THEATER TALK to Encore Chazz Palminteri's A BRONX TALE Interview This Friday

A Bronx Tale is a phenomenon - a one-man show Off-Broadway in 1989 starring its writer, Chazz Palminteri; a successful movie starring Robert DeNiro with Palminteri in 1993; a Broadway revival by Palminteri in 2008; and today a full-fledged musical with book by Palminteri, songs by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater, and co-directed by DeNiro and Jerry Zaks.

This week, THEATER TALK reprises its entertaining 2008 interview with Palminteri, who shares with co-hosts Michael Riedel of the New York Post and Susan Haskins the back story of how A Bronx Tale came to be.

Palminteri's path was very much shaped by his father, a bus driver in the Bronx who carefully steered his son away from a life with "wise guys" in the Italian American neighborhood where Paminteri was raised. Nevertheless he witnessed a murder and was spotted by the gangster who did it. It was the beginning of an enduring tale of a gangster who would be a seminal figure in the boy's early life.

Palminteri also tells stories of his career in New York and Los Angeles, his brief time as a nightclub doorman, and how he came to write the story that has captivated audiences in different forms for almost 30 years.

The Chazz Palminteri episode of THEATER TALK premieres Friday, March 3 (2017) on PBS station Thirteen/WNET at 1:30 AM (Saturday morning) and repeats there on Sunday 3/5 at 11:30 AM; it re-airs on CUNY TV* Saturday 3/4 at 8:30 PM, Sunday 3/5 at 12:30 PM, and Monday 3/6 at 7:30 AM, 1:30 PM, and 7:30 PM; and also airs on WLIW/21 on Monday 3/6 at 5:30 PM and on NYCLife/25 on Thursday 3/9 at 11 PM.

THEATER TALK is jointly produced by the not-for-profits Theater Talk Productions and CUNY TV. The program is taped in the Himan Brown TV and Radio Studios at The City University of New York (CUNY) TV in Manhattan, and is distributed to 100+ participating public television stations nationwide. THEATER TALK is made possible in part by The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The CUNY TV Foundation, and The Friends of THEATER TALK.

*CUNY TV, the City University of New York television station, is broadcast in the NYC metropolitan area on digital Ch. 25.3 and cablecast in the city's five boroughs on Ch. 75 (Time Warner & Optimum Brooklyn), Ch. 77 (RCN), and Ch. 30 (Verizon FiOS). THEATER TALK episodes are available online anytime at www.cuny.tv and www.theatertalk.org and via iTunes.

Pictured: Actor/writer Chazz Palminteri on THEATER TALK in 2008 (Image courtesy Theater Talk Prod./CUNY TV)