alley." He has since become a cross genre celebrity playing on Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional stages, comedy clubs, film, TV and radio. His numerous credits include Love! Valour! Compassion!, The Tempest (New York Shakespeare Festival), The Crumple Zone (Rattlestick Theatre); the films "Quiz Show," "Mouse Hunt"; stand-up gigs at Carnegie Hall, Caroline's Comedy Club, and on "Comedy Central Presents... Mario Cantone"; TV appearances on HBO's "Sex & The City," NBC's "ED," "Late Night With David Letterman," "The Rosie O'Donnell Show," "The View," hosting "A&E Biography"; and is a frequent guest on the nationally syndicated "Opie and Anthony" radio show.
To purchase tickets for An Evening With Mario Cantone, at the American Airlines Theater, 229 W. 42nd St., call (212) 719-1300. For more information, visit www.mariocantone.com or www.roundabouttheater.org.
