Review: A Bronx Tale: A New Musical

The tale of this young boy’s life in the Bronx has been presented in many forms: An autobiographical one-man show, a critically-acclaimed 1993 film and now, a Broadway musical.

Although this musical isn’t particularly groundbreaking, it’s fun, which sometimes Broadway musicals just need to be. Aptly promoted as a mix between Jersey Boys and West Side Story, A Bronx Tale hits on classical Broadway tropes to mostly positive results. Opening with four Italian men singing under a lone street-lamp sometime in the 1960s, the older Calogero (Bobby Conte Thornton in his Broadway debut) begins narrating his early-life story, which no doubt throws back to the solo show written by book writer Chazz Palminteri.

In both the 1993 movie and Broadway musical, both of which Robert De Niro directed, the show is set on Belmont Avenue in the Bronx. A young Calogero (Hudson Loverro in his Broadway debut) is like any other young boy. He loves the New York Yankees and has an obsession with Mickey Mantle. His father, Lorenzo (Richard H. Blake), is a bus driver who plays by the straight-and-narrow—except when local mob boss Sonny (Nick Cordero, who is the perfect mix of scary and charismatic) shoots and kills a man right in front of Calogero’s porch.

At the behest of his frightened parents, Calogero lies and doesn’t identify the murderer, which earns him Sonny’s eternal gratitude. Sonny takes the boy under his wing, shortens his name to C, and shows him the glamorous life of the underworld. After Sonny lets C have some money from a dice game, C dons a leather jacket (which his teenage version also sports later) and starts spending all of his time at Sonny’s club. Hudson Loverro brings lots of energy and charisma to young C, especially in “I Like It,” in which C sings about being Sonny’s mentee. Unfortunately for young C, his father finds his money stash later and the battle between who will shape C’s worldview begins.