Chazz Palminteri in A Bronx Tale
By Chazz Palminteri
Walter Kerr Theatre
Youve met them before, countless times — the neighborhood tough guys, small-time hoods and big-time mobsters who populate the world of Chazz Palminteri's A Bronx Tale. Indeed, you may even have seen them literally — in the 1993 movie version, directed by Robert DeNiro. So it might seem superfluous for Palminteri to recreate the original one-person show from 1989 in which he first related his coming-of-age story, of growing up in an Italian Bronx neighborhood and the local mob boss who became his protector and surrogate father. No surprises here, but Palminteri has absorbed the material so completely, and has such a natural storytelling knack, that even the overcooked pasta goes down easily, and makes this a rare one-person show that doesn't have you sneaking glances at your watch.