Robert De Niro will revisit the first movie he directed, this time as an off-Broadway musical. The 1993 film, A Bronx Tale, is an adaptation of Chazz Palminteri’s acclaimed one-man show that originally premiered in Los Angeles, followed by an off-Broadway run. The show also ran as a revival in 2007. De Niro will co-direct the new production along with four-time Tony winner Jerry Zak. The production will feature music from Tony and Oscar-winner Alan Menken, who is best known for his Disney scores, which include The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocohontas.
A Bronx Tale is set in the 1960s and chronicles an Italian-American teenager in New York who, according to Rolling Stone, is “finding his path in life as he must choose between the father who raised him and a mob-boss father figure who fascinates him.”
Palminteri wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation and co-starred as the gangster character, Sonny, opposite De Niro’s Lorenzo Anello, the father. A Bronx Tale earned wide acclaim upon its theatrical release. Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers wrote,
Palminteri gives a knockout performance, dodging every gangster cliché to create a sly, funny, thoughtful and recognizably human portrait of a dangerous man. His script, despite sentimental lapses, is equally alert to nuances. And cinematographer Reynaldo Villalobos, shooting on location in New York, creates an atmosphere so vivid you can almost smell the spilled beer at Chez Bippy, a hangout for Sonny and his cronies, who have nicknames like Tony Toupée and JoJo the Whale.
A Bronx Tale will surely be one of the must-see musicals this winter, and tickets will be on sale soon. The adaptation will open on February 4, 2016, and will run through March 6,2016 at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey as part of the 2015-2016 season.
Watch the original A Bronx Tale movie trailer below.
