A Bronx Cheer

Last weekend, I went to see the national touring production of A Bronx Tale, shortly before it packed up and headed on from Denver. Based on an earlier one-man-show of the same name by actor Chazz Palminteri, this was a musical that debuted on Broadway in 2016. It's a coming-of-age, semi-autobiographical tale about growing up in an Italian community in the 1950s and 60s, falling in with the gangster element, and being torn between two father figures.

The poster for the show quotes a critic as saying it's like "Jersey Boys meets West Side Story." One assumes this was meant as a compliment in its original context. It is certainly accurate. But I think it sums up quite neatly what's wrong with the show. There isn't much here that feels compelling or original.

Act One of A Bronx Tale is the cliche presented in every movie that features a character trying to jump-start an acting career with a self-written one-man-show. ("You see, back in my neighborhood...") It's melodramatic, it's familiar, and it's... well... bad. The narration is hokey, the plot is predictable, the characterizations thin. There's a little bit of life injected in seeing the main character at age 9, the only child in a cast of adults. Even then, the child's performance is broad even by theatrical standards, and he's whisked away after 20 minutes when the story jumps "eight years later."

Act Two of A Bronx Tale is just microwaved West Side Story. A "lovers from opposite sides" subplot that dropped in late in the first act suddenly takes over the entire show, but once again offers nothing new and little that's interesting. The best part about it is the influx of new characters from the nearby "black neighborhood" -- the love interest Jane is more intriguing than the main character himself. She and her chorus (at least, in the production we saw) were more powerful and skillful singers than the leads in the cast. If the story was going to shift abruptly in Act Two, I'd rather it have done so to focus on the far more interesting musical that was apparently next door to this one.

What saved it from being a complete bummer of an evening at the theater was some decent music throughout. It comes from lyricist Glenn Slater and composer Alan Menken (both of whom have histories with Disney that everyone will know -- including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Tangled). Nothing here is career-best work, but that speaks more to the long careers they've had than true shortcomings in what they've created here. There's everything from anthemic defiance ("I Like It") to clever wordplay ("Nicky Machiavelli"). Melodies are introduced in good songs, and often recontextualized in reprise later in the show. Plus there was that great burst of energy at the top of Act Two ("Webster Avenue") that made me wish we were watching that "other musical" inside this one.

Still, some decent tunes alone really weren't enough to save the show for me. I'd grade it a C. If the tour of A Bronx Tale works its way to your city, I'd skip it.