Bob Spiotto brings big spirits to life, from P.T. Barnum to Danny Kaye

Dressed in a brocade vest, top hat and spats, Bob Spiotto looked every inch the showman — appropriate, since he was portraying P.T. Barnum, thought to be one of the greatest ever.

“You know the man, the man who invented the circus,” Spiotto proclaimed during a recent performance of his one-man show on Barnum at the Bethpage Public Library. In a booming voice that carried through the room, he challenged the audience: “Is that what you think? Well, you’re wrong. It might shock you to know I didn’t own a circus until I was 60 years old.”

This is just one of the many factoids Spiotto, 61, sprinkles throughout performances at libraries and other venues across Long Island. And Barnum is only one of the characters in his repertoire. The Holbrook actor is a human chameleon, playing entertainers like comedian Danny Kaye; artists like Michelangelo; and writers like Sholom Aleichem, whose works inspired the musical “Fiddler on the Roof.”

To be clear, Spiotto said he does not impersonate Barnum in his performances — or anyone else, for that matter. “This is me,” he said. “In my shows, I hope to emulate the soul of the character, the spirit.”

Gail Gambino, who hired Spiotto when she ran an East End theater company, believes he succeeds. “He has the ability to transform, to embody the role,” said Gambino, 85, of Southampton. “That is the pleasure of watching him. He steps away from his own personality and into the truth of the character.”

 IT STARTED WITH DANNY KAYE

Spiotto said he has known since elementary school that he wanted to be involved in theater.

“I was the proverbial class clown,” he said. “It may sound cliché, you’ve heard the story before. But it’s my story.”

Growing up in Flushing, he said he performed in all of his school’s shows. And for years, he recalled, he was the only male student at the Hannah Kroner School of Dance in Flushing. “She was one of my greatest mentors,” he said of Kroner.

Spiotto went on to graduate from Hofstra University in 1984 with a bachelor’s degree in theater performance. He then earned his master’s degree in directing at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., in 1988.

He said he worked as an actor and director until 1990, when he became executive producer of Hofstra Entertainment, which at the time produced shows and events at the school.

The job would prove pivotal for him. While he was working there, Spiotto said the school put on a series called “Issues in Judaism,” and the theme that year was “Jews of Brooklyn.”

Spiotto’s mind turned to Danny Kaye, born in Brooklyn in 1911 to Ukrainian Jewish parents. Spiotto said he grew up watching Kaye’s films, and his father, a salesman, was a drummer in a band called The Court Jesters — a nod to Kaye’s 1955 movie about a carnival entertainer.

“I fell in love with Danny when I first saw the film,” said Spiotto. “I was in awe of his incredible talents as a dancer, as a singer, as a physical comic.”

Spiotto went to work on creating a show about Kaye for the Hofstra series. He said it took him nearly a year to finalize his tribute to the performer, which told his story “from womb to tomb.”

“People loved it,” he recalled. “And I realized I was good at this.”

Now, Spiotto can’t remember how many times he’s performed the show he calls “Courting the Jester,” a 90-minute production featuring “incredible stories” and 18 songs, including “Hey, Look Me Over” and “Choreography” from the movie “White Christmas.” Over the years, Spiotto has also gathered an impressive collection of Kaye memorabilia, creating a kind of mini-museum of photos, programs and posters that accompanies his performances.

MEETING STARS AT THE FRIARS CLUB

After working at Hofstra, Spiotto was artistic director of the Suffolk Theater in Riverhead, then spent 5½ years as director of programs at the Friars Club in Manhattan. “For anybody that was anybody in entertainment, the club was legendary,” he said. It was there, he recalled, that he rubbed elbows with stars like Harry Belafonte, Billy Crystal, Olympia Dukakis, Brooke Shields, Robert Klein and Anita Gillette.

