Tony Danza channels Sinatra
He’ll even perform a Gene Kelly-style dance in Honeymoon in Vegas
He’s still the boss.
When Tony Danza stepped onto the stage of the Ed Mirvish Theatre this week as part of the Mirvish 2012-2013 subscription launch, the applause he got was the most substantial of an event that had already generated positive response.
He was being introduced as one of the stars of the new musical version of Honeymoon In Vegas, based on the 1992 film comedy, which is having its world premiere in Toronto in December. It’s being directed by Gary Griffin, written by Andrew Bergman, with songs by Jason Robert Brown.
Dapper as ever, the 60-year-old Danza (best known for his five seasons on Taxi and eight seasons on Who’s the Boss?) knocked it out of the park with a darkly humourous song from the show, called “Out of the Sun,” in which he laments the fact that his late wife’s passion for suntanning led to her untimely death.
The song soared, the lyrics landed and Danza got even bigger applause when he was finished than when he entered: something that doesn’t always happen when TV stars of a certain age venture into musicals.
His rendition owed more than a little bit to Francis Albert Sinatra. When I mentioned that to him afterwards, he positively beamed.
“Hey, I’m Italian, so of course I was thinking of Sinatra. But also Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, all those guys from that period. Don’t forget I was around when they were in their prime.” And he was. Much trimmer now than he was in his youth, Danza went to college on a wrestling scholarship and competed as a boxer for a while before being discovered by a talent agent who sent him off to Hollywood.
“Sure I had a great time doing those TV shows and I wouldn’t give up that time for anything, but what I really want to do right now is theatre, more than anything, honest.”
Danza has been on Broadway before, in a 1998 revival of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge, in Kevin Spacey’s 1999 marathon of Eugene O’neill’s The Iceman Cometh and he appeared as Max Bialystock on Broadway in Mel Brooks’ The Producers in 2006-07, re-
“Sure I had a great time doing those TV shows and I wouldn’t give up that time for anything, but what I really want to do right now is theatre, more than anything, honest.” TONY DANZA ON HIS HITS TAXI AND WHO’S THE BOSS
peating it in Las Vegas in 2007-08.
“I loved that too,” he beams, “but I’ve never created a part in a show before, which is why this so special for me.”
The role he’s playing in Bergman’s adaptation of own his film is that of Tommy Korman, played in the movie by James Caan.
“Jimmy is a good friend of mine and one of my heroes, in fact, so I asked for his blessing before I took this on and he gave it to me.” Danza is snapping his fingers with energy he didn’t dissipate onstage. “I am so ready for this! I’ve got five songs; I’ve got a Gene Kelly-style dance number. Me! Doesn’t that kill ya? “I love this show. It understands that Vegas isn’t just a place. It’s an idea. And it’s an idea nobody ever gets tired of.”
He starts to sing another musical number for the show, this one a cappella. “If you’re a betting man, we’ve got a game for you . . .” Danza grinningly repeats the show’s tagline. “What happens in Vegas . . . comes to Toronto!”