| Tony Azito |
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| 1948 births | |
| 1995 deaths | |
| aids-related deaths | |
| american dancers | |
| american musical theatre actors | |
| american stage actors | |
| lgbt actors from the united states | |
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Azito was part of Juilliard 's famous "Group I," the first students admitted to the drama program administered by John Houseman ; his fellow students included Patti LuPone . He soon fell under the influence of choreographer Anna Sokolow and began studying modern dance — although, at six-foot-three (190 cm), Azito was an unusual candidate for dance training. Azito left Juilliard without taking a degree and, as "Antonio Azito," spent two years performing in Sokolow's company. Returning to drama, he began working in avant-garde off- and off-off-Broadway theater, including multiple shows at 's New York Shakespeare Festival , which continued with another Brecht-Weill musical, ''Happy End'' (1977). Azito's best-known role, however, came in yet a third production for NYSF: as the Sergeant of Police in the pop-rock revival of '' The Pirates Of Penzance '', starring Linda Ronstadt and Kevin Kline . His performance earned him a Tony Award nomination and a Drama Desk Award, and he repeated it in the 1983 film version. Azito went on to perform at Radio City Music Hall , the Mark Taper Forum, and in the abortive American National Theater company at Kennedy Center. After playing Feste in the NYSF's production of ''Twelfth Night'' (1986), Azito did only one more show in New York City, ''The Mystery of Edwin Drood''. He continued working in regional theater and occasional films until approximately a year before his death from AIDS . |
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