One man show: Chazz Palminteri brings semi-autobiographical "A Bronx Tale" to PPAC

Chazz Palminteri returns to the stage for a one-man show of “A Bronx Tale,” the story that skyrocketed the actor to almost-instant fame.

A real-life incident in which Palminteri witnessed a Mafia boss gun down a man over a parking space in front of his family’s apartment on East 87th Street in the Bronx set the stage for his semi-autobiographical screenplay. Calogero Lorenzo “Chazz” Palminteri, the only witness to the shooting, never mentioned the incident to anyone until 1989, when the out of work actor, who was fired from his job as a bouncer, decided to write a role for himself.

He performed the piece for a very limited time before movie studios began bidding on the project, but Palminteri, down to his last $200, held out for a director who would also find a place for the unknown actor in the cast. The director turned out to be Robert DeNiro, who paid $1.5 million for the screenplay and made his directorial debut with Palminteri taking on the role of the mob boss in the 1993 film.

Two decades later Paminteri, a writer, director, producer has made his biggest mark as an actor with dozens of TV and film roles including “Analyze This,” “The Usual Suspects,” “Faithful” and his Academy Award nominated role in “Bullets Over Broadway.”

Under the direction of Jerry Zacks, Palminteri returned to the stage in his one-man show in 2007 and 2008 for a limited tour of just over a hundred shows. This year’s revival of “A Bronx Tale,” in which he takes on the role of numerous characters is also set for another very limited tour including a four-day stretch at the Providence Performing Arts Center. “When I wrote it originally I only performed it live for a short time before we began making the movie. I wanted to bring it back for a whole new generation,” said Palminteri. “People love it — it really resonates with people.”

In writing the coming-of-age tale of a young Italian boy torn between his father’s working class values and the high-flying, easy money of 1960s era New York Mafia, Paminteri said he wanted to dispel Italian-American stereotypes in the media. “It’s a story of the working man, the real Italian-American community of bus drivers, taxi drivers, and deli and bakery owners. The crime element gets all the headlines, but that’s only a very small portion of Italian-Americans.”

His father, a bus driver, got to see his son’s homage to his father in the 1993 film and the one-man show before passing away recently. Though it’s a poignant tale, Palminteri said the stage show is much funnier than the film, with even more true-to-life oddball characters from his youth. “If you liked the movie, you’ll love the show; I am the guy, I’m Colagero,” he said. “It’s me, telling you my personal story.”

The show at the Performing Arts Center runs from Thursday, April 15, through Sunday, April 18. For times, and prices call the box office at 401-421-ARTS or see www.ppacri.org. The performance originally slated for Saturday at 2 p.m. has been rescheduled. Ticketholders for that show should contact the box office.