Tony Danza: Standards & Stories

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Tony Danza

Standards & Stories

Feinstein’s at the Nikko, San Francisco, CA, September 18, 2015

Reviewed by Steve Murray for Cabaret Scenes

Photo: Stephen Sorokoff
Photo: Stephen Sorokoff

America fell in love with Tony Danza through his iconic television characters in Taxi and Who’s the Boss?. Charming and street-smart with a heavy Brooklyn accent, Danza’s persona today is not that far removed.
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Appearing in both dramatic and comic theater on and off Broadway has given him a comfort level with live audiences evidenced by his easy banter and well-thought-out stories.
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Jokes and family anecdotes make us feel like we’re in the presence on an old friend.

Danza’s singing style is reminiscent of Sinatra’s, with some Bobby Darin thrown in for good measure. With high doses of machismo, Danza would’ve fit right in with the Rat Pack of old.
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He swings on standards “That’s All” (Alan Brandt/Bob Haymes) and “How About You?” (Ralph Freed/Burton Lane), and handles the lovely Artie Butler ballad “I Don’t Remember Ever Growing Up” and Sinatra standard “Angel Eyes” well. Danza’s comic side is displayed on two Jason Robert Brown songs from Honeymoon in Vegas: “I Love Betsy” and the very funny “Out of the Sun.” Danza is a complete showman in the tradition of the singer/hoofers of old and that’s what makes for an entertaining evening.

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Steve Murray

Always interested in the arts, Steve was encouraged to begin producing and, in 1998, staged four, one-man vehicles starring San Francisco's most gifted performers. In 1999, he began the Viva Variety series, a live stage show with a threefold mission to highlight, support, and encourage gay and gay-friendly art in all the performance forms, to entertain and document the shows, and to contribute to the community by donating proceeds to local non-profits. The shows utilized the old variety show style popularized by his childhood idol Ed Sullivan. He’s produced over 150 successful shows, including parodies of Bette Davis’s gothic melodramedy Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte and Joan Crawford’s very awful Trog. He joined Cabaret Scenes 2007 and enjoys the writing and relationships he’s built with very talented performers.