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[image - color photograph of John Taraglia and Rod]]
John Taraglia and Rod

the good life
John Tartaglia translates his optimistic nature into a genuinely joyous Broadway debut in Avenue Q

by Andrew Gans

dreams have not only come true for the colorful denizens of Avenue Q but also for John Tartaglia, whose  Broadway debut in the hilarious and surprisingly touching musical by Jeff Whitty, Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx (Golden Theatre) was recently honored with a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical.
 
The 26-year-old Tartaglia, son of pianist Bob Taraglia and actress Angie Radosh, had two aspirations as a New Jersey youngster: to become a puppeteer on television- he's since spent eight seasons on "Sesame Street"-- and to appear on Broadway. The gifted actor is now combining his puppeteering and acting skills in the musical about life on that N.Y. thoroughfare where actors and puppets blend into a comical delight. 

It was an eight-year-old visiting New York's famed Colony Record store--where he happened upon an LP of music from inspired, puppet filled eighties TV series "Fraggle Rock"--that Tartaglia's puppeteering journey began. "I remember watching the series. The love of the show encouraged me into puppetry because I was so fascinated by how things work, and I wanted to do that myself. I was also fascinated with the fact that someone could take an inanimate object and make it so real, make it come to life."

Tartaglia brings two characters to glorious life in Avenue Q: the purpose-searching Princeton, whose arrival in the neighborhood begins the story: and Rod, the closeted gay Republican who insists he has a "girlfriend who lives in Canada." Although the actor admits that as a child he was more like the inhibited Rod, Tartaglia says, "At this point in my life I'm very open. I'm very 'everything's good in life, and things can only get better,' and for most of the show, that's the way Princeton looks at things."
 
Hope is one of the key messages of the hit musical, which also addresses with hysterical insight the subjects of racism, sexual identity, Internet porn, schadenfreude and finding one's purpose. "Of course there's the acceptance issue," explains Tartaglia, "but I think that the main message is to laugh at life and to live it every day, realizing that the worst of your problems are really 'only for now.'"

As for his own future, Tartaglia hopes to have the opportunity to perform without his furry friends. "I love puppetry--it's something that's part of me and I hope it always will be. It's such a passion, but my acting as myself is something that I'm just as passionate about." For now, though, he's thoroughly enjoying his time on Avenue Q and his arrival on Broadway. "People have been so wonderful. I think that the Broadway community is so supportive of each other. As much as there's obviously competition, you see so much  support of each other. You see actors from other shows, and they're waiting for you after the show, saying,'That was great!' There's a mutual connection because we're all in this together."

40      www.playbill.com

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