John Tartaglia

John Nicholas Tartaglia (born February 16, 1978)[1] is an American puppeteer, actor, singer and dancer.

John Tartaglia
Born	John Nicholas Tartaglia February 16, 1978 Maple Shade Township, New Jersey, U.S.
Other names	John Nicholas Tartaglia Jonathan Nicholas Tartaglia
Occupation	Puppeteer, actor, singer, dancer
Years active	1994–present
Spouse(s)	Michael Shawn Lewis ​ ​ (m. 2012; div. 2016)​

Early life

Tartaglia was born in Maple Shade Township, New Jersey, USA,[2] and graduated from Upper Dublin High School in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania in 1996.[3]

Tartaglia joined Sesame Street's puppetry team in a part-time capacity at the age of 16, making him one of the youngest Sesame Street puppeteers in the show's history. He performed as a right hand and many minor characters, including Phoebe and being the understudy for Kevin Clash's Elmo. He performed as Ernie for the second season of Play with Me Sesame and as Oscar the Grouch for Sesame Street 4D. He became a full-time part of Sesame Street at the age of 18.[2]

Personal life

Tartaglia is openly gay. Regarding the matter, he has stated "I'm less worried about being a positive role model as a gay person than making sure there's no negative stereotypes of any sort." He considers "nothing more addictive than the sound of an audience laughing" and regarding the possibility of being "pigeonholed" as a children's entertainer, stated "If I get pigeonholed, I get pigeonholed. When I do my dark, one-hour miniseries on Lifetime, you'll know!"[4] In 2004, he helped to raise $525,000 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.[5]

He married Michael Shawn Lewis in New York in 2012.[6]

Career

In 2003, he performed DJ 2 in Animal Jam.

Tartaglia created and puppeteered the roles of Princeton (the recent college grad) and Rod (the closeted Republican investment banker) in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Avenue Q, which opened July 31, 2003.[7] For the roles, he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical in 2004. He left the cast on January 30, 2005.[8][9]

Tartaglia appeared in 2004 at the 14th annual Broadway Bares, which was a great success raising $525,000 to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.[10]

Tartaglia reprised his roles as Princeton and Rod in the Las Vegas sit-down production of Avenue Q, starting in August 2005[11] until December 11, 2005. He then appeared in the musical Newsical 2006: The Next Edition in New York City, in a limited engagement in December 2005.[12]

Tartaglia joined the cast of Beauty and the Beast as Lumière on November 21, 2006 until early June 2007.[8][13][14]

He appeared in his own television series for Playhouse Disney called Johnny and the Sprites as creator, executive producer, and star. While the episodes began as only 5-minute interstitials, the show began a full 30-minute series on January 13, 2007.[15] The show began filming Season 2 during mid-2007.[14]

In 2007, Tartaglia provided the voice for Mr. Bluelight in Kmart commercials.[16]

He played the roles of Pinocchio, Puss in Boots and the Magic Mirror and puppeteered the dragon in Shrek The Musical.[17][8] After a try-out in Seattle the show opened on Broadway at The Broadway Theatre beginning December 14, 2008. He performed in the show until August 16, 2009 and was replaced by Robb Sapp. He returned on December 14, 2009 and stayed until it closed on January 3, 2010.[8]

Tartaglia created and wrote John Tartaglia's ImaginOcean which was produced Off-Broadway at New World Stages, running from March 31, 2010 to September 4, 2011.[18] The show has music and lyrics by William Wade, with puppets designed and built by The Puppet Kitchen and the set design by Robert Kovach.[19][20] This is a puppet show meant for audiences between the ages of 2 and 8 about fish. They glow in the dark while the actors are in black, giving the effect that the puppets are floating. The show was nominated for the 2010 Drama Desk Award, Unique Theatrical Experience.[18]

He performed in Los Angeles at The Blank Theatre Company production of The Temperamentals, running from April 9-May 22, 2011 at the 2nd Stage Theatre.[21][22]

He played the role of Genie in the production of Aladdin in St. Louis at the Muny from July 5–13, 2012.[23]

In 2011, Tartaglia was named a "Givenik Ambassador" from the Broadway / charity site Givenik.

