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Imagine you’re a boy growing up in the Bronx during the 1960s.
Your father, Lorenzo, is a hard-working bus driver, a solid citizen. Wouldn’t you like to be like him?
But you have a second father figure in your neighborhood, a mob boss who has taken a shine to you. Maybe you’d rather be like the more glamorous and powerful Sonny?
“The themes of the show are based around fathers and sons and the choices the son is given,” said Jeff Brooks, who portrays Sonny in the traveling musical production the Broadway Theater League of Northeastern Pennsylvania is bringing to the Scranton Cultural Center for four shows Oct. 25 through Oct. 27.
“The boy becomes a man in the show, because it spans eight years. We have two actors playing Calogero, a younger version and an older version,” Brooks said during a telephone interview. “It’s a lot of fun, but it’s gonna affect a lot of fathers in the audience who have been in this position. They want to raise their boy the right way but they see he is feeling other influences.”
“He’s torn between the father he loves and the mob boss he’d love to be.”
So, what is Sonny like?
“He’s not an evil person,” Brooks said, explaining in some ways Sonny is a positive influence on young Calogero, or “C,” as he calls him.
“He tells him to go to college and to get an education,” Brooks said. “And to never underestimate people.”
He’s also “teaching him how to be a man and command respect.”
Unfortunately, in Sonny’s world respect is tied to fear.
“The choice between love and fear is a huge theme in our show,” said Brooks, who grew up in New York’s Southern Tier. “Sonny is a killer. You’ll see in the first scene he’s a killer. When you meet Sonny, he has already made his choice. He’s gone down this dark path and there’s no going back. But Calogero, he has the opportunity to do whatever he wants with his life.”
So, will Calogero hang out with a group of gang of young troublemakers in his neighborhood? Will he choose to be more like Lorenzo? More like Sonny?
Oh, and lest you think romance has been neglected in this musical, here’s one more question. Will this young Italian American man named Calogero pursue a relationship with a young African American woman named Jane during the racially tense 1960s?
“The actor and actress playing those roles (Alec Nevin and Kayla Jenerson) do a wonderful job with that fairy tale romance,” Brooks said, adding that “music by the great Alan Menken” adds immeasurably to the production. “If you’re fans of a great love story and beautiful music, you will not be disappointed.”
“The play takes place between 1960 and 1968 and the music is in the styles of the 60s, with wonderful, big band Frank Sinatra-type tunes and this cool doo wop music going on, encompassing different styles of different people.”
Nick Fradiani, who plays Lorenzo, is a 2015 winner of “American Idol.”
Actor/playwright Chazz Palminteri wrote “A Bronx Tale,” based on his own life. (People may call him “Chazz,” but his real name is Calogero.) The music was written by Menken, whose credits also include the music for the Disney movies “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin” and “Pocahontas.” Lyrics are by Glenn Slater, who received Tony nominations for Best Original Score in the Broadway version of “The Little Mermaid” as well as for his work on “Sister Act.”
