The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Italian roots, NYC story, Conn. artists
Fradiani leads new tour of ‘Bronx Tale’ opening in Waterbury
Two Connecticutraised talents will be on display at the Palace Theater in Waterbury when the new national touring version of “A Bronx Tale” steps out into the spotlight for its first official performance Tuesday, Oct. 22 — Guilford product Nick Fradiani (the “American Idol” winner) as the dad Lorenzo and young dancer Lauren Celentano, who hails from Cheshire.
“I came in there as green to this as you possibly can,” said Fradiani via phone recently during a oneday break from rehearsals. “So I was really nervous. But it is a collaborative effort between everybody, the people doing the staging and
setting up all the props, the wardrobe . ... There’s a lot involved.”
That includes memorizing location numbers on the stage, getting back stage efficiently, helping someone take their jacket off, “all stuff these people have been doing their whole lives (that) I’m kinda picking up on the fly.”
Fradiani said he was pleasantly surprised in that regard.
“It started out a lot better than I
“I do get him. He reminds me a little bit of my father, which helps.” Nick Fradiani on playing the Robert DeNiro role of the dad, Lorenzo, in ‘A Bronx Tale’
expected,” he said. “We’ve already gotten through Act One totally, and actually Chazz (Palminteri, the writer/ actor) surprised us ... and showed up at the studio, and we ended up doing the whole first act for him . ... He knows the show inside and out, so he got everybody kind of moving quick. And the talent level on the cast is really high, the dancers and singers, so it’s really impressive.
“But I feel really comfortable, actually. I’m having a good time with it.”
The production is holding technical rehearsals in Elmira, N.Y., before the official start in Waterbury Tuesday through Thursday, and then heading out for 22 weeks and three dozen cities. Jeff Brooks plays Sonny and Alec Nevin is Calogero.
Fradiani will end up playing some of the same theaters where he has sung in his band, including the Palace. In the meantime, he’s playing the Robert DeNiro character from the movie. Is he living this character? Fradiani chuckles.
“I do get him. He reminds me a little bit of my father (Nick Sr., also a musician), which helps,” said Fradiani of the role, which spans several years of young Calogero’s life. “But a lot of the stuff in the beginning, when I’m acting with my younger son, really reminded me a lot of me and my father.”
Fradiani sings the Alan Menken songs “Look to Your Heart” in the stage musical during Act One and “Give Back the Money” (when Lorenzo finds his son has made money helping Sonny in a craps game), but the big tune he loves is at the end of Act One, called “These Streets.”
“To be totally honest ... singing and playing music is my first love, but I’ve been enjoying the acting part more than singing right now because it’s just new and challenging,” he said, noting he also sings during the show’s finale.
Celentano, 20, is the daughter of Michael and Felicity Celentano of Cheshire (and granddaughter of Lucille Celentano, a former New Haven Register employee). Lauren attended Sacred Heart Academy and Sacred Heart University (for a little over a year) before a dance class on a school trip in Italy in 2017 led her to a role a year later on Italian TV show “Amici” (a mix of “So You Think You Can Dance” and “Big Brother,” according to one description).
The show ran for eight months and Celentano won the dance portion of the show, earning her some celebrity status in that country. She put college on hold as she pursued dance in New York auditions and scored a role as assistant dance captain in the new tour.
“I started dancing when I was 4,” said Celentano via phone from New York, “and dance has always been the biggest thing in my life, like my biggest passion. My world revolves around it. ... I spent more time in the dance studio than at home, honestly, growing up.”
She headed to college to study elementary education and did dance on the side at SHU, until “after seeing what I accomplished in Italy, I don’t know, it kind of hit me that maybe I can do this. And my parents saw it (and) ... were so supportive.”
Celentano said she appears in a few big musical numbers in the show and appears with another ItalianAmerican character walking through a scene or two.
“But what I thought was cool, which I didn’t know, was that throughout the entire show, we’re singing from backstage,” said Celentano. “Even if we’re onstage, we still have our mics and we’re singing all the songs and the harmonies and creating that big, full sound that you need in a musical.”
The dance captain in a show keep track of everyone’s responsibilities choreographywise, she said, “which means anything from the actual moves and steps they have to do to their positioning on stage . ... The dance captain jots that down and makes sure everyone is where they should be. I’m assisting him (the dance captain).”
Celentano, who played Mary Magdalene in college in her last musical theater role, was 15 when Fradiani won “American Idol,” so now it’s a kick “to share this experience with him. It’s really cool to have a fellow Connecticut native and to kind of represent Connecticut together. And it’s more exciting that our opening night is in Connecticut.”
Aside from the preteens playing Calogero, Celentano is the youngest member of the cast and was nervous coming in. But she, too, feels comfort in the “lovely group of artists” gathered for this tour.
“I just feel really blessed to be able to be surrounded by these people who are older than me; they’ve dedicated their lives to this and I have a lot to learn from them . ... And what better show to be involved in — ‘A Bronx Tale’ — it’s all about Italian culture.”