Tony Danza

Standards & Stories

54 Below, NYC, September 29, 2022

Reviewed by Ron Forman

Tony Danza is best known as the star of two iconic television sitcoms: Taxi and Who’s the Boss. So it did not surprise that during this long, 90-minute show he got many laughs with his ability to tell a joke or to make an anecdote from his life very funny. However, in this show at 54 Below he also displayed his talent as a vocalist, tap dancer, and even as a ukulele player. He has a pleasant baritone sound that works well on songs from the Great American Songbook, especially on the humorous ones. At age 71, Danza is an extraordinarily energetic performer who kept moving throughout the show. He raised the rhetorical question, “What’s it like being single at this time of life?” His answer got a big laugh: “It’s nice!” He also took the time to give credit to the composers and lyricists of each song he performed.

He opened with a lively performance of Bobby Darin’s “As Long as I’m Singin’.” After a powerful performance of “That’s All” (Alan Brandt/Bob Haymes) he spoke about songwriter Ervin Drake and followed with his moving performance of Drake’s “It Was a Very Good Year.” He tap-danced during his performance of “How About You?” (Ralph Freed/Burton Lane). He amusingly told the story that when he first came to Hollywood, Sammy Cahn invited him to a party with A-list celebrities; he then sang a medley of three of Cahn’s songs. He delivered a funny parody of Irving Berlin’s “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” that Cahn had written for him for his 40th birthday. He reminisced about starring in the Broadway musical Honeymoon in Vegas and performed two very funny songs from that score (by Jason Robert Brown): “I Love Betsy,” which he did not sing in that show, and “Out of the Sun,” which he did perform in that show.

Danza took out his ukulele sang and sang a medley that included “Nevertheless (I’m in Love with You)” (Bert Kalmar/Harry Ruby) and “Since I Fell for You” (Buddy Johnson). He did a bit of rapping and got a big laugh by saying “You know Vanilla Ice? I’m Italian Ice.” He closed with “If My Friends Could See Me Now” (Cy Coleman/Dorothy Fields). His gave us two encores; the first had him scatting through “Do It the Hard Way” (Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart) and the second had him fading away at the end of “Drinking Again” (Johnny Mercer/Doris Tauber).