Broadway History Lesson: How A BRONX TALE Co- Director Robert De Niro Took A Hollywood Pay Cut to Make His Broadway Debut

Each night at the Longacre Theatre, enthusiastic audiences are teleported to the mean streets of New York City in the 1960's. Telling the story of Calogero, an Italian kid coming of age in the Bronx during a turbulent time in American history, the moving story of "A Bronx Tale" takes us through one young man's struggles to find a place somewhere between his hardworking father, Lorenzo, the son of immigrants and the glamorous pull of the mafia life and local gangster, Sonny.

With the influx of Hollywood stars to Broadway stages as of late, it seems odd that the name Robert De Niro has only just cropped up in our community, and in a directing capacity, no less. But for those wondering how or why Mr. De Niro has avoided the bright lights of Broadway for so long, the answer is: he hasn't.

A full three decades before the premiere of A Bronx Tale, a story that tells the tale of a father attempting to steer his son away from a life of crime, the legendary actor made his Main Stem debut in another, lesser known piece that explored this dynamic from a rather opposite point of view, at the very same theatre.

The year was 1986, and taking a break from the film roles that had earned him an Academy Award for Best Leading Actor as well as three additional nominations in the category, De NIro accepted his first stage role after a 16-year hiatus, portraying one of the title characters in Reinaldo Povod's, "Cuba and His Teddy Bear."

Starring alongside 80's icon, Ralph Macchio, and Burt Young, best known as Sylvester Stallone's gravelly-voiced boxing trainer in the "Rocky" films, the play was a harrowing comedy about a man named, Cuba, a small time drug dealer whose sense of skewEd Morality is challenged by the rebellious teenage son who both loves and fears him.

The son of a Puerto Rican mother and a Cuban father of Russian descent, playwright Povod had come of age in the East Village, a setting which began his fascination with "the exhilaration and madness of the street life. During the '60s it was a number one drug neighborhood. I saw a lot of shit go down. But what I remember best is my apartment, nighttime, a cool breeze and the hum of solitude you get from the streets. I'd never trade it for anything", he told People magazine in 1986.

Based off of his own experiences growing up within the confines of the Hispanic underclass, the character Cuba was written with De Niro in mind, as the playwright grew up watching his work in Taxi Driver. ""He's more concerned about you than he is about himself," the playwright told People, "He's changed my attitude toward people. If he says he's going to call you at 3, he calls you at 3. I respect him very much for that."

The show, developed at The Public Theater under the guidance of Artistic Director, Joseph Papp, was an instant hit for the storied institution. On the strength of De Niro's star power, the initial seven-week run sold out in a mere three hours, an incredible time- frame by pre-Internet standards. In fact, the play was in such high demand, that Actors' Equity permitted the New York Shakespeare Festival to broadcast select performances to another festival venue via closed-circuit television.

Of his off-Broadway performances, the Associated Press wrote that the actor's "riveting stage presence" was well worth the hype heaped on the show by eager audiences. Michael Kuchwara wrote in his May 1986 review of the show, "DeNiro dominates the drama whenever he's on stage."

With the tremendous success of the show's downtown run, Papp almost immediately made the decision to make the leap uptown. Having booked Broadway's Longacre Theater for a limited engagement, the three leading actors forewent Hollywood salaries, instead accepting the Broadway's minimum wage at the time ($700 a week) so that the production could make the transfer.

The Broadway engagement of "Cuba and His Teddy Bear" opened on July 16th, 1986 and though De Niro himself received much praise for his work (though the choice to cast him as a Hispanic character was debated by some), overall, critics were mostly lukewarm on the material. Despite the somewhat middling reviews, however, the star power of the cast, or more specifically De Niro, kept the house full. The production played to packed houses nightly for its short eight-week run.

It seems unthinkable that an actor of De Niro's caliber would pass through the West 40's without even a hint of a Tony nomination, but come the following June, that was very much the case. Despite tremendous popularity and intense buzz, the play was ultimately overlooked in all eligible categories.

It has been thirty years since this artist, widely considered to be one of the most formidable talents of his generation, has appeared on Broadway. And though his contributions to his current project are of the behind-the-scenes variety, it is widely understood that De Niro is bringing all of the dramatic expertise and the exacting eye that has kept audiences rapt to his work for decades, to this production. Fans still clamoring for the opportunity to catch the man himself in action may have to wait awhile, but for the time being they can catch the hallmarks of his streetwise soul and ear for family dynamics onstage at the Longacre Theatre eight times a week.

And hopefully it won't be another thirty years before he decides to visit again.