Tony Danza Reflects On Career, Family As 'Standards & Stories' Shines

RIVERHEAD, NY — Tony Danza, an iconic entertainment legend who's delighted audiences for generations, grew up in Brooklyn, listening to Frank Sinatra records with his mother.

His mother, Danza explains during his new show,"Tony Danza: Standards & Stories," was passionate about Sinatra. "Her love and adoration for the man Frank Sinatra and his music were all-consuming."

Danza said when he was a kid, he'd help his mother clean the house before she'd let him go out to play in the street, and all the while they'd be listening to her Frank Sinatra records.

"Every once in a while, she's say, 'Stop . . Stop, listen to how he sings this. And I would listen — but I would watch her, and the way she reacted, it was wild. To see your mother, when you're a kid, you see your mother react like that to anything, it blows your mind, you know? After I was on TV for awhile I started feeling full of myself, acting like that. She would bring me back to earth with a very simple, 'Hey, bigshot, when you introduce me to Sinatra, then you're a star.'"

The Suffolk in Riverhead presents "Tony Danza: Standards & Stories" on Saturday at 8 p.m. Tickets range from $65 to $95, plus applicable fees. Tickets are available online at SuffolkTheater.com.

"Combining timeless music with wit, charm, storytelling, and a dash of soft shoe and ukulele performances, Danza performs a selection of his favorite standards from the Great American Songbook while interweaving stories about his life and personal connection to the music," a release said.

The long-running hit show, which includes Danza's four-piece band, has entertained audiences around the country with The New York Times stating: “Tony’s a live wire who tap-dances, plays the ukulele, tells stories and radiates irresistible charm… He exudes the kind of charisma that can’t be taught!”

Broadway World added: "Tony Danza is as good a crooner, as good an entertainer, as any of the men in tuxes who have come before him, and that includes that famous guy from Jersey . . . It is a genuine pleasure to listen to Danza sing… The standard of excellence.”

Danza, the release said, has been one of the world's most beloved and iconic entertainers for more than 40 years.

Known for his starring roles on two of television’s most popular and long-running series, "Taxi" and "Who’s The Boss," Danza has also starred in hit films such as "Angels in the Outfield," "She’s Out of Control," "Hollywood Knights", and "Don Jon." Well-established as a song and dance man, Danza has also starred on Broadway in "The Producers," "A View from the Bridge," and most recently received stellar reviews for his performance in the Broadway musical comedy, "Honeymoon In Vegas."

He received an Emmy nomination for his guest spot on "The Practice," and recently made a special guest appearance on "Blue Bloods and Power Book III: Raising Kanan." Danza also has a "Who’s the Boss" sequel in the works, and co-stars in the newly released 20th Century Fox feature film, "Darby and the Dead."

Speaking with Patch Friday, Danza recalled growing up in East New York where his mother was a bookkeeper and his father, a city garbage collector, who used to drop him off at school with the truck. In fact, proud of his father and his Brooklyn roots, when he was doing his talk show, "The Tony Danza Show," he was dropped off for the first performance by a garbage truck.

The memories echo of a Brooklyn boyhood echo, still.

"I tell people that in the 50s and 60s, it was the most incredible place to grow up in the world. You walked out the door in the morning, said good-bye to your mother, you got on your bike and you didn't come home until dinnertime, until it got dark. No one worried about you. People watched you in the neighborhood; it was a real community."

He added: "I think it was because people weren't rich or poor but they weren't desperate. I just played a place called Lakewood, Ohio, a Chautauqua community." The community is based on the tenets of faith and education, and is a place where, today, those deeply rooted values remain strong, he said.

The houses there, Danza said, are similar. There are no cars, only golf carts, and kids play freely in the street. The picture postcard simplicity of the area summoned up feelings of nostalgia for a time gone by.

"I do a joke in my act that the only time you make eye contact in New York, it's really cold out. Here, everyone tried to make eye contact."

As a boy in Brooklyn, where he was asked to leave school at Church of the Blessed Sacramant in the sixth grade, his mother used to worry about him in the neighborhood. So in the summers, she sent him to Patchogue to his Aunt Rose and Uncle Vinny, where she "thought I wouldn't get in trouble," he said.

"Aunt Rose was the disciplinarian, her older sister, the matriarch. Uncle Vinny was the black sheep. He asked me one day when I was 9 if I wanted to learn how to play poker. By the end of the game, I owed him $50,000, and my mother's house," he laughed."I was 9 years old! I thought I'd lost my mother's house!" His voice filled with the rich, vivid memories, he said. "Between Brooklyn and my Uncle Vinny, it was an incredible childhood."

At 15, Danza's mother decided to move to Malverne on Long Island. "It was the first time in our lives we had a serious yard," he said. "The houses didn't touch. I remember one thing that really struck me, something I'll never forget. My brother was 12 and I was 15, and it was dark. We moved out to the sidewalk in front of the house, and it couldn't have been more than 8 o'clock, but it was so quiet — such a contrast from where we had come from, the cacaphony of Brooklyn. We didn't see anybody's light on . . we thought maybe nobody was here. It was culture shock. But it saved my life."

Danza attended Malverne High School where his teacher Charles Messinger inspired him to be an actor. Danza performed in "Kiss Me Kate," "Bye, Bye Birdie," and "South Pacific," as Billis.

Coming back to Long Island feels in so many ways, for Danza, like coming home. Family does, in fact, still live in the area. On Wednesday he visited with his uncle, 95, who lives in Lynbrook, and a friend from Deer Park. "We had Italian food and were just rapping and reminiscing," Danza said.

