Report: Mario Cantone's Solo Show, Laugh Whore, To Play Bway in January 2003 | Playbill

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News Report: Mario Cantone's Solo Show, Laugh Whore, To Play Bway in January 2003 Comedian and actor Mario Cantone's new solo show, Laugh Whore, will play The Music Box on Broadway beginning Jan. 23, 2003, The New York Times reported on Nov. 29.

Comedian and actor Mario Cantone's new solo show, Laugh Whore, will play The Music Box on Broadway beginning Jan. 23, 2003, The New York Times reported on Nov. 29.

The 40-year-old actor who has starred on Broadway in Love! Valour! Compassion!, Off-Broadway in The Crumple Zone, and regionally in Richard Greenberg's The Violet Hour, at South Coast Repertory — to say nothing of many comedy-club gigs — will reportedly tell tales about his Italian-American family and sing songs in the new one-man show.

Andrew Lloyd Webber's production company, The Really Useful Group, is said to be producing. A tour and London run are also planned.

Catone's warmup for Broadway were dates earlier this year at the American Airlines Theatre, where he appeared in An Evening With Mario Cantone in May and June. Joe Mantello directed those shows.

The Evening, Cantone told Playbill On-Line at the time, was to be "a lot of my stand-up stuff that I've been developing at Caroline's [Comedy Club in New York City] over the years and all the musical parodies that I've ever done." Cantone took on Judy Garland, Jim Morrison, Peggy Lee and Liza Minnelli in the two-act program. In a 2001-02 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," he said, referring to Elaine Stritch's solo act. Instead, he said, "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 took place, however, on the set of the play, The Man Who Had All the Luck (the American Airlines Theatre is the home of the Roundabout Theatre Company). Cantone said to honor the Arthur Miller drama, he would "kill himself at the end for your enjoyment."

(One can only guess the jokes he might make about The Music Box, the house that Irving Berlin built.)

The 2002 Evening was written and performed by Cantone and featured musical accompaniment The Tom Kitt Band. Lyrics were by Cantone, tick, tick...BOOM! actor 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," into which Cantone plugged sly pop culture and grown-up references.

He plays a recurring role, Anthony Marentino, on TV's "Sex and the City."

For more information, visit www.mariocantone.com.

 
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