VIDEO: Ralph Macchio, Mario Cantone 'Bringing Italian-Americans Back To Theatre' in A ROOM OF MY OWN

Mario Cantone's current co-star in playwright/director Charles Messina's Off-Broadway offering A Room of My Own, was actually in the audience the night he first appeared on Broadway.

Nathan Lane had just left Terrance McNally's hit comedy LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION! and it was Cantone's turn to take over as the flamboyant Buzz Hauser the night Ralph Macchio and his wife dropped by.

"We're all excited and we get there... Who's this Mario Cantone?," the former child star of THE KARATE KID recalls asking.

"He killed it. It was a great night."

The pair are looking forward to more nights of killing it in Messina's semi-autobiographical comedy about living with his eccentric Italian-American family in late-1970s Greenwich Village.

Macchio plays Carl Morelli, a writer who reminisces about his adolescence and childhood dreams of the world outside his crowded downtown tenement. Wishing for his own room-and an Atari video game-young Carl shares the tiny studio in a five-flight crumbling walk-up apartment with his unemployed father, older sister, and strong-willed mother. Other relatives include an estranged aunt and a high-strung uncle, portrayed by Cantone.

Chatting with NBC's The Today Show. the two sure play off each other like family.

The cast of A ROOM OF MY OWN also features Nico Bustamante, Kendra Jain, Johnny Tammaro, Joli Tribuzio, and Liza Vann.

Tickets are $65. For more information, visit www.abingdontheatre.org or call 212-352-3101.