A Bronx Tale (Broadway) NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (1,305)
See it if you liked Jersey Boys.
Don't see it if you prefer female leads.
See it if You want an evening of great music and entertainment.
Don't see it if You don’t like musicals!
See it if It is sort of Jersey Boys crossed with West Side Story but in the Bronx. The singing and dancing were really good.
Don't see it if If you do not like musicals.
See it if You want to see a well-acted, captivating, smoothly directed show pulsing with energy and heart.
Don't see it if You're looking for a show that needed to be a musical - I think this would have done just fine as a play.
See it if You enjoyed the movie or enjoy a good musical
Don't see it if you didn't enjoy the film (I enjoyed the film and this play)
See it if You enjoy some drama in your musicals; love songs that move the story forward; like a variety of characters none of whom is perfect
Don't see it if You don't like stories about gangs, the mob, importance of family. A cross b/w Jersey Boys and West Side Story by Robert Deneiro.
See it if if you liked the Good fellas type of movie they had the time period down & the performances were wonderful.
Don't see it if if you don't like violence and there is a little language but if you're not into A Bronx tale the musical then subscribe to Netflix. ;-)
See it if you like an interesting story where you watch the choices you make shape the life you lead. .
Don't see it if you do not like manly musicals with heart.
Critic Reviews (52)
"A terrific cast brings the show alive...It is an extremely vibrant introduction, and the musical proceeds from there, following the source from which the show has been adapted...As with many musicals, working out the plot and the issues involved intrudes upon the show’s most entertaining elements...Despite a few heavy-handed plot moments, the staging, acting and Palminteri’s take on the character assortment make 'A Bronx Tale' delightful in its new incarnation."
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"The book holds solid...Most numbers emerge an amalgam of pop and generic Broadway. I’m afraid the talented Alan Menken has been too long with Disney to put much pith into the score, which sounds homogenized...The tale has a big heart and aspects to recommend, but it could have been so much better...To my mind, directors Robert De Niro and Jerry Zaks both miss opportunities to show character definition and allow the leading man to get away with being bland."
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"A well-crafted traditional musical with an easy-listening score, peppy dance numbers, entertaining performances and an accessible plot with a comfortable can-we-all-get-along message...'A Bronx Tale' isn't the most innovative show I've ever seen but it offers a good time...Slater's lyrics aren't as clever as they're pretending to be but they get the job done. And Trujillo's dances make all the right moves...The show's MVP is Nick Cordero who plays the charismatic mobster Sonny."
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"Chazz Palminteri’s semi-autobiographical theatrical coming-of-age story has been told and retold so many times that it has the ritualized feel of a folk myth—and not in a good way....A by-the-numbers show written by Palminteri with similarities to 'Jersey Boys' and 'West Side Story'—but not in a good way...The cast is fine, but seldom electrifying...The lyrics by Glenn Slater have nursery rhymes you can anticipate before they are sung."
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"This latest incarnation feels derivative and threatens to drown a resonant personal story in musical theatre cliche...Alan Menken's jaunty pastiche-laden score provides some diversion, but this is not, as one of the songs is titled, 'One of the Great Ones.' There's neither much in the way of dramatic or musical lift-off, though choreographer Sergio Trujillo does what he can to propel the songs forward."
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"'A Bronx Tale' isn’t a bad musical. It just doesn’t seem a necessary one...Despite an ultimate wimp-out, the conflict over Calogero’s soul is basic and sturdy, and the musical cruises through it in the first act with speed and focus. In the second act, though, the dramatics get messy and overblown...While there are good things in the musical, it comes across as routine and predictable...If the up-tempo numbers are fun, the syrupy, clichéd ballads are a dreary lot."
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"Arouses the faint suspicion that its creators may be more interested in reliving past glories rather than scaling new triumphs...Witty tune 'Nicky Machiavelli' hints at how the musical form might have given 'A Bronx Tale' an extra dimension. Alas, the rest of the 19 numbers feel dated and serve only to emphasise the story’s mawkish sentimentality. Under De Niro and Jerry Zaks’s co-direction, the transitions between music, exposition and dialogue also tend to be clumsy."
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"Clearly Mr. Palminteri’s biographical play has served him well, and now his good fortune is being spread to a marvelous group of featured actors and a gifted ensemble. It’s a dark tale, at first glance seemingly hardly the stuff on which to base a Broadway musical. But every choice in fashioning it into a very good musical has been the right one…The conflicts are the building blocks that make this a solid story, told without compromise, a first-rate drama."
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