A BRONX TALE Previews — Page 4

I saw this tonight via rush. I got there at about 4:00pm, and they were doing their curtain call - the music flowing out into the lobby - I was excited. I got front row, on the aisle. Was super stocked.

WOW. What a bland, boring mess. There's basically no plot, and then there is a plot, and then there's not. It's awful. The songs mention "following your heart" or "heart" about a thousand times. It's all just so basic and banal. No song is memorable, no song is good. All the lyrics are awful.

The design is really uninspired as well. I mean, is the spattered red on the walls suppose to be reminiscent of blood? And never once did I feel like I was in the Bronx. Why was the backdrop so dark? It never felt like a real place. It felt like some make believe Guys & Dolls world where some creepy guy with a big fake mustache shoots someone.

The actors are all fine with Nick & Bobby being the best. Ariana felt weird to me. Her vocals weren't as great as I wanted them, and it all felt very forced and fake. Bobby Conte Thompson was rather winning, but I think I need to see him in something else to determine. There was something off that I couldn't quite figure out. But Nick really nailed it. His vocals were great - and I thought his big song was quite fun and memorable, even if the tone felt off for such a big, scary gangster guy.

True. There are also a lot of gun shots which made me so uncomfortable being so close to the stage. I just didn't understand the tone of the show. There'd be realistic gunshots and then they'd be singing some doo wop song about following your heart. It was weird. And sad to think this will run longer & make money whereas great shows like GHD and Great Comet can't seem to make it. Ugh. The world we live in.