as Johnny in
FRANKIE AND JOHNNY IN THE CLAIR DE LUNE
with Andrea Gross as Frankie
in East Hampton - Equity Contract

"John Monteleone plays Johnny with such vigor and energy that he could easily overwhelm the audience and make them feel uncomfortable. But he doesn't. What a difficult fine line to tread - to play an enthusiastic, slightly crazy, Shakespeare-quoting hash linger who refuses to leave a girl's apartment after having sex - but to play it without expressing a sense of evil. Never once does the audience feel that Frankie is in physical danger - he's nuts, but he's harmless."  Bridget LeRoy, The Independent

"This production of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune is one of the most moving evenings of theatre this reviewer has ever had the joy of attending. Don't miss it! It is a pure delight - but it's also a deep-dish creation... "John Monteleone, an experienced actor, is wonderful as Johnny."
Patsy Southgate the East Hampton Star

"John Monteleone's Johnny is a finely shaded drawing of a compulsive, sweet, caring and agonizingly uncertain human-in other words, lots of us in our worst and best moments. In the words of Oscar Hammerstein, he's a man who stumbles, but a man who cares, and Mr. Monteleone conveys him with a refreshing complex of blind energy and forgiving gentleness."
Lee Davis The Southampton Press

(backstage gossip)

I moved to the Hamptons to write. Rented a house across a small bay from John Steinbeck's house so I guess I thought or believed in the time in vibrations or something and his would somehow make me a great writer. I did this play and enjoyed it. We got standing ovations for it in a small gallery space. But I didn't like the fact that all this wealth existed, I was giving the producers standing ovation work and I was being grossly underpaid, I was being asked to haul out their sets and put them under tarps at the end of the night and I was nearly 40. These are the kinds of bullshit experiences that mean very little when the bills come in and you're in your 40's. I had just done this showcase in NYC and slept on the floor in my cousin's apartment for two weeks - it was a ride. But financially speaking and time restraints stopped me from doing more plays and of course the pay was so appetizing I would rather eat bad clams. But that's another story :)