Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...I well know some of my readers would not like "A Bronx Tale" for reasons I fully understand. But it's also a reminder that moral complexities are always better for musicals that predictable binaries. It's an irreverent, Italian-American, father-and-son kind of show that somehow survived all the changes in the musical form. Those changes were for the better. But for many hard-working folks in Chicago, especially anyone who has spent night worrying while a kid is learning god knows what on the streets of a big city, "A Bronx Tale" is a comforting night on the town."
Daily Herald - Somewhat Recommended
"...While not their best work, composer Alan Menken ("Little Shop of Horrors," "Beauty and the Beast") and lyricist Glenn Slater ("School of Rock," "Sister Act") serve up a spot-on sounding 1960s score that perfectly suits the era and setting of "A Bronx Tale." And "A Bronx Tale" as a musical can't be faulted with its staging. Sergio Trujillo provides good energetic bursts of choreography, while the co-direction by Tony Award-winner Jerry Zaks and Robert De Niro (!) is fluid and always focused."
Chicago Reader - Somewhat Recommended
"...Part of the problem is that the score by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater doesn't work too hard to transcend doo-wop nostalgia trappings. The songs in this coming-of-age story are serviceable, but far from memorable, and they tend to provide feel-good cover for the moral quandaries in Palminteri's book, rather than illuminating them. (The first quandary involves a young Calogero covering up for Sonny's cold-blooded murder of a man in front of his house.)"
Stage and Cinema - Recommended
"...Unpretentious and unpreaching in its streetwise survival lore, the gangster fable A Bronx Tale is, as the name implies, just one of many small sagas from the lesser borough. Now on tour, this 2016 musical has a book by Chazz Palminteri, based on his semi-autobiographical solo show and the 1993 film directed by Robert De Niro. Directed by De Niro and Jerry Zaks, Palminteri spins a minor morality tale about a poor boy who latches onto the wrong role model. In this case, father does know best."
Let's Play at ChicagoNow - Recommended
"...The musical has a strong- rounded cast that tells the story of respect, love, family, and loyalty during a time when respect in the neighborhood meant everything and how sitting on a stoop could change the trajectory of one's life."
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...This is a show that is filled with Doo-Wop music that will have you tapping your toes and learning a lot about loyalty and meeting the “Great One”. Sonny uses this term to explain to “C” how to know if the girl you meet is a keeper. This little bit about helping her into the car on that first date is adorable. The ensemble for this show is one that has high energy and while you might not fall in love with the music, it does help propel us through the story. I do recall seeing Palminteri doing the show, I think back in 2007 or 2008 and I have seen the film, several times. I love the story and the one man show. The musical version is enjoyable and two hours of solid entertainment ( with some lessons to be learned)."
WTTW - Recommended
"...In many ways this musical feels more like a show ideally tuned to a young adult audience with a story that can inspire some basic discussion about parents and children, the lure of “gangs” as surrogate families, and the barriers facing those in cross-racial relationships. And while it’s a bit simplistic, it’s full of heart."
Chicago Theatre Review - Recommended
"...This is a musical that feels familiar and probably won’t change the world. Chazz Palminteri’s story, while interesting, resembles the plot of many well-known films, like “Goodfellas” and “Wise Guys.” The show also seems to cobble together certain elements from other well-known musicals. The show is entertaining, particularly due to Sergio Trujillo’s exciting choreography. It offers some pleasant songs by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater. However, while strangely lacking very much heart, the musical tells a good story and manages to illustrate how the choices we make early in our lives affects everything that happens afterwards."
Chicagoland Theater Reviews - Recommended
"...The opening night audience was heavy on young people who responded enthusiastically to Palminteri’s world as filtered through the memory of its young hero. Like most nostalgia, sentimentality sometimes oozes into the realism of the moment, but what’s a musical without a little sentimentality to charm the viewer? And the generational conflict between father and son especially might strike recognizable personal chords among many youthful viewers. I liked this show but I liked Palminteri’s one-man version more, maybe because I saw it first."
The Fourth Walsh - Recommended
"...I enjoyed the story and the evolution of A BRONX TALE. Although I didn’t feel the music was all that memorable, I loved “The Choices We Make” as the final song. It not only nicely tied up the story, it left me feeling hopeful and empowered."
Third Coast Review - Recommended
"...There are some wondrous moments when A Bronx Tale feels almost operatic in its choreography of brutality and mafia toughness–of course there are easy, obvious allusions to West Side Story–but the tenderness also reminded me of the loving depictions of desperate city living in the beautiful, tragic poetry of early Springsteen ballads like “Incident on 57th Street” and “Jungleland.” It’s strange territory for a musical, but it really works by the end, filling up the stage with a sense of place and character as vibrant as Lin Manuel-Miranda’s In the Heights. This a big, bold Broadway tour, full of crowd-pleasing humor and cool, 1960s gangster drama."
Chicago Theater and Arts - Highly Recommended
"...It was clear that this production has a clear vision directed by veteran stage and film actor/director Robert De Niro with Jerry Zaks. It features an evocative scenic design by Beowulf Boritt augmented by Howell Binkley’s lighting design."
Chicago On Stage - Highly Recommended
"...A Bronx Tale is violent, yes. But it is also a musical with a heart. It never hits any wrong notes for the world it is set in, but it wants to show us that such worlds can indeed be escaped if you really want to. Maybe it takes a special kind of person to do so, but Lorenzo makes it clear from the start that his son is that kind of person. After that, it’s all about the choices we make."
