A Bronx Tale

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’A Bronx Tale’ is brilliant story telling

By Channing Gray

At one point in "A Bronx Tale," Chazz Palminteri’s autobiographical, one-man show about growing up in a tough Bronx neighborhood in the 1960s which is at the Providence Performing Arts Center through Sunday, there is a moment when Sonny the mob boss is standing in a crowded bar, while Calogero, his 17-year-old disciple, shouts across the room to him. The lights go down and Palminteri mouths his words in silence. And all during this the audience is totally hushed. You know that Palminteri has his fans firmly in his grasp.

Actually, the Oscar-nominated actor grabbed hold of the audience early on in the evening, as he took on the roles of small time crooks, his principled, hard-working dad, and himself, a precocious lad who witnessed a murder at the age of nine and was smart enough to keep his mouth shut.

Palminteri wrote "A Bronx Tale" in the late 1980s with the hopes of creating a show that would lead to a movie career. It was Robert De Niro who bought the rights to the play and made it into the 1993 film starring Palminteri as Sonny, and De Niro as Calogero’s bus-driver father.

In 2007 "A Bronx Tale" was revived on Broadway for five months. Now it is out on the road playing places like PPAC.

And it holds up well. For one thing, it’s brilliant story telling. Palminteri’s characters are winners, the kind of oddball misfits you are not likely to forget. There was Eddie Mush, a chronic loser, who when he got his tickets at the race track they were already ripped in two, Frankie Coffee Cake, whose acne-riddled face looked like pastry, and Joe Joe the Whale, a 300-pounder who once crushed a dog with his shadow.

But the story for the most part revolves around Calogero (Palminteri’s alter-ego) and the two male figures in his life. Because he didn’t rat on Sonny for killing a man over a parking spot, the mobster took him under his wing, much to the displeasure of his father, who ends up in a battle with Sonny over the soul of the boy.

At one point, Lorenzo, the father, finds a stash of bills in his son’s room, money he earned from waiting on the gangsters in Sonny’s bar, and from shooting craps. Lorenzo is determined to return the money and tell off Sonny. "It’s not funny when a nine-year-old has a bigger bank account than his father," says Lorenzo.

Palminteri has said that his director, Jerry Zaks, has slowed down portions of the show to bring out more of the humor. But it is still a fast-paced, high energy production, with Palmenteri flat out for an hour and a half. There are no costume changes, no set changes, just subtle modulations in the voice and changes in body language.

And the play includes all the scenes from the movie, including that incredible barroom brawl when a motorcycle gang tries to trash Sonny’s cafe. When Sonny asks the bikers to leave, they tell him to get lost. He then locks the front door and utters those chilling words, "Now youse can’t leave." That got a round of applause from the house.

For a set, Palminteri has gone with an apartment house stoop, a lamp post and the window of Sonny’s bar, Chez Joey. It’s a spare stage, but Palminteri is able to add the details with his engaging tales. This is a play of the imagination, of theatrical sleight of hand.

While the show’s language is a little rough for youngsters, "A Bronx Tale," has lessons to teach, that talent is not something to be squandered, that life should not be wasted.
It’s a strong show starring a big talent. Catch it if you can.

Synopsis

Academy Award®-nominated actor Chazz Palminteri returns to the stage in an unforgettable performance fresh from a successful run on Broadway, where it was praised by the critics and adored by the public. In A BRONX TALE, the celebrated play on which he based the legendary movie, Palminteri vividly depicts a young boy’s rough childhood in the 1960s-era Bronx and the unforgettable people he encountered. A classic coming-of-age story about reaching your true potential and trusting your heart, A BRONX TALE is directed by four-time Tony Award®-winner Jerry Zaks.

Related Links

• A Bronx Tale Review : Orange County Register #2
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