‘Bronx Tale’ Finds the Good in a Good Fella
Chazz Palminteri’s acclaimed one-man show about his life on the mean streets of Mafiadom pays homage to the two men who influenced him most: his father and the Capo who “adopted” him.
Broadway, film and television actor Chazz Palminteri’s autobiographical one-man show A Bronx Tale, at The Colonial Theatre in Boston through April 5, neither perpetuates nor debunks the Italian mob stereotypes that have spawned a long and prosperous movie genre from which he himself has earned considerable success. Instead, the accomplished writer and performer portrays both the good and the bad – and at times the ugly – in the lives of the wiseguys and goodfellas who populated his Bronx neighborhood during the 1960s when he was an impressionable young boy and teen.
Palminteri tells his tale through his own searching eyes, playing his youthful self as well as 18 key figures from his past. The ease with which Palminteri transforms from one character to another, frequently carrying on conversations amongst several at a time, is positively staggering. A quick change in posture, a subtle twist to the voice, a quirky facial tick or gesture or a penetrating look is all it takes to summon a host of colorful role models and anti-heroes who fill and animate the stage.
To read my complete review at BroadwayWorld.com, click here.
Photo of Chazz Palminteri by Joan Marcus
