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Chicago Tribune

Arlington Heights native, a lifelong musical theater performer, appearing in production of Amélie

Joe Giovannetti was three years old when he inadvertently began preparing for his career as a musical theater performer. It happened when the Arlington Heights native had seen 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.' 'We have this video of me when I was three pretending to play the piano and sing all the songs from 'Joseph,'' he said. He had the booklet of lyrics that came with the CD in front of him. 'I was paging through that pretending I was reading piano music and banging on the piano even though I couldn't read or play piano,' Giovannetti recalled. He got his chance to be in 'Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat' for real when he was around nine, playing Benjamin in his first production at Setting the Stage in Arlington Heights, where he performed in a number of shows. Giovannetti continued performing in both musicals and plays while attending Saint Viator High School in Arlington Heights. He also performed with community theaters, including at Saint James Parish and Up and Coming Theatre. When he attended Indiana University, however, he pursued a music education degree at its Jacobs School of Music. 'I became a high school choir teacher,' he reported. 'After teaching for a few years, I decided that I wanted to see what would happen if I started auditioning as a performer.' That's when he booked his first show in Chicago, 'The Most Happy Fella,' with Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre. He continued doing musicals. 'I figured out that it was something that I wanted to pursue professionally,' he said. Since then, he has performed with Porchlight Music Theatre, Paramount Theatre, and Music Theater Works, among other companies. Last summer, he appeared in 'Alice by Heart' with Kokandy Productions. He is back at Kokandy, performing in their Chicago premiere of 'Amélie,' by Craig Lucas (book), Daniel Messé (music), and Nathan Tysen and Daniel Messé (lyrics), which runs from July 17-September 28 at Chopin Theatre in Chicago. Giovannetti plays Nino Quincampoix. 'Nino is this loner artist living in the same city that Amélie is in,' the actor related. 'He is really motivated by this project he's doing, where he is always at photo booths in the Metro Station, finding photos that have been discarded and torn to pieces. He's trying to reconstruct the photos. He runs into Amélie a couple of times while he's doing this.' When he leaves his photo book at the station, Amélie finds it. 'That starts this cat-mouse game that Amélie plays where she gets him to do all these things to try to find her and get the book back,' he said. The actor has two solos in the show, 'When the Booth Goes Bright' and 'Thin Air.' 'Also, I have a good amount of duets with Amélie,' he said. 'Everybody in the cast is also playing an instrument,' Giovannetti reported. He plays piano (for real, this time), sometimes while singing, other times as an accompanist. In addition to performing in musicals, Giovannetti works part-time at the University of Chicago Laboratory School, where he is Associate Director of Development and Communications. 'I support the team that is both encouraging philanthropy and alumni and parent engagement at the school,' he explained. In terms of future goals, Giovannetti said, 'I would love to continue being a professional. There's a lot of theaters in the city that I still want to work with.'