A Bronx Tale Tickets

By: Book by Chazz Palminteri, with Music by Alan Menken & Lyrics by Glenn Slater
Director: Robert De Niro and Jerry Zaks
Producer: Tommy Mottola and the Dodgers with Tribeca Productions
Cast list: Chazz Palminteri (as Sonny), Adam Kaplan (as Calogero), Richard H. Blake (as Lorenzo), Kimber Sprawl (as Jane), Lucia Giannetta (as Rosina), Gerald Caesar (as Tyrone), Frankie Leoni (as Young Calogero), and Levi Smith (as Young Calogero alternate) NOTE: Mr. Palminteri is only set to appear at select Saturday performances.
Design: Beowulf Boritt
Lighting: Howell Binkley
Costume: William Ivey Long
Choreography: Sergio Trujillo
Sound: Gareth Owen
Other info: Musical Direction by Jonathan Smith, Music Supervision & Arrangements by Ron Melrose, and Orchestrations by Doug Besterman

“West Side Story” meets “Jersey Boys” in this coming-of-age musical from director Robert De Niro about the power of family and love to cross cultural and social divides. Most kids don’t witness a murder outside their front door, but Calogero is not most kids. When Calogero is asked by the cops to identify the killer (the neighborhood’s resident “bad guy,” Sonny), he doesn’t turn in Sonny, and in turn, wins his undying devotion. As Calogero grows up, he begins spending more and more time around Sonny, who becomes like a father to him, but his own parents are wary of the gangster’s influence. Sonny has Calogero, or “C” as he calls him, run errands for him and hang out with his fellow gangsters, but when Calogero’s attention starts to turn to Jane, a black girl from his high school, the cultural and social divides in his life and his neighborhood come to a head.

Based on book writer Chazz Palminteri’s own story and inspired by the 1993 film of the same name, “A Bronx Tale” features music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Glenn Slater. The film’s director and star Robert De Niro co-directs with Jerry Zaks, and the show had its world premiere at Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey in 2016. “The New York Times” named the musical a “Critic’s Pick” and calls it “the musical-theater equivalent of...comfort food.”

Recommended for 12 + (Strong language; Gun shot effects). Children under the age of 4 are not permitted in the theatre.

What to watch for

The musical is not the first time Chazz Palminteri’s story has been on Broadway. Palminteri wrote and performed a one-man show about his life in 1989, and that play inspired the film. The one-man show was on Broadway in 2007, directed by Jerry Zaks and starring Palminteri.

Robert De Niro and Jerry Zaks met on the 1996 movie “Marvin’s Room,” which starred De Niro and Meryl Streep. It was the first movie Zaks directed.

“A Bronx Tale” marks the second time Nick Cordero, who stars as Sonny, has played a role originated by Chazz Palminteri. (Palminteri played the role in the film.) Cordero also starred in the musical adaptation of Woody Allen’s “Bullets Over Broadway” as Cheech, the part Palminteri played in the film.

Palminteri originally planned to write the lyrics for the musical but hired Slater, who was the lyricist for “Sister Act” and “School of Rock,” when Palminteri heard one of Slater’s songs.

Costume designer William Ivey Long worked very closely with Robert De Niro to get the look exactly right. De Niro was particularly involved in getting the exact right shirt collar look, and he drew a sketch for Long which helped create the final product onstage.