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June 18 - June 25, 2009
editorial@boulderweekly.com
One-man wonder
It’s always Sonny in Brooklyn
by Gary Zeidner
 At the risk Ü≈ver generalizing, pretty much everyone is a lazy quitter. Worse than that, most people embrace a demented persecution complex about their own lack of drive. We’re a nation of whiners. You didn’t get the promotion because your boss likes Janice more than you — not because the quality of her work consistently surpasses yours or because you call in sick four times more often. You didn’t get the girl because she’s a stuck-up bitch — not because you got sloppy drunk before hitting on her and had onion breath to boot. You haven’t finished that screenplay you’ve been working on for years because the wife and kids demand so much of your precious time — not because you never made the commitment to banging it out and you’re really not that creative to begin with.
Our failures are always someone else’s fault, and it’s easier to bitch and quit than to strive and thrive. From the neglectful parent of the hooligan teen to our last Commander in Chief, everyone’s got an excuse for why they can’t seem to get where they think they deserve to be. That’s why it’s more refreshing than tag teaming two Playmates under a rushing waterfall on a 99-degree day when I hear about someone who, when faced with an Everest-style, über-daunting task, grits his teeth and finds a way to succeed.
Chazz Palminteri is one of my heroes, and A Bronx Tale is the reason why. As an aspiring actor back in the ’80s, Palminteri, like the vast majority of young thespians, couldn’t seem to get his career to take off. After starting out in New York City and then moving to Los Angeles, Chazz found himself nearly broke, unemployed and completely unable to find a role that would jump-start his acting
dream. This is precisely the point at which most actors become managers of Abercrombie & Fitch stores or insurance salesmen.
Rather than knuckle under, though, Palminteri persevered. “I had no money, and I thought, ‘Well, if they won’t give me a great part in
a movie, I’ll write one myself.’ I went to the drug store. I got five pads of yellow paper.” And the rest is history.
Based on his experiences growing up in New York City in the 1960s, Palminteri completed A Bronx Tale and opened it in L.A. in 1990. This one-man show, created, written-by and starring Palminteri, received critical and popular acclaim right out of the gate.
After its initial run in Los Angeles, Chazz took the show to New York where, after attending a performance, one Robert De Niro bought the movie rights and, as a condition of the sale, cast Chazz in the role of Sonny. (That’s right, little-known Palminteri refused to sell, even to De Niro, unless he was guaranteed to play Sonny. Now that, as they say in the old neighborhood, takes some huge fucking balls.)
Though he portrays 18 characters in the show, A Bronx Tale focuses primarily on Chazz’ alter ego, the boy known as C, and his relationship with a local mobster, Sonny. A mere 9 years old when the story begins, C witnesses Sonny shoot and kill a man on the street in front of C’s apartment building. Though he comes from an honest, hard-working family, C lies to the police and covers for Sonny because even at the tender age of 9 he knows that the most tortuous circle of hell is reserved for rats. Sonny takes C under his wing, and C thrills to the gangster lifestyle with its colorful characters, danger and easy money. But rather than training C to be a soldier or thug, Sonny exhorts him to go to college and to make something more of himself than a common crook. Later, it is Sonny’s own hand that guides C at one of the most critical junctures in his life.
Whether you’ve seen him as the wily DEA agent in The Usual Suspects, a wise guy in Analyze This or a frustrated father in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, you’re probably already familiar with Palminteri’s work. To have the opportunity to see an actor of his abilities in the one-man show with which he launched his own career is an opportunity not to be missed.
On the Bill:
A Bronx Tale plays through June 21 at the Denver Center, 14th and Curtis, Denver, 303-893-4100, www.denvercenter.org. Tickets start at $20.
Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
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