Joe Barbara News

If it's possible to be nostalgic for a time and place in which you've never lived, you will experience that feeling in A Bronx Tale.

Performing Arts Fort Worth proudly presents the first national tour of the hit Broadway production, A BRONX TALE, at Bass Performance Hall July 23-28. The show is part of Performing Arts Fort Worth's 2018-2019 Broadway at the Bass series. Tickets start at $44 and are on sale now!

Set on the stoops of the Bronx in the socially turbulent 1960s a young man, Calogero, is caught between the father he loves and the mob boss he would love to be. As he grows into a teenager on the streets of the Bronx, Calogero "C" gets taken under the wing of neighborhood mobster Sonny. Despite the warning from his straight-arrow bus driver father, Lorenzo, Sonny initiates the boy into the ways of gang life after "C" covers up a murder for Sonny. The story gets kicked up a notch when "C" falls for his African-American classmate, Jane, and the repercussions threaten the entire neighborhood. Featuring an original doo-wop score, this is a tale about respect, loyalty, love, and above all else: family.

I had the pleasure of seeing A Bronx Tale with my friend Cassy, who had NEVER seen a musical before! (I know, right?!) I invited Cassy because the 1993 movie, off which the musical is based, is her favorite. Seriously, her cat is named Calogero, after the lead character in both the movie and the play. I was excited to see this show, and especially excited to see it through the eyes of a neophyte theater goer. I was not disappointed!

The national tour of 'A Bronx Tale' is doo-wopping across the U.S. Check out what critics from tour stops like LA, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and more have to say about the production in their reviews below.

Calogero Lorenzo 'Chazz' Palminteri is a Bronx guy through and through. He lives and breathes New York Yankee pinstripes, is addicted to 'sauce,' and 'tawks' Bronxese.

Two iconic stars made a surprise appearance at last night's performance of A Bronx Tale in Boston. The show's creator, Chazz Palminteri, and co-director Robert DeNiro (who also directed, and starred in, the film) took the stage following curtain call to give a speech.

The North American tour of A BRONX TALE doo-wops its way into the Citizens Bank Opera House through April 14th as part of the 2018-2019 Lexus Broadway In Boston Season. It is at once a nostalgic stroll down memory lane with an original rock 'n' roll score, a gritty depiction of urban turf wars, and a well-told story about loyalty, love, and family. Based on Chazz Palminteri's 1989 one-man Off-Broadway play that inspired a 1993 film, the musical reunites the author with his directors, Jerry Zaks and Robert DeNiro, and they are joined by composer Alan Menken, lyricist Glenn Sater, and choreographer Sergio Trujillo. Like other musicals that have come before it (HAIRSPRAY, JERSEY BOYS, WEST SIDE STORY, to mention a few), A BRONX TALE feels familiar as it evokes a time, a place, and a genre that we recognize. It is a good, solid show with great music, performances, and design elements that provides a couple of hours of entertainment and escape.

The first words sung in A Bronx Tale, the tonally uneven and musically disappointing touring show that opened at D.C.'s National Theatre on Tuesday, are literally "this is a Bronx tale." The artistic subtleties don't get much better from there, as the musical (based on a movie based on a one-man show) proceeds to tackle issues from morality to racism with all the delicateness of a mobster smashing someone's head in with a baseball bat. Everything about this production is underwhelming from the performances to the design to the direction and choreography. Ultimately, A Bronx Tale is the perfect example of why we should stop adapting movies into musicals.

It's in the moments of high energy and pure entertainment that A BRONX TALE succeeds the most, and the company finds all the joy in Alan Menken's reliably tuneful score.

A BRONX TALE, the streetwise Broadway musical based on the one-man show and now classic film, will make its Washington, D.C. premiere at the National Theatre for one week only from March 26 through 31, 2019.

Starting with promise, this show never fulfilled it as a rushed copy of WEST SIDE STORY never clicked.

No doubt about it, A Bronx Tale - the musical version of Chazz Palminteri's original 1989 one man show (he played some 18 characters in the original work) that ultimately led to a 1993 film directed by Robert DeNiro - is one engaging night of theater, telling an intriguing story of a boy who grows to manhood on the mean streets of The Bronx, in the shadow of local wiseguy/mob kingpin Sonny, played here by Joe Barbara with chilling authenticity and palpable, if oily, charm.

It's a homecoming of sorts for Joey Barreiro this week as he and his castmates from the national tour of A Bronx Tale - the Broadway musical that's based on a one-man show created by actor/writer Chazz Palminteri - encamp at Nashville's Tennessee Performing Arts Center for a week-long stand.

If you're like me, there's probably a lot you didn't know about A Bronx Tale before settling into your seat.

A Bronx Tale has been a "family" affair for decades. This musical adaptation is its next evolutionary step following the 1993 non-musical film, which was drawn from an earlier autobiographical one-man Off-Broadway and later Broadway play written by and starring by Chazz Palminteri.

Based on the 1993 hit film, the stage musical A Bronx Tale has two of the movie's stars collaborating behind the scenes ... with a book by Chazz Palminteri, who played Sonny on film and Robert De Niro directing with Jerry Zaks. De Niro played Lorenzo onscreen, Calogero's father. Like the film this show is an instant hit with audiences who savor and take to heart the Sicilian lifestyle. This well cast and well directed national tour plays the Hollywood Pantages through November 25.

The North American Tour of A BRONX TALE, the new musical featuring a book by Academy Award nominee Chazz Palminteri, music by Oscar, Grammy, and Tony Award winner Alan Menken, and lyrics by Grammy Award winner and Oscar and Tony Award nominee Glenn Slater, directed by two-time Oscar winner Robert De Niro and four-time Tony Award winner Jerry Zaks, with choreography by Tony nominee Sergio Trujillo is now on tour.

If you've ever seen the movie or one-man-show version of A Bronx Tale you already know that it's a captivating, emotional story about a young working class man growing up during the doo-wop era of the 1960's who's torn between the opposing worlds of criminal life on the streets and the proverbial 'straight and narrow.' The musical adaptation of the story, featuring music by Alan Menken and a book by Chazz Palminteri (who wrote the one-man-show and starred in the both the play and feature film) pairs the emotional complexity of the film with spirited, high-energy song and dance numbers that make for a truly entertaining night at the theatre.

BroadwayWorld has a first look at the North American Tour of A BRONX TALE, the new musical featuring a book by Academy Award nominee Chazz Palminteri, music by Oscar, Grammy, and Tony Award winner Alan Menken, and lyrics by Grammy Award winner and Oscar and Tony Award nominee Glenn Slater, directed by two-time Oscar winner Robert De Niro and four-time Tony Award winner Jerry Zaks, with choreography by Tony nominee Sergio Trujillo.