Azito was part of the Juilliard School's Group I, the first students admitted to the drama division directed by John Houseman in 1968. His classmates included Patti LuPone and Kevin Kline. Soon after arriving at Juilliard, Azito became influenced by choreographerAnna Sokolow and began studying modern dance. At 6'3" (190 cm), he was an unusual candidate for dance training. Azito's younger brother, Arturo Azito, was a dancer and performed with Eliot Feld and the Boston Ballet.
His interest in dance aggravated Houseman, who was anxious about the number of gay men in Group I and had already clashed with Azito over a cross-dressing incident.[2][3] Partially as a result of this conflict with Houseman, Azito left Juilliard without finishing a degree and spent two years performing in Sokolow's company as Antonio Azito.
In 1971, he performed in The Red, White, and Black at La MaMa, directed by John Dillon and written by Eric Bentley with music by Brad Burg. The show was co-produced by La MaMa and the Columbia University School of the Arts Theatre Division.[4] He then appeared in Leach and John Braswell's 1973 production of Carmilla with the E.T.C. Company of La MaMa. Carmilla featured music by Ben Johnston and was part of the company's repertoire throughout the early 1970s.[5] He also did tech for Jeffrey Weiss' Pushover at La MaMa[6] and appeared in La MaMa's "Christmas fete for children of all ages", ...And All the Trimmings, written by Bernard Roth and directed by William Duffy[7] in 1973.
In 1974, he appeared in Nancy Fales' Ark, with music by Sonelius Smith and directed by Ralph Lee at La MaMa.[8] He also appeared in Nancy Heikin's Frame, which was produced by La MaMa at the Washington Square Church (135 W. 4th St.) in 1974.[9] He appeared with the E.T.C. Company of La MaMa in Wilford Leach's C.O.R.F.A.X. (Don't Ask) at La MaMa in early 1974,[10] then toured the show in Europe with the company later that same year.[11] In 1975, Azito was featured in the Cotton Club Gala, with music by Aaron Bell.[12][13] He reprised his role in Carmilla at La MaMa in 1976.[14]
Azito made his Broadway debut in Richard Foreman's 1976 revival of The Threepenny Opera for the New York Shakespeare Festival, in a dancing role ("Samuel") created especially for him. Critics were intrigued by what soon became Azito's style of dance, which made him look like a somewhat off-kilter marionette and was accompanied by stylized facial expressions. An interviewer once described Azito as "a bit like Buster Keaton injected with Silly Putty."[15] This production also began Azito's association with Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival, which continued with another Brecht-Weill musical, Happy End (1977).
