Berloni's Broadway Pooches Share Stage With Audra and Julianna
The curtain came down on the Broadway show “Left on Tenth” and it was time to walk the stars.
Few Tony-honored artists have two shows playing on Broadway at the same time but animal trainer and behaviorist Bill Berloni is currently overseeing a quartet of pooches in two of this fall’s productions.
Berloni's 3-year-old Charlie plays "Charlie" and Nessa Rose "plays "Honey," co-starring with Julianna Margulies and Peter Gallagher, in the new romantic comedy “Left on Tenth." Audra McDonald carries a Yorkie named Tana June in the musical revival in “Gypsy.” (Indy, a copper poodle mix, is the standby canine.)
“Delia just had to have a Havanese,” said Berloni backstage following a weekend matinee. He was referred to playwright Delia Ephron, whose semi-autobiographical play calls for her heroine, played by Margulies, to have an adorable dog of that breed.
“Charlie got the job by licking (director) Susan Stroman’s face,” said Berloni, lifting the pooch who immediately showed his affectionate nature, lapping his cheek.
When another dog was needed in the second half of the play, veteran trooper Dulce — an 11-year-old mix breed who played "Toto" in countless “The Wizard of Oz” productions — was brought out of retirement for the gig before being replaced by Nessa Rose.
“Charlie was in foster care in Long Island because, though friendly, he was a biter,” Berloni said. But with caring behavior modification, Berloni eased the 3-year-old dog’s anxieties. After six weeks at Berloni’s compound in Haddam before rehearsals began, Charlie proved to be a natural.
The much anticipated revival of “Gypsy" only calls for a single dog in the role of “Chowsy,” which McDonald as Gypsy Rose Lee’s mother Rose carries in her entrance down the aisle from the back of the theater.
For that show, Berloni found the five-pound, 3-year-old Yorkie who, with her understudy Indy, were quietly laying in a corner of the dressing room. Berloni had them at the “Left on Tenth” theater so they would be acclimated to the bustling sights and sounds of life in the theater.
The two productions are Berloni’s 27th and 28th Broadway shows. His last gig called for supplying a bunny and a goose for 2018’s “The Ferryman.”
Berloni began his accidental career when he was an acting intern at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam where he was asked to find a shelter dog to play the role of Sandy in the premiere of “Annie” in 1976.
Since then he and his wife Dorothy have found and trained animals for stage, screen and television. For Hulu, he supplied the dog and piglet for this season’s “Only Murders in the Building.” In the new movie, “The Friend,” a Great Dane stars in the title role opposite Naomi Watts. That film, now winning kudos at film festivals this year, will be released nationally in the spring and is one of the highlights of Berloni’s 48-year career.
Getting his dogs to feel comfortable with their surroundings and safe with the actors are keys for success on stage.
“The dogs have to have genuine affection for them,” he said. “Julianna and Peter from day one fell on the floor with them. They love dogs and they started building that relationship so easily right away.”
But for the dogs’ tasks in the play does he offer special food enticements?
Nope. Just regular food they eat, he said, “because they have to be into the actors. If I introduced anything that was an especially tasty treat, then it becomes more about the treat as opposed to licking Julianna’s face just because he wants to. If she had a special treat he would go and look at her hand for it. So you build that relationship where he wants to go to her and lick her face every time."
So how does he know if a pound pooch — where Berloni gets most of his talent — has “it”? It’s the same as he advises anyone going to a shelter in search of that special friend.
“A shelter can be a traumatic situation for animals,” he said. “But if a dog can overcome the stress and enthusiastically run up to a stranger and be friendly right away, that’s probably a dog that’s going to do well. Dogs that are hiding in the back are more challenging for new owners.”
Berloni declined to say how much his theatrical canines make, but said in an email, "I can tell you we make the least money of anyone working in the theater." He explained that because there isn't a union that represents animal trainers he has to pay his trainers our of his weekly fee.
Berloni said that his Broadway dogs have their own admirers and fans sometimes seek out “paw-graphs” or just want to get up close and personal. But Berloni is protective of the tiny pooches who have eight shows a week in an overwhelming urban environment just off of Times Square.
“I appreciate the interest and support but imagine being one of these little guys and having giants come around, being molested by strangers and feeling trapped. It can just terrify them.”
Do the dogs miss the show on their days off when they’re at the Berloni’s apartment in Washington Heights?
“On Mondays around 5 o’clock they give me a look like, ‘Why aren’t we going today?’ They actually miss the fun. It’s all about creating pleasurable experiences and isn’t that true of anyone?”
“Left on Tenth” plays at the James Earl Jones Theatre through Feb. 2. “Gypsy” is now in previews and opens Dec. 19 at the Majestic Theatre. “The Friend” is expected to open nationwide in 2025.
