By BRIAN PRINCE STAFF WRITER
Published in the Asbury Park Press 7/15/04

LAVALLETTE - Be ready to do more than eat when you stop at The Music Man Singing Ice Cream Shoppe, where singing and dancing are as much a part of the menu as a banana split.

The Music Man has only had a place on Lavallette's landscape for about a year, yet the nightly cabarets are drawing a steady stream of customers -- many of whom often belt out tunes of their own before the night is through.

The shop's vaudeville-style cabarets, Friday puppet theater and children's storytime on Wednesdays and Thursdays are the vision of owners Robert Agliata and his wife, Josephine. The two bought the building in February 2003 and opened the shop three months later.

"We were both in corporate America and decided it wasn't what we wanted to do with the rest of our lives," Robert Agliata says.

Each of the eight cast members is on a nightly rotation, so customers can come two nights in a row and see a slightly different set of performers, he says.

In the first week, Elizabeth Lord, 24, of Brooklyn says she learned two solos, two duets and four or five group numbers.

Natalie Dickenson, 22, says the fast-paced nature of the job keeps her on her toes.

"You have like five tables at once, so you need to move very, very fast," she says.

Not much later, she would find herself on the move once again: It's show time.

Around 7 p.m., the first group of customers arrives. Tim and Barbara Altomerianos of Dover Township have their 13-year-old daughter Damaris in tow. With them are Dover Township residents Robert and Lisa Baumgart and their daughters, Aimee, 9, and Dana, 13.

For the moment, the Baumgarts are blissfully unaware of what it means to be a customer at The Music Man.

They find out quickly.

Lisa Baumgart, 40, and Damaris order Buster Browns, which include chocolate ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream, walnuts and a cherry. As their ice cream is being brought to the table, the families are asked to dance to "I Feel Good" by James Brown. They oblige, drawing applause from employees and customers alike.

"We didn't tell them anything about (the place)," Barbara Altomerianos, 43, says afterward with a smile.