Tartaglia hosts a radio show on Sirius XM On Broadway called Sunday Funday with John Tartaglia.[24]

In 2016, he created the series Splash and Bubbles for PBS Kids, where he voices Splash and other recurring characters.[25]

In 2017, he performed Hank in Julie's Greenroom.[26]

Filmography

• Play with Me Sesame - Ernie (Season 2)
• Fraggle Rock: Rock On! - Gobo Fraggle (taking over from Jerry Nelson); Boober Fraggle, Uncle Traveling Matt, and Wembley Fraggle (puppetry only)

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Theatre	Notes
2003	Avenue Q	Princeton/Rod	Vineyard Theatre	Original
			John Golden Theatre
2006-2007	Beauty and the Beast	Lumiere	Lunt-Fontanne Theatre	Replacement
2008	Shrek	Pinocchio	5th Avenue Theatre	Original
2008-2009			Broadway Theatre
2012	Aladdin	Genie	The Muny

References

1. Heller, Karen. "From 'Sesame Street' to Broadway John Tartaglia, raised in Maple Shade and Ambler, has had a hand in presenting Elmo on PBS. Now his animated face is on view as he stars in a surprising new stage hit, Avenue Q.", The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 21, 2003. Accessed February 3, 2013. "Young John, who grew up in Maple Shade and then Ambler, wrote Jim Henson a fan letter."
2. "John Tartaglia". IMDb. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
3. Heller, Karen. "From 'Sesame Street' to Broadway John Tartaglia..." articles.philly.com, September 21, 2003
4. Riegel, Katie (March 19, 2007). "Broadway Buzz - John Tartaglia". Broadway.com. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
5. "John Tartaglia | The Official Masterworks Broadway Site". The Official Masterworks Broadway Site. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
6. Wong, Curtis M. "John Tartaglia, 'Avenue Q' Star, Gets Personal With 'Decade Three' Show At NYC’s 54 Below" Huffington Post, September 6, 2013
7. Gans, Andrew. "Avenue Q to Close in September", Playbill.com, June 29, 2009
8. "John Tartaglia Broadway" playbillvault.com, accessed January 4, 2016
9. Gans, Andrew and Hernandez, Ernio. "Tartaglia to Depart 'Avenue Q' Jan. 30" playbill.com, December 27, 2004
10. Lenzi, Linda (2004-06-24). "Photo Coverage: Broadway Bares 14: Now Showing". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
11. Hernandez, Ernio. "Double Down: 'Avenue Q' Opens New Second Run at Wynn Las Vegas, Sept. 8" playbill.com, September 8, 2005
12. hernandez, Ernio. "John Tartaglia Comes Back to New York for 'Newsical 2006: The Next Edition'" playbill.com, November 16, 2005
13. Gans, Andrew. "Tartaglia and Freeman to Join Broadway’s 'Beauty and the Beast'" playbill.com, November 13, 2006
14. "John Tartaglia, Jonathan Freeman to Join Beauty and the Beast". Broadway.com. 2006-11-13. Retrieved 2007-08-08.
15. Gold, Matea. "'The Sprites' thrives in Broadway's ecosystem" Los Angeles Times, January 7, 2007
16. "Mr. Bluelight". Behind the Voice Actors. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
17. "Brian d'Arcy James to play Shrek". USA Today. 2008-03-20. Retrieved 2008-03-21.
18. "'John Tartaglia's ImaginOcean' Off-Broadway" lortel.org, accessed January 5, 2016
19. Gans, Andrew. "John Tartaglia's Imaginocean to Play New World Stages" playbill.com, February 9, 2010
20. Thielman, Sam. "Review: 'John Tartaglia’s Imaginocean'" Variety, April 6, 2010
21. "Review: 'The Temperamentals' at The Blank Theatre Company" Los Angeles Magazine, June 1, 2011
22. Gans, Andrew. "John Tartaglia, Erich Bergen, Patrick Scott Lewis Set for Blank Theatre Company's 'Temperamentals'" playbill.com, March 3, 2011
23. Gans, Andrew. "'Aladdin', with Robin de Jesus, John Tartaglia, Curtis Holbrook, Francis Jue, Plays the Muny Starting July 5" playbill.com, July 5, 2012
24. "Weekly Schedule" siriusxm.com, accessed January 4, 2016
25. Mercedes Milligan (May 21, 2016). "PBS KIDS Dates Premiere for Henson's 'Splash and Bubbles'". Animation Magazine. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
26. "BWW Interview - John Tartaglia Gushes Over Netflix Co-Star Julie Andrews, Talks Broadway Return Hopes & More!" broadwayworld.com, April 23, 2017

External links

• John Tartaglia at IMDb
• John Tartaglia at the Internet Broadway Database
• John Tartaglia & Michael Shawn Lewis production Company
• John Tartaglia talks with Craft Ideas Weekly about how he started making puppets
• Stephanie D'Abruzzo and John Tartaglia - Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org