Academy Award Nominee Chazz Palminteri Brings His Popular One Man
Show “A Bronx Tale” Back To the Ridgefield Playhouse on June 4
Back by popular demand, Academy Award nominee Chazz Palminteri returns to the Ridgefield
Playhouse stage with “A Bronx Tale” in his only Connecticut performance! In 1989 Palminteri
wrote for himself a play entitled “A Bronx Tale,” a powerful one-man stage commentary in
which he depicted his bruising childhood in great detail, which included witnessing gangland
slayings. Palminteri brought each and every character to life (18 in all) in this autobiographical
piece — his friends, enemies, even his own family. He showcased for years in both Los Angeles
and New York, finally sparking the interest of his film idol, Robert De Niro. DeNiro, wanting to
direct for the first time, saw the potential of this project and brought both it and the
actor/writer to the screen. An unknown film commodity at the time, Chazz had stubbornly
refused to sell his stage property (the offers went into the seven figures) unless he was part of
the package as both actor and screenwriter. DeNiro, who became his mentor, backed him up all
the way, and the rest is history. A Bronx Tale (1993) debuted at the Toronto International Film
Festival, launched DeNiro’s directing career and solidified Palminteri as a star. Twenty years
later, the American Film institute would name the film among their top 10 Gangster Films of all
time.
This is the show that started it all! Before it became a hit Broadway show, Chazz Palminteri
performed the one man show of the book and film, A Bronx Tale — about his true life story of
growing up in the Bronx — right here on the stage of The Ridgefield Playhouse! Now, after
winning multiple awards and performing the show more than 900 times on stages around the
world, Chazz Palminteri is back with the original one man show that sold out!
Chazz Palminteri’s One Man Show – “A Bronx Tale” returns to the Ridgefield Playhouse stage
on Sunday, June 4, 2023 at 4pm. The event is part of the Teed & Brown Broadway & Cabaret
Series, Sponsored by Brewster Subaru.
Visit GALLO (5 Grove Street, Ridgefield) for dinner before the show and get a complimentary
glass of house wine with your entrée when you present your tickets!
For more information or to purchase touchless print at home ticket ($85-$90) go online at
www.ridgefieldplayhouse.org or, you can visit or call the box office (203) 438-5795.
About the Ridgefield Playhouse:
The Ridgefield Playhouse – ridgefieldplayhouse.org – is a non-profit 503(c)(3) performing arts
center. The Playhouse mission is to entertain, enrich, and educate our community and
surrounding areas and to inspire people of all ages and backgrounds. The Ridgefield Playhouse
presents more than 200 live shows annually, plus movies, hosting more than 100,000 patrons
each year.
About Chazz Palminteri:
Bronx-born and raised Chazz Palminteri was a natural choice to continue the Italianate torch in
film. In the tradition set forth in the 1970s by such icons as director Martin Scorsese and actors
Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, John Cazale and Joe Pesci, Palminteri has brought grit, muscle and an
evocative realism to the sidewalks of his New York neighborhood, violent as they are and were.
Born in 1952, Palmintieri grew up in a tough area of the Bronx and it gave young Calogero
(Palminteri’s given first name) the life lessons that would later prove very useful to his career.
He started out pursuing his craft in studying at the Actor’s Studio with Lee Strassberg. He
appeared off-Broadway in the early 1980s while paying his dues as a singer in his own band.
Chazz has more than 50 movies to his credit including The Usual Suspects, Bullets Over
Broadway (Academy Award nomination), Analyze This, Hurlyburly, and Mulholland Falls.
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