A Bronx Tale
Described as semi-biographical, Chazz Palminteri’s recent play, A Bronx Tale, is playing at the Wadsworth Theatre in Brentwood. This is not the first time his one man show has played in Los Angeles; it first played here in 1989, then moved to off-Broadway where it was a hit and made Palminteri a star in his own right. There was much interest from movie studios to make his play into a movie, but Palminteri refused all of the offers (though he was financially down on his luck) because none of them would offer him a role in the film. Finally, Robert De Niro saw the play and offered to do the movie on Palminteri’s terms. The movie version, written by Palmenteri, was released in 1993. Last season he brought the play back to Broadway with critical acclaim.
Palminteri tells the story of a young boy, Cologio Palminteri, growing up in the Bronx in the 60’s, a rough neighborhood to say the least. His usual hangout was sitting on the front stoop of his family’s apartment house. One day, at the age of nine, he witnessed a shooting in front of the building. When questioned by the police, he was torn between what was right and what he feared most. Out of fear, he didn’t reveal who the killer was; Sonny, the neighborhood crime boss. From that time on, Sonny took him under his wing, calling him C.
In A Bronx Tale, Palminteri describes all of the colorful characters from his neighborhood. And believe me, the lower Bronx neighborhood in the 60’s was chock-full of colorful characters, all eighteen of whom he portrays in a performance that is both charming and powerful. (In the movie version, he portrays the character of Sonny.) To watch him early in the performance as a boy of nine and to see him in different phases of his life as well as the unorthodox characters that he portrays, is worth every moment of this ninety minute production. (No intermission.) Under the direction of four-time Tony-Award winner Jerry Zaks, Palmenteri proves that he can write a worthy play, change his mode of characters and entertain an audience. Recommended.
Plays Tuesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., Sundays at 3 pm. and 7:30 p.m., through September 21, at the Wadsworth Theatre, on the Veterans Administration Grounds, 11301 Wilshire Blvd., Brentwood, CA. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster at (213) 365-3500, at the Wadsworth/Brentwood Theatre Box Office, all Ticketmaster Outlets, or online at www.ticketmaster.com.