Broadway Actor John Cardoza Recounts Being Robbed on Easter Before Performing Matinee ofThe Notebook

Mar. 15, 2025

John Cardoza.Photo:Charles Sykes/Bravo via Getty

Charles Sykes/Bravo via Getty

John Cardoza, star ofBroadway’sThe Notebook, is speaking out about being robbed in New York City.

Cardoza wrote on hisInstagramStory that on Easter Sunday not long before a matinee performance ofThe Notebook, he “was held at gunpoint in the Dunkin Donuts on the corner of 145th and Saint Nicholas Ave.”

The 30-year-old actor wrote that his assailant was a “middle aged black man, about 5’10’’, in a green camouflage hoodie and black sweatpants - for those in the area trying to keep an eye out.” The incident “started out with him just asking for a dollar” before “it escalated from there very quickly,” according to Cardoza.

John Cardoza and Jordan Tyson in “The Notebook”.Julieta Cervantes

Julieta Cervantes

“I am fine,” said Cardoza, writing to his Instagram followers. “It makes me sad to think people are as desperate as this - and it makes me sad to feel a need [to] alert anyone to this kind of activity. But it’s the world we’re living in, and if you’re like me, you already are careful and you don’t think it’s going to happen to you until it’s staring you in the face.”

In a follow-up Instagram post, the Broadway star thanked fans for their outpouring of support. He added that after the incident, “this man made multiple attempts to use my credit card” at stores in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood.

Cardoza proceeded to perform the Easter matinee show ofThe Notebook, PEOPLE can confirm. “I was grateful to have a place to head immediately after” the robbery, he continued on Instagram, “full of people I love, to do work that I love. So I’ve been in good hands.”

John Cardoza (left) and the cast of “The Notebook” on March 14.John Lamparski/Getty

John Lamparski/Getty

The Boston Conservatory of Music–trained Cardoza made hisBroadway debutin the chorus of the Alanis Morissette musicalJagged Little Pillin 2019.

He plays lead role Young Noah in singer-songwriterIngrid Michaelson’s Broadway adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’s 1996 romance novel, which was also the basis for the 2004 movie starringRyan GoslingandRachel McAdams.

Previews forThe Notebookbegan at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on Feb. 6 before opening night March 14. Dorian Harewood and Ryan Vasquez also play lead character Noah, while Maryann Plunkett, Jordan Tyson and Joy Woods all play his love interest Allie.

source: people.com