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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Rehearsals began this week in New York for the upcoming North American Tour of A BRONX TALE. Get a look at the company in action below!
Full casting has been announced for 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.
The nationally regarded Fulton Theatre is proud to present the Broadway classic Guys and Dolls, March 6 through March 31. Explore a simpler time when the stakes of the "game" were your biggest concern in Damon Runyon's streets of New York City.
Having had the privilege to serve as Broadway World's Maine Editor for more than three years now, I can say with pride that the state, though remote as it may seem from the epicenter of the theatre world, Broadway, is blessed to be home to so many thriving theatre companies who produce exciting, vibrant seasons. As I compiled my list for 2016 with many familiar names, I was also struck by the extraordinary consistency of excellence these companies maintain. Here are my personal choices of the best in Maine, grouped by theatre and show.
The electric, near ecstatic atmosphere in Brunswick's Pickard Theater last night more closely resembled that of a rock concert than a theatre company opening. For months in advance, the sold out box office has signaled the joyful anticipation of Maine State Music Theatre's new production of Mamma Mia! - one of the first regionally for the blockbuster Broadway hit. But anticipation aside, it is the delivery here that is the story: a stunningly executed, intelligently staged, deliciously performed rendition of the 2001 long running ABBA musical that transformed the intimate Pickard Theater into a boisterous celebration.
Maine State Music Theatre's third 2016 main stage production is a cause for celebration! After twenty-one years, the beloved Bock-Harnick musical, Fiddler on the Roof returns to the Pickard stage in a monumental production directed and choreographed by Gary John LaRosa, that stunningly weaves a rich and joyous tapestry of laughter, tears, and joy. Maintaining its perfect dramatic and emotional equipoise, this Fiddler on the Roof travels between tradition and change, monumental events and mastery of detail.
Twenty-five years after it was last presented at the Pickard Theater, Andrew Lloyd-Webber/Tim Rice's masterpiece has returned in triumph to Maine State Music Theatre in a stunning new production directed and choreographed by Marc Robin. Boasting the largest cast in the company's history (46), this Evita is gripping and epic, at the same time that it is touchingly intimate and magnificently detailed. The size of the endeavor is both literal and figurative, for MSMT's Evita succeeds not only in its grand sweep, but also in the magnitude of its intangible assets - unsparing honesty, intensity, and emotional depth.
Maine State Music Theatre will be presenting one of Andrew Lloyd Webber's most beloved musicals, EVITA, June 29 through July 16.
'Sometimes in this business, it can seem you work and work and you aren't seeing results right away. Then all at once, everything comes to fruition at once, and that is a major boost to our company morale. That's exactly what has happened this season for MSMT,' says Artistic Director Curt Dale Clark. 'Of our main stage productions, we have three that will be firsts!' Clark, who is joined by director Marc Robin, actors Liz Shivener and Mike Backes, is speaking to a Brunswick audience at Curtis Memorial Library on June 15, 2016, at the first of the season's Peek Behind the Curtain series, which is moderated by Broadway World's Carla Maria Verdino-Sullwold. He elaborates. 'This summer we will present the New England regional premiere of Mama Mia; we have extended our twelve-week season for the first time by co-producing with Portland Stage, The Irish and How They Got That Way, and together with the Fulton Theatre, we have created the East Coast Regional premiere of the new chamber music version of Ghost The Musical. It's been an extraordinary adventure!'
Maine State Music Theatre's 2016 opening brought the East Coast premiere of the stunning and soul-stirring new chamber version of Ghost The Musical, and the evening proved to be an extraordinary artistic event! Not only did this production represent an unique collaboration between director/choreographer Marc Robin and the musical's original creators, Bruce Joel Rubin, Glen Ballard, and Dave Stewart, but it offered Maine audiences the opportunity to savor the depth and range of this remarkable company's artistry. For the Ghost which was unveiled at Brunswick's Pickard Theater June 9 (a co-production of MSMT and Lancaster's Fulton Theatre) dazzles with the complexity of its score, the tenderness of its story, its symphonically perfect direction, splendid visual values, and by the deep identification of the cast with the material.
The 'nationally regarded' Maine State Music Theatre and Fulton Theatre present the exclusive premiere of the new chamber version of GHOST THE MUSICAL, beginning tonight, June 8 through June 25. BroadwayWorld brings you a sneak peek at highlights and behind the scenes below!
Maine State Music Theatre and Fulton Theatre present the exclusive premiere of the new chamber version of GHOST THE MUSICAL, beginning tonight, June 8, and continuing through June 25.
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