There are doowop numbers like the act openers “Belmont Avenue” and “Webster Avenue” ballads like “Look to Your Heart,” in which Michelle Aravena as C’s mom, Rosina, shines in Act II a funny dark Rat Pack-style homage by Sonny to “Nicky Machiavelli” and a swinging love song, “One of the Great Ones,” in which Menken finds a vintage pop Burt Bacharach vibe. The cast of A Bronx Tale (Joe Barbara (Sonny, left) and Joey Barreiro (Calogero, center) now at The National Theatre (Photo: Joan Marcus)Īll that, plus the 1960s setting, offer strong elements for Menken and Slater to work with in their score, played with uptown punch by a nine-piece orchestra. Sonny and Lorenzo have their own tense history, and Manichean dualities dissolve into interesting shades of gray as C (stirringly played as an adolescent Conflictedfella by Joey Barreiro) becomes infatuated with a girl named Jane (a golden-voiced Brianna-Marie Bell) from the wrong neighborhood. Blake-is beloved, but-to an impressionable kid with a gangster whispering in his ear-a chump in comparison. That’s a lot to ask, but this remarkable team has the goods.Ĭalogero’s loyalties are divided between his straight-arrow, work-a-day dad, Lorenzo, and the flashy neighborhood gangster, Sonny, who dubs the kid “C.” As played by an ice-cold, silk-smooth Joey Calveri, Sonny is glamorous, dangerous, cash-flashing, and feared. Joe Barbara (Sonny) and Frankie Leoni (Young Calogero) and Company of A Bronx Tale now at The National Theatre (Photo: Joan Marcus)Ĭan the gritty authenticity of the story survive the leap from straight drama to musical? The answer is yes- if you find a cast that blends Scorsese- and Coppola-film-type character acting with vocal and dance chops. ![]() And this musical iteration opened in 2016, with Palminteri’s script, music and lyrics by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater, and direction by De Niro and Jerry Zaks. Palminteri brought the one-man version to Broadway in 2007. ![]() Then Robert De Niro, in his directorial debut, took it to the screen in a 1993 adaptation. It began as Chazz Palminteri’s autobiographical 1989 off-Broadway one-man show. ![]() There’s no wasted talent in the rock-solid touring production of the musical that swaggered into the National Theatre Tuesday night.Ī Bronx Tale has a tale of its own. “The saddest thing in life is wasted talent,” Lorenzo the bus driver tells his son, Calogero, in A Bronx Tale.
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