The Bronx comes to Vegas
When I heard the news that the stage version of “A Bronx Tale” was coming to Vegas at the Venetian, I couldn’t have been more excited.
Based on Academy Award-nominated actor Chazz Palminteri’s screenplay, “A Bronx Tale” is a heartfelt, coming-of-age story about a boy’s rough childhood in the 1960s. The main character, Cologero, is loosely based on Palminteri’s own childhood.
One of my favorite movies of all time, 1993’s “A Bronx Tale” is more to me than a typical mafia/gangster film. I enjoyed the forbidden love story between Cologero and Jane, which was like a street version of Romeo and Juliet. Robert De Niro, who also directed the film, played Lorenzo, the wise bus driver who wanted to keep his son, Cologero, out of trouble. Palminteri’s character, Sonny, played the neighborhood Mafia boss and another father figure for Cologero. The movie also depicted racial issues in the Bronx during that time.
With all of these remarkable characters and subplots, it’s going to be really interesting to see Palminteri act out 18 different characters. But with his talent and creativity, he manages to pull it off every time.
“Chazz brilliantly evokes a bygone area of hustlers, goodfellas and charismatic mob bosses who ruled their neighborhood with both compassion and ruthlessness,” said Jason Gastwirth, corporate vice president of entertainment for Las Vegas Sands Corp.
The play debuted off-Broadway 20 years ago and has garnered a lot of attention since then. This will be the first time the play comes to Las Vegas. You can catch the limited engagement from Oct. 7 – 18 inside the Venetian showroom. The show runs approximately 85 minutes and begins at 8 p.m. nightly.
