Stoneham names in bright lights - Cantone in Mousehunt
Published on January 21st, 1998
STONEHAM, MA - From Shakespearean actor to stand-up comic, Mario Cantone does it all. This versatile actor, currently appearing in the motion picture Mousehunt, hails from Stoneham and credits Stoneham High School and its dedicated Theater Department as the impelling force which made him see the light. Or lights, that is, of Broadway.
Cantone is living the life of an actor and has been since l983 when he moved to New York City. With the stage as his office, he works the night shift, currently appearing in the off-Broadway play, June Moon. Cantone can also be found playing himself, the funny, sometimes self-deprecating man who entertains with his comedic genius at various night spots in the Big Apple.
Cantone recalled recently, in a telephone interview from his Manhattan apartment, the "great time" he had at Stoneham High School, from where he graduated in l978. In looking back, he calls it "incredible" that a high school like Stoneham actually offered Theater Arts as a major, which he, of course, devoured.
As a self-described "advocate" of the theater program, and a virtual "pied piper of drama" at Stoneham High, Cantone met two profound influences who helped him tap into his thespian talents. Former Music Director Frank Abrahams and Social Studies/Drama Instructor Jim Romano afforded him the opportunity to spread his wings, as both an actor and director, and discover his dramatic calling, through productions such as Arsenic and Old Lace and You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown. The traditional Carnival Ball was the site of his first official stand-up comedy act.
"I was a star in high school. It's been all downhill from there," joked Cantone.
On the contrary, Cantone's star is still rising.
Among his list of credits is the l995 Tony award winning Broadway play Love! Valor! Compassion! where he replaced Nathan Lane in the lead role, as well as Shakespeare's The Tempest. Several off-Broadway plays, such as As Bees Drown In Honey and the current June Moon, have also been graced by his talent.
He was recently offered the part of Timone in the Broadway production of The Lion King, which he turned down. Despite the beauty of the show, Cantone remarked that the play's grueling schedule would have been compounded further by the physical demands of the character, including "hours in green make-up." Citing his earlier success with Love! Valour! Compassion! as "a hard act to follow," Cantone said he has become "pretty picky" about his subsequent theater choices.
Television credits include the 5-year run of the popular kids show, Steampipe Alley, which Cantone has called a "Saturday Night Live for kids," because of its off-beat humor and physical comedy. The popular show ranked number one with kids according to the New York Rating System in l99l.
All along, Cantone has been performing stand-up comedy. In addition to opening for Rosie O'Donnell in Atlantic City, he says that his greatest exposure was through VH-l's Stand-Up Spotlight show with O'Donnell several years ago. He did a total of six shows which are repeated regularly on VH-l.
In Mousehunt, Cantone plays a businessman, Vinny Zepco, looking to purchase a string factory from the Smuntz brothers who inherited the family business from their father. In the movie Quiz Show, Cantone can be remembered as the harassing fan who notices game show champion Charles Van Doren in a phone booth and demands Van Doren's attention. Despite being true to his Boston roots by stating that he "hates L.A.," Cantone loves doing movies, which often require him to travel there, although he does not get as many offers for them as he does for the theater.
Cantone admits that he does not make it back to Stoneham much, but remains close to his family. His sister, Marion, who, like her brother, graduated from Emerson College in Boston, has been another "big influence" on him. She now teaches theater arts in the New York City public schools. Cantone finds it amazing that "at a time where schools are taking the arts away," for lack of funding, his sister's program at the elementary level, is flourishing, due to her dramatic flair.
Not all of the Cantone family has taken the theatrical road, however. Brother Joey is a stockbroker in New Hampshire, sister Camille lives nearby in Malden, and another brother, Ted, resides in Stoneham, in their father's house. The elder Cantone passed away in December of l996.
What advice does Cantone, the performer, have for young aspiring Stoneham actors?
"Don't do it!" he kiddingly implores. "Be a stockbroker like my brother!"
Knowing the unconventional life and hours an actor faces, Cantone jokes, "If you can lead a simpler life and be content, do it." But if it really is an actor's life for thee, if that actor's bug has sorely bitten, then Cantone suggests to go ahead and pursue the dream by going to New York or L.A. where the action is.
Cantone's act can be enjoyed by any traveling Stonehamite who wishes to catch a good show in New York, at the Variety Arts Theater, on l4th Street and 3rd Ave., where he is headlining until March 2.
Cantone states that his fantasy is to some day buy the old Stoneham Square theater building and turn it into a community playhouse for various theatrical performances. That performance alone, would likely earn him a standing ovation.
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