"What's interesting about Malverne — we moved there in 1965, and it really hasn't changed. It's almost exactly like it was. You can stand in the places you stood when you were a kid." Lost in memories, Danza recalled Lucy's, a luncheonette on Hempstead Avenue.

For Danza, who's traversed the United States with his tour, there's nothing quite like coming home. "It feels great to be here on Long Island," he said.

Despite the glitter of success and glamour of A-list parties and celebrity, deep family values have always kept Danza fully grounded. He lost both of his parents to cancer, his father, at 62, his mother, at 67.

"I was in my last year of 'Taxi' in 1983 and my father got sick," he said. He ended up bringing his father home with him to Los Angeles, where he stayed in his home and Danza cared for him, for the last five months of his life. "I always say I was the lucky one. I got to say everything I had to say," he said softly.

His mother died 10 years later — and Danza came back to Long Island to take care of her, living with her in the house where he'd grown up for six months.

As with so many who have lovingly watched over a beloved family member facing the unthinkable, Danza, when his mother was gone, was wracked with doubt and grief. "I kept wishing I could have done it better. Taken care of her better," he said.

Inspired by his deep emotion, he wrote a movie, "Mama Mia," about those feelings, filming it in his mother's house. Now, he's written a play, based on the film, and he's working to get the play produced and staged.

Reflecting on life today, Danza said he's enjoying "Tony Danza: Standards & Stories," dancing and singing and weaving stories, rich with truth and filled with the details that touch a human chord. He's also enjoyed filming "Blue Bloods and Power Book III: Raising Kanan."

"I don't usually want to play the kind of parts that propogate a sterotype, especially of the Italian persuasion, but this is so much fun," he said.

Taking time to really savor and embrace the good times is a lesson learned through the passing of time, Danza said.

"There are so many times when you really notice when things are crummy — but you don't notice when things are good. There's a line in my show, 'You're only as happy as your least happy child.' Right now, I've got three happy kids. I'm feeling good."

As a father, Danza said, what matters far beyond the accolades and success is the simple joy of knowing your kids are content and safe.

"My daughter just got married October 15," he said. "He's a great guy. I was the father of the bride, and I made a speech. I didn't cry until the end."

As part of his speech, Danza sang a song to his daughter, and singing it softly as he remembered the moment, his voice was filled with emotion. "It was the most beautiful day," he said.

Looking back on his career, Danza said he originally studied to be a teacher. Then, he said, "One of my friends entered me into the Golden Gloves as a joke" — a moment that led to a career as a professional boxer.

While training in a boxing gymnasium in New York, Tony was “discovered” and ultimately cast in the critically acclaimed ABC series "Taxi."

"I got hooked on boxing and decided that's what I was going to do. I was training at Gleason's Gym at 30th and 8th and this guy walks in and wanted to know if I'd ever thought about being on TV," he said.

He followed "Taxi," one of the most successful shows on television, with his starring role in the classic ABC comedy series "Who’s the Boss?"

"During that time, there were only three networks on TV," Danza said. "If you were on TV back then, it was rarified air — you were a big star. It was crazy. It was really, really exhilarating."

His current path became clear after a devastating ski accident in 1993. He hit a tree and almost died, spending 3 1/2 weeks in intensive care.

"I really didn't think I was going to walk again. And then I got out. Somehow, I survived."

The experience was life-altering, Danza said.

"I was convalescing at home and I said to myself, 'What haven't I done that I wanted to do?' Because I was getting another chance."

Danza, who had been tap dancing for 10 years after an episode of "Taxi" where he and Marilu Henner shared a fantasy dream sequence that included tap, knew he wanted to sing and dance.

He and his friend Buzz Cohen wrote a lavish act, complete wth dancers and a band, and eventually, Danza shaped the show to how it's presented now, a band of four — as well as Danza, a tour de force as he weaves tap dance, song, ukelele and of course, his treasure trove of stories into a show that has audiences rapt as he entertains with timeless elegance and grace.

Of music, Danza said: "You can't learn how to do it from a book or from anyone. You have to go and do it and feel what you feel. You have to open your mouth and give yourself permission to do it, because you're scared. That's why in acting class, they make you get up and sing."

And, Danza said, the show has become deeply rewarding, opening the door to a whole new chapter.

"I feel like I'm pretty good at it," he said. "And what's interesting is that freedom on that stage to sing? It sort of dripped down into my acting work, which is really great. It's just a really good time."

Performing the Great American Songbook, Danza seems a natural, illuminating the stage with his rendition of the standards and exuding an innate charm that's endeared him to scores of fans since he first lit up the screen as Tony Banta on "Taxi."

Looking ahead, Danza has dreams still to realize. He'd like to see the play about his mother produced.

"I get introduced as an actor, singer, dancer, author" — he wrote the book "I'd Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had: My Year as a Rookie Teacher at Northeast High" after a year spent teaching English. "I'd love to be a playwright."

To his fans, Danza has a wholehearted message: "Thank you," he said. "I'm just so grateful."

Reflecting on his life, Danza said, "I just feel like I'm in a good spot."

Remembering his mother, Danza said the stories he shares create a bond with the audience. "That's whole idea, trying to make a connection," he said.

Crooning her beloved Sinatra on stage, Danza, when asked what he'd say to his mother, if he could just speak to her one more time, said simply, "I just wish she could see me now. All I can think about when I finish the show every night is, 'I wish she could see it.'"

The burning question remains: Did Danza ever introduce his mother to Sinatra? The answer, he said, a grin in his voice, can be found at the show.