Tony Azito

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Tony Azito (born Antonio Zito; July 18, 1948 – May 26, 1995) was an American

hyperextended
body.

Education

Azito was part of the Juilliard School's Group I, the first students admitted to the drama division directed by John Houseman in 1968. His classmates included Patti LuPone and Kevin Kline. Soon after arriving at Juilliard, Azito became influenced by choreographer Anna Sokolow and began studying modern dance. At 6'3" (190 cm), he was an unusual candidate for dance training. Azito's younger brother, Arturo Azito, was a dancer and performed with Eliot Feld and the Boston Ballet.

His interest in dance aggravated Houseman, who was anxious about the number of gay men in Group I and had already clashed with Azito over a cross-dressing incident.[2][3] Partially as a result of this conflict with Houseman, Azito left Juilliard without finishing a degree and spent two years performing in Sokolow's company as Antonio Azito.

Theatrical career

Returning to drama in the mid-1970s, Azito began working in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway theater. He quickly began working with the director Wilford Leach, who would be one of Azito's most frequent employers until Leach's death in 1988. He performed in a number of productions at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, where Leach was artistic director.

In 1971, he performed in The Red, White, and Black at La MaMa, directed by John Dillon and written by Eric Bentley with music by Brad Burg. The show was co-produced by La MaMa and the Columbia University School of the Arts Theatre Division.[4] He then appeared in Leach and John Braswell's 1973 production of Carmilla with the E.T.C. Company of La MaMa. Carmilla featured music by Ben Johnston and was part of the company's repertoire throughout the early 1970s.[5] He also did tech for Jeffrey Weiss' Pushover at La MaMa[6] and appeared in La MaMa's "Christmas fete for children of all ages", ...And All the Trimmings, written by Bernard Roth and directed by William Duffy[7] in 1973.

In 1974, he appeared in Nancy Fales' Ark, with music by Sonelius Smith and directed by Ralph Lee at La MaMa.[8] He also appeared in Nancy Heikin's Frame, which was produced by La MaMa at the Washington Square Church (135 W. 4th St.) in 1974.[9] He appeared with the E.T.C. Company of La MaMa in Wilford Leach's C.O.R.F.A.X. (Don't Ask) at La MaMa in early 1974,[10] then toured the show in Europe with the company later that same year.[11] In 1975, Azito was featured in the Cotton Club Gala, with music by Aaron Bell.[12][13] He reprised his role in Carmilla at La MaMa in 1976.[14]

Azito made his

New York Shakespeare Festival, in a dancing role ("Samuel") created especially for him. Critics were intrigued by what soon became Azito's style of dance, which made him look like a somewhat off-kilter marionette and was accompanied by stylized facial expressions. An interviewer once described Azito as "a bit like Buster Keaton injected with Silly Putty."[15] This production also began Azito's association with Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival, which continued with another Brecht-Weill musical, Happy End
(1977).

Azito's best-known stage role was in a third production for the New York Shakespeare Festival, as the Sergeant of Police in the 1980 Broadway revival of

Tony Award nomination and a Drama Desk Award, and he reprised the role in the 1983 film adaptation directed by Leach
.

He then played

summer stock revival of She Loves Me in Stockbridge, Massachusetts and in productions of Tom Stoppard's Travesties
and the musical Amphigorey.

Film and television career

Azito's most memorable film role was the Police Sergeant in

The Pirates of Penzance
.

He also appeared in

Madonna, and played the lead in the 1976 cult film
Apple Pie.

Azito's final film role was the Librarian in

H.P. Lovecraft's: Necronomicon (1993). He also had a cameo as one of the party dancers in The Addams Family
(1991).

On television, he appeared on episodes of

Beacon Hill
.

Death

Azito continued performing in

Manhattan, New York City, at age 46.[1]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1976 Apple Pie Jacques (the Ace) Blinbaum
1980 Night of the Juggler Peep Show Cashier
1980 Union City Alphonse Florescu
1980 Stardust Memories Fan in Lobby
1983
The Pirates of Penzance
 Sergeant
1984 Chattanooga Choo Choo Lucky Pierre
1985 Private Resort Reeves
1987 Moonstruck Conti
1989 Bloodhounds of Broadway Waiter
1991 The Addams Family Digit Addams
1993
H.P. Lovecraft's: Necronomicon
 Librarian (wraparound) (final film role)

References

  1. ^ a b Grimes, William (May 27, 1995). "Tony Azito, 46, Stage Actor". The New York Times. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  2. ^ Kevin Grubb, "The Eccentricities of Tony Azito," Dance Magazine 58 (September 1984), p. 78.
  3. ^ Andrea Olmstead, Juilliard: A History (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1999), p. 228.
  4. ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Red, White, and Black, The (1971)".
  5. ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Carmilla (1973)".
  6. ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Pushover (1973)".
  7. ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: And All the Trimmings... (1973)".
  8. ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Ark (1974)".
  9. ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Frame (1974)".
  10. ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: C.O.R.F.A.X. (Don't Ask) (1974)".
  11. ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Tour: ETC Company European Tour (1974)".
  12. ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Cotton Club Gala (1975a)".
  13. ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Cotton Club Gala (1975b)".
  14. ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Carmilla (1976)".
  15. ^ Robert Berkvist, "His Constabulary Duty is to Keep 'Pirates' Bubbling," The New York Times September 27, 1981, p. D4.

External links

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