I went to see "A Bronx Tale" tonight, though to be perfectly honest the only reason I went was because it was on tdf. I had absolutely no interest in seeing it. Let's look at the z's I had against it: z1-It's a one man show. z2-It stars and is written by an apparently famous actor who I've never heard of, Chazz Palminteri. z3-It was made into an apparently famous movie starring said apparently famous actor, that I've never heard of, let alone seen. That makes zzz, and the very idea of the show put me to sleep.
Well, so much for low expectations - it was actually wonderful. The show runs around an hour and forty-five minutes. For the first hour and fifteen minutes or so, I was entertained enough - the show was a cute fluff-ish autobiographical story about a boy in the Bronx (hence the title) who witnesses a murder and then becomes friends with the gangster who did the murdering but who he didn't rat on. The acting up to the point is quite good - it's fascinating to watch Palminteri alternate between the roles of the wide eyed little boy and Sonny, the gangster he looks up to. But, you know, the story is merely pleasant, not exactly what I would call riveting. But then there is this scene where this tense boy ends up in a car with a couple of bombs in the back seat, and Palminteri starts shaking and you can see the sweat build on his face, and you can really see the fear in his eyes, and from that moment til the end, the show is just absolutely riveting. In the final scene, I was definitely getting teary eyed as the story came to close. Both the performance and the play were really just beautifully done.
I'm sort of curious to see the movie now - not enough to buy it, but I think I'll add it to my Tivo wishlist so it's recorded next time it's aired on TV. I can definitely see it fleshed out to include more actors - it may even be an overall stronger piece in a multi-actor form, but I Palminteri really gives a wonderful performance, and he certainly makes a strong argument for the art of the one man play. Unlike certain solo snoozefests (like "The Year of Magical Thinking") where the actor just sits there performs a live book on tape session, Palminteri actually gets up and moves and gives us a complete theatrical experience on a rather sparsely set stage (there are three set pieces - a bar, a stoop, and a lampost, and that's it).
Anyway, surprise surprise to me, I highly recommend seeing "A Bronx Tale." And hey, it's currently on tdf for next week, Oct 9-10-11.
