Bobby Conte Thornton isn’t actually referring to his own life story with the title of his solo cabaret show.
The 25-year-old’s “Blame It on My Youth” debuted to critical acclaim at the historic Venetian Room in the Fairmont San Francisco before coming home to sell out at Manhattan’s Feinstein’s/54 Below, with a set list that takes him from Nat King Cole to Alan Mencken to Pasek and Paul.
Now, direct from his highly praised Broadway debut as Calogero, the lead role in Chazz Palminteri’s hit musical “A Bronx Tale,” Thornton is now bringing “Blame It On My Youth” to Landmark on Main Street on Friday, Oct. 19 at 8 p.m.
In addition to the full concert with a four piece band, Thornton sits down with Palminteri on stage to talk about their unique collaboration of working together on his life story.
Steve Barnes of the Albany Times-Union says Thornton delivers, “a polished, impassioned set with a musical and emotional maturity beyond his 25 years. He’s still plenty youthful, prone to stomping on the stage or leaping on the piano or kicking out his long, lanky legs like a thoroughbred colt, and he exudes a young person’s idealism. But his musical choices and the interpretive intelligence behind the way he uses his supple, powerful tenor suggest an older, wiser performer.”
A 2015 graduate of the University of Michigan, Thornton starred in “Grease” at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ, and “Les Miserables” at the Muny in St. Louis while pursuing his BFA.
His New York theater credits include “My Fair Lady,” directed by Richard Maltby Jr. Thornton has also starred regionally in Two River Theater’s all-male “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” and the world premiere of Ken Ludwig’s “A Comedy of Tenors.” His television credits include “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “Madam Secretary,” and the upcoming CBS military legal drama “The Code.”
The audience can expect a lively crowd at this show given that Thornton has deep roots in the community around Landmark.
“After college, Bobby came to live with us in Manhasset while he auditioned for Broadway,” says his grandmother Helen “Mimi” Conte. “He got to spend a lot of time with his ‘Pappy’ Anthony, listening to the stories Anthony had heard from his father, a first generation immigrant from Italy, and of course I stuffed him full of homemade raviolis and Italian family values. So when he went to audition for ‘A Bronx Tale,’ he was a natural for the part that Chazz Palminteri had written about his own life growing up in the Bronx.”
Tickets to the performance are available through Landmark’s Box Office, 516-767-6444 and online at www.landmarkonmainstreet.org.
