Taunton Broadway Star Robbed By Panhandler at Dunkin’

By all accounts, things are looking up for Taunton High School Drama Club alumnus John Cardoza. He recently landed his first leading role on Broadway in the musical The Notebook.

Cardoza, a member of the original Broadway company of Jagged Little Pill, has a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Musical Theater from the Boston Conservatory. He has appeared at the Burt Wood School of Performing Arts, which he attended, and the Alley Theater, both in Middleboro, Massachusetts.

Cardoza has performed at venues including The American Repertory Company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, The Old Globe in San Diego, California, and 54 Below in New York.

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As a senior in 2012, Cardoza appeared in the Taunton High School Drama Club production of the musical Into the Woods.

Cardoza, a member of the Drama Club for all four years of his high school career, discussed his role in the production in a 2012 interview with the Taunton Daily Gazette.

"It's definitely been the most challenging musically, very physically demanding. It's been a lot of hard work but very rewarding," he said.

Cardoza was thrust into a very different kind of role recently – that of a victim – after being robbed at a Dunkin' location in New York City on Easter Sunday.

NBC New York reported, "The NYPD confirmed the robbery telling NBC New York a man was buying food at the location when he was approached and asked for a dollar. Police said when the victim refused, the suspect 'simulated a firearm in his pocket' and took the victim's wallet before leaving the location."

The incident occurred at a Dunkin' location near 145th Street and Saint Nicholas Avenue in Harlem Heights before a matinee performance of The Notebook at the Schoenfeld Theater.

People.com reports the 30-year-old Cardoza posted to Instagram, "I'm fine. Ultimately, he didn't make off with anything irreplaceable."

And the show went on.