In his current role as director of events and clubhouse manager at Country Pointe, a 55+ condominium complex in Plainview, Spiotto relies on those connections. Klein performed a stand-up routine there in May 2023, and in February, Gillette appeared following a screening of “Moonstruck” (she played Mona in the movie, alongside Cher, Nicholas Cage and Dukakis).

“He brings so many things to the table,” said resident Jill Vogel, 73. “He gets wonderful talent.”

Spiotto has also put on his own shows in the Country Pointe ballroom on occasion, including his tribute to Broadway performer Joel Grey, who is best known for portraying the Master of Ceremonies in “Cabaret.” Vogel said she and her husband enjoyed his performance so much that they invited Spiotto to bring it to their temple, Temple Emanu-El in Long Beach.

At the Barnum performance in July, audience members were similarly taken with Spiotto, who said he sometimes thinks of himself as the “Wizard of Ahhs.” Attendees listened in rapt attention as he outlined the showman’s history, starting with his early days as a clerk in a general store, his time running a newspaper and his election as mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Bill Sharkey, 83, said he had not seen Spiotto’s shows previously, but was drawn to the presentation because of his love of all things circus. “I didn’t know anything about P.T. Barnum, but the whole presentation was fascinating, especially Bob’s energy,” said the Bethpage resident.

“You’re hearing a lecture,” said Alicia Steger, 74, of Plainview. “But there’s more that goes into it. He works very hard at the visuals and the voices.”

VERRAZZANO: MORE THAN A BRIDGE

Spiotto said his Grey show — “Shades of Grey”— was a natural for him, since he played the Master of Ceremonies in “Cabaret” three times, including once at his all-boys Catholic high school. He’d also appeared in a show about entertainer and playwright George M. Cohan, whom Grey portrayed in the Broadway musical “George M!”

“It seemed obvious, I had to do Joel Grey,” Spiotto said. Opening with “Willkommen” from “Cabaret,” his show also includes tidbits like this one: Grey was one of 10 people who won a Tony and an Oscar for the same role. “You should remember this next time you’re on ‘Jeopardy!’ ” Spiotto said. “You might make a lot of money.”

Spiotto also plans to put on a show called “Cantor and Cantor.” The revue will feature songs — some traditional Hebrew melodies, some Broadway — performed by David Katz, cantor at Temple Or Elohim in Jericho, with Spiotto singing tunes that were performed by comedian/singer Eddie Cantor.

And he’s especially excited about “Put on a Happy Face,” a tribute to the legendary Dick Van Dyke. He plans to open the show with the famous theme song from Van Dyke’s eponymous TV show — which, surprise, actually had lyrics.

“Van Dyke is magical on so many levels,” said Spiotto. “I’ve always been so taken with his energy and his spirit.”

Not every Spiotto show includes songs. His explorations of artists Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, or Holocaust survivor and chemist Primo Levi, are more intellectual presentations, in keeping with the subject matter, he said. When it comes to Aleichem, the author, there is just one song — “If I Were a Rich Man” from “Fiddler on the Roof.”

In May, Spiotto took on the role of Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano. “People [only] know Verrazzano as a bridge,” said Spiotto.

But Carolyn Balducci, adult program director for the Montauk Library, was interested in marking the 500th anniversary of Verrazzano’s 1524 discovery of New York Harbor. She found a copy of Verrazzano’s handwritten letter to the King of France reporting on his voyage to discover a better trade route to China and approached Spiotto. He had performed his program on da Vinci at the library, and she asked him to come up with a creative way to commemorate the discovery, Spiotto recalled. “I said ‘yes’ in 30 seconds.”

The hourlong monologue covered Verrazzano’s meetings with Indigenous people along the coast and Verrazzano’s course, which took him near Montauk, where he observed soil that might be good for potatoes and perhaps wine, Spiotto said.

“Like all my presentations, there are serious moments and humorous moments, but they all have a power,” Spiotto said. “My goal is to feel like I’m doing justice to these individuals. I’m keeping them alive.”