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Palminteri brings 'Bronx' to Broadway

By Matt Windman

Chazz Palminteri's "A Bronx Tale" is exactly what its title implies an exercise in autobiographical storytelling that happens to be painted with a Bronx character. As a one-man show, it's not much more than that, for better or worse.

Three years ago, the streets of Broadway were littered with an excess of one-person shows by the likes of Billy Crystal, Dame Edna, Whoopi Goldberg and Jackie Mason. Susan Somers' "The Blonde in the Thunderbird" managed to temporarily kill the genre, but the economic charm of a one-person show is hard for producers to ignore.

Chazz Palminteri, while not as well known as Whoopi or Billy Crystal, is an Academy Award-nominated actor and writer who has appeared in supporting roles in over 50 films. He first performed "Bronx Tale" in 1989 for two months at the now extinct Playhouse 91. Robert De Niro happened to catch the show, leading to the 1993 film version of "Bronx Tale," where De Niro directed and also acted along with Palminteri.

"Bronx Tale" focuses on Palminteri's rough childhood in the Bronx in the early 1960s, specifically on his relationship with Sonny, the neighborhood's big-time Italian gangster. While Palminteri played Sonny in the film version, he plays about 18 roles (friends and enemies) in the stage version while also narrating. Oddly, it resembles the upcoming Broadway musical "In the Heights," which introduces an entire Washington Heights community to its audience.

Palminteri's acting is often compelling, but there is a major problem all of his characters sound exactly the same! Still, it helps that director Jerry Zaks has provided a simple but very focused staging. And unlike Billy Crystal's "700 Sundays," which was over three hours long, "Bronx Tale" lasts a neat, clean 95 minutes.

Walter Kerr Theater, 219 West 48th St, 212-239-6200, $26.50-96.50. Tues-Fri 8pm, Sat 2 & 8pm, Sun 3pm. Thru Feb 10.