We are gathered this morning to celebrate the life of Joseph A. Miloni, who was born February 22, 1955 and died too young at the age of 61.
Joseph was the youngest child of Don & Virginia Miloni, and is survived by his sister Karen (Larry) and brother Don (Sonia) as well as his nephew Chris, niece Ashleigh and great niece Sienna. He seemed to have a fairly normal childhood while he attended Holy Cross School, but when he got to Creighton Prep High School he was bitten by the acting bug. Now he has been called to Heaven’s Playhouse to star and direct in a new production, and God may be the only producer he can’t argue with!
As Joseph is moving into his new role, we would like to reflect on the parts of his life that we remember best.
Joseph started life as an actor in high school, but hit his stride in productions in almost every local area theater. He was one of those versatile actors who sang and danced and was skilled in both comedy and drama. His sharp wit is legendary, and served him well in shows like “The Most Happy Fella” where he was allowed free reign in certain places, and turned loose to chew scenery to his heart’s content.
Gilbert and Sullivan served as Joe’s bread and butter. He played the “H.M.S. Pinafore’s” Captain Corcoran, “Iothanthe’s” Lord Chancellor, and Koko in “The Mikado” at the Rudyard Norton Theater as well as the Dundee Dinner Theatre, where he also directed. Most of the performers in the area who have done any Gilbert and Sullivan have learned the basic stylings from either Joe or someone that Joe taught and worked with. And those teachings most likely were a direct result of Joe’s learning the style from Rudyard Norton and Dwayne Ibsen.
Over the years he performed with certain people many times, including Valerie Thorson, Carolyn Rutherford-Mayo, Jim Boggess, Gene Driscoll, Frank DeGeorge, Tom Wees, Billy Bohanan, Gary Bosanek and Dawn Buller-Kirke, among others.
Joe not only sang operetta, but also sang opera with Opera Omaha. Some of his favorite productions were “Naughty Marietta”, “Gianni Schicchi”, as well as his love for Puccini and Verdi. He knew every opera that existed, and his knowledge was encyclopedic on the subject. He also performed with the Chanticleer Theater, Bellevue Little Theatre, Firehouse Dinner Theatre and the Omaha Symphony.
But Joe also loved the lighter musical theater and comedy/drama that is so popular with the community. Some of his credits from many of the local theatres include “The Most Happy Fella”, “Gigi”, “Black Comedy”, “La Cage Aux Folles”, “El Grande De Coca Cola”, “Camelot”, “Tom Jones”, “The Mousetrap”, “See How They Run”, “Hound of the Baskervilles”, “The Heiress”, “The Front Page”, “The Gondoliers”, and “The Three Musketeers”, to name a few.
Joseph was also a skilled Costume Designer. He made every person that he costumed look good, no matter how they were physically built or how they carried themselves. He built the most beautiful costumes for some of the grandest shows that were on the Playhouse stage while working with Charles Jones.
Joseph is one of those people who was born in the wrong time. He belonged in the previous century, when men dressed in tuxedos for dinner and had cocktails before, and posture and presentation was a necessary skill in society. He had a taste for well-made clothes, martinis and Veuve Clicquot. He should have been a contemporary of the Barrymores, or F. Scott Fitzgerald. But he brought that feeling of style and grace and panache into our time, and made our lives the better for raising us all up a level or two or three.