When Chazz Palminteri hits the stage at The Paramount on Sunday, Feb. 16, it will not only be a return engagement where he’ll be performing his one-man version of “A Bronx Tale,” but will also be where he shot the footage for the recently released “A Bronx Tale—One Man Show.”
Financed by Palminteri, the movie was released by Tribeca Films, is available for streaming on Amazon and Apple+ and features the executive production talents of Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and John Killick. This live performance stars and is directed and produced by the Oscar-nominated actor, who chose to approach it more like a film.
“I realized I’m getting older and I wanted to preserve [the show] for posterity,” Palminteri explained. “So many people in places like Europe, Australia and Canada wanted to see it. I paid for the movie myself and I didn’t shoot it like it was just a guy on stage talking. I shot it with five cameras like a movie. I think when people see it, they’re going to want to come see the show even more.”
The autobiographical “A Bronx Tale—One Man Show” goes back to the Bronx native’s roots, growing up at a time of racial unrest, where the young Italian-American Calogero is caught between worshipping his hero, local mob boss Sonny and Calogero’s bus-driving father Lorenzo.
What eventually became a critically and commercially acclaimed 1993 film that marked De Niro’s directorial debut and was written by and starred Palminteri got its start in 1988 as a one-man show that found the latter playing all 18 parts. This theatrical sensation started as the unemployed Palminteri desperately cobbling something together to make money.
Hollywood came knocking and like Sylvester Stallone before him, the show’s creator refused to sign off on his coming-of-age story unless he starred and wrote it. And then De Niro came knocking.
“The whole world was coming to see me because everybody wanted the script to make a movie—every producer, writer, producer,” Palminteri recalled. “I’m telling you, it was nuts. I kept saying no to everybody. Offers went over $1 million, I kept saying no and I had $200 in the bank.
Finally, one night I was coming off the stage and was told Bob De Niro was in the dressing room having just seen the show. I went in there and he said he wanted to direct it. He said I should play Sonny and write it because it’s my life. He said if I shook his hand, that would be the way it would be. I shook his hand and we made the movie.”
“A Bronx Tale” has been a springboard for Palminteri’s career. He’s been nominated for an Oscar (for his role in 1994’s “Bullets Over Broadway”), racked up roles in a string of memorable films (“The Usual Suspects,” “Mulholland,” “Analyze This”) and television shows (“Modern Family,” “Blue Bloods”).
He has ongoing roles in “The Godfather of Harlem” and “Gravesend.” Along the way, Palminteri has made a cottage industry playing mob roles while still avoiding being stereotyped. When asked why the gangster genre remains popular, he explains it’s all about people looking for heroes, no matter how flawed they might be.
“I always tell people that it took the place of the western,” Palminteri said. “I think that’s why people love it. Everybody always wants to be around the tough guy—you can’t get hurt. Look, there is a lot of romance to it. Is it what you think it is? No, of course not. It’s a tough life. There was loyalty and honor and there’s not much of that anymore.”
In the meantime, “A Bronx Tale” has helped Palminteri launch a cigar line, a wildly popular podcast (“The Chazz Palminteri Show”) and a pair of successful restaurants that predate the pandemic and are located in Manhattan’s Theater District and White Plains. “Life is good,” Palminteri says and when asked about his show’s appeal, he’s quick to point out that it’s all about nuance.
“What’s great about ‘A Bronx Tale’ is that it’s not about black and white—it’s about grey,” Palminteri said. “The boy, Calogero, takes the best of Sonny and the best of his father and becomes a man. In ‘A Bronx Tale,’ I didn’t know at the time that I was writing archetypes.
The reason why it’s been around for 34 years and people see the one-man show over and over again, laugh and cry is because they see themselves in it. There was a mentor I had. He wasn’t in the mob, but he was like Sonny. My father was just like your father—he wanted to see the best for me. Everybody relates to it—everybody.”
Chazz Palminteri will be performing “A Bronx Tale” on Sunday, Feb. 16, at The Paramount, 370 New York Ave., Huntington. For more information, visit www.theparamountny.com, www.chazzpalminteri.net or call 631-673-7300.
