Pauline Adamek
One night only! Actor, writer and all-round screen tough guy Chazz Palminteri is set to deliver a tour-de-force rendition of his one-man show, A Bronx Tale, bringing 18 characters to vivid life as he relates the engaging tale of a rough childhood on the streets of NYC.
This classic coming-of-age story will be performed in the gorgeous Renée & Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall on Saturday, April 2, 2022, at 8:00pm.
Single tickets for A Bronx Tale One Man Show starring Chazz Palminteri at Segerstrom Center for the Arts start at $39.00 and are now available online at SCFTA.org, at the Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling (714) 556-2787. For inquiries about group ticket discounts for 10 or more, call the Group Services office at (714) 755-0236.
Audience Advisory: All ticket holders must wear a mask AND provide proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 or a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within 48 hours of performance or a negative Antigen test taken within 6 hours of performance. Ticket holders over the age of 18 must also bring photo ID.
With over fifty film credits, including The Usual Suspects, Bullets Over Broadway, Analyze This, Chazz Palminteri wrote and first performed his original and autobiographical solo play in 1988, inspired by a killing he witnessed in his neighborhood when he was nine years old. Subsequently, the piece was transformed into an acclaimed feature film co-starring and directed by Robert De Niro for his directorial film debut in 1993. The material later became a hit Broadway musical.
His powerful one-man show depicts his bruising youthful experiences in vivid detail – including witnessing gangland slayings – and was first produced in both Los Angeles and New York. An unknown at the time, Palminteri had stubbornly refused to sell the film rights to A Bronx Tale (offers went into the seven figures) unless he was part of the package as both actor and screenwriter.
The script finally sparked the interest of Palminteri’s idol Robert De Niro, who was looking to make his directorial film debut. De Niro saw the potential of A Bronx Tale, and became Palminteri’s mentor. The film version of A Bronx Tale earned strong reviews, with Palminteri as its screenwriter and actor, playing the role of Sonny the gangster, and also featuring his actress/producer/wife Gianna Palminteri.
Segerstrom Center for the Arts is presenting
A Bronx Tale
a One Man Show with Chazz Palminteri
Saturday, April 2, 2022, at 8:00pm
Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall
Tickets start at $39.00
Bookings in person and Phone-
The Box Office
600 Town Center Drive
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 556-2787
Monday 10am – 2pm
Tuesday through Friday Noon- 5pm
Closed Saturday’s and Sundays
Online – SCFTA.org
Group Sales – (714) 755-023
IMPORTANT Audience Advisory:
Our updated COVID-19 policy requires ticket holders to provide proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 to attend all indoor performances and events at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. “Fully vaccinated” means your performance is at least 14 days after your final vaccine dose. To enter the theatre, please bring a photo ID (for guests over 18 years old) and proof of vaccination, either your physical vaccination card, a picture of your vaccination card, or a digital vaccination record. Most California residents may request a digital vaccination record at myvaccinerecord.cdph.ca.gov
Any ticket holders (including those under age 12) without proof of being fully vaccinated can present a negative COVID-19 test (PCR taken within 48 hours or antigen taken within 6 hours) of the performance. Along with their ticket, attendees will need to bring either documentation of a negative COVID-19 test result, emailed result, or picture of results showing a negative diagnosis as well as the date and their name. At-home tests will not be accepted.
Masks are required at all times for all patrons and visitors regardless of vaccination status in all indoor spaces at Segerstrom Center.
Performance ticket holders who do not comply with these policies will not be admitted.
About the artist:
Bronx-born and raised Chazz Palminteri was the natural choice to receive the passing of 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. Chazz was born Calogero Lorenzo Palminteri in 1952 in the Bronx, New York, the son of Rose, a homemaker, and Lorenzo Palminteri, a bus driver.
He grew up in a tough area of the Bronx, giving him life lessons that would later prove very useful to his career. He graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School and started out pursuing his craft in 1973, studying at the Actor’s Studio. He appeared off-Broadway in the early 1980s ,while paying his dues as a bouncer and doorman in nightclubs, among other jobs.
In 1986 he headed west and found that his ethnic qualifications was well-suited for getting tough-talker parts. Slick attorneys, unflinching hoods and hard-nosed cops were all part of his ethnic streetwise persona in such TV shows as “Wiseguy” (1987), “Matlock” (1986), and “Hill Street Blues” (1981). In films, he started off playing a 1930s-style gangster in Sylvester Stallone’s “Oscar” (1991). Although his roles were sharp, well-acted and with a distinct edge to them, there was nothing in them to show that he was capable of stronger leading parts.
At age 41, Palminteri became an “overnight” star. Other important projects quickly fell his way. He received a well-deserved Oscar nomination the following year for his portrayal of a Runyonesque hit man in Woody Allen’s hilarious jazz-era comedy “Bullets Over Broadway” (1994). He was on the right side of the law in both “The Perez Family” (1995), his first romantic lead, and then the classic crimer “The Usual Suspects” (1995). He played the ill-fated brute in “Diabolique” (1996) and wrote a second screenplay, “Faithful” (1996), in which he again plays a hit man, terrorizing both Cher and Ryan O’Neal.
Though Palminteri was invariably drawn into a rather tight-fitting, often violent typecasting, it has been a secure and flashy one that continues to run strong into the millennium. True to form his trademark flesh-lipped snarl was spotted in gritty urban settings playing a “Hell’s Kitchen” cop in “One Eyed King” (2001) starring actor/producer Armand Assante; a pool hustler and mentor in “Poolhall Junkies” (2002); a mob boss in “In the Fix” (2005); a dirty cop in “Running Scared“ (2006); the titular scam artist as “Yonkers Joe” (2008); a karaoke-loving Italian psychiatrist in “Once More with Feeling” (2009); and an abusive husband and father in “Mighty Fine” (2012).
Other later films include starring presences in “Body Armour“( 2007), “The Dukes” (2007), the title conman as “Yonkers Joe” (2008), and “Once More with Feeling” (2009), as well as prime supports in “A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints” (2006), “Push” (2006), “Jolene” (2008), “Once Upon a Time in Queens” (2013), “Legend” (2015), “Vault” (2019), and “Clover” (2020). TV crime continues to occupy his time as well, clocking in such series credits as “Kojak” (2005), “Rizzoli & Isles” (2010) and “Godfather of Harlem” (2019). Occasionally he will lighten up — as in his recurring role as Shorty on the popular sitcom, “Modern Family” (2009).
Segerstrom Center for the Arts is an innovative, nonprofit arts organization committed to supporting artistic excellence, creating impactful educational programs, and dedicated to engaging a culturally connected, inclusive and vital Orange County community for all, through the power of live performance.
As the leading cultural arts hub, the Center presents a variety of programming with performances by international dance companies, Broadway national tours, jazz and cabaret musicians, chamber orchestras and ensembles, comedy, and speaker series. Through the Education and Community Engagement departments, the Center also delivers family-friendly programming and performances on the Julianne and George Argyros Plaza; these events include outdoor movie screenings, concerts, dance classes, diverse festivals and more.
With six venues on a beautiful multi-disciplinary campus, Segerstrom Center for the Arts proudly serves as the artistic home to three of the region’s major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, Philharmonic Society of Orange County and Pacific Chorale as well as two independently acclaimed organizations: Tony Award®-winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the future home of the Orange County Museum of Art. Segerstrom Center is also home to the American Ballet Theatre William J. Gillespie School and Studio D, Arts School for All Abilities.
Segerstrom Center for the Arts applauds its corporate partners including Kaiser Permanente, Official Health Care Partner and United Airlines, Official Airline.
Brian Sonia-Wallace
