Posts Tagged ‘Sopranos’

FOR a guy who claims he was “sort of whacked” in the pilot episode of “The Sopranos,” Marc Baron has had quite an afterlife.

“I’ve done more than a thousand of these,” Mr. Baron said during a recent bus tour of the show’s New Jersey sites, in a rare moment when he wasn’t, as a thoroughly enjoyable guide, dispensing nuggets of insider information or passing out quirky prizes for correctly answering trivia questions.

As with all things Sopranos, survival is the ultimate objective, be it the franchise or Tony himself. And so, not long after the bus emerged from the western exit of the Lincoln Tunnel on a recent Friday morning to begin a most unscenic tour, Mr. Baron addressed the question of whether there would ever be confirmation of Tony’s existence beyond the booth at Holsten’s Confectionery in Bloomfield, N.J.

Along with, of course, the impetus to keep the Sopranos tour bus and commercial machine rolling deep into the next decade.

“Listen to me carefully — there will not be a movie,” said Mr. Baron, 53, an actor in New York who cites 13 “Sopranos” stand-in credits, as well as a cameo as a bartender at the original Vesuvio restaurant, which was burned down by Tony in the show’s HBO debut (with Mr. Baron’s character inside, he postulates).

After a pause Mr. Baron’s audience, mainly tourists and fans from abroad, had caught on.

“We are hearing there will be a trilogy,” Mr. Baron said, offering various clues involving the show’s creator, David Chase. A caveat: Nothing will happen without a script that is acceptable to James Gandolfini, who, of course, played Tony.

How reliable is his information? Mr. Baron confided to a reporter that it came from the owner of a certain North Jersey establishment that the tour would later be visiting, the site of many “Sopranos” scenes unsuitable for children and network television.

The Sopranos tours, which are operated by On Location Tours (screentours.com; tickets, 212-209-3370) and cost $40, run Fridays and Saturdays from Midtown Manhattan and last about four hours. According to Cathy Wilke, the company’s director of marketing, the tours began in 2001, and while the last original episode was broadcast in June 2007, the buses are usually full. “We get a lot of people from the U.K. and Ireland,” Ms. Wilke said.

Two of those people, Sean McGuire, 24, and Aine Bannon, 21, had arrived from Belfast the previous day, had dinner, went to sleep and by morning were bound for New Jersey. Ground zero, the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building would have to wait until they had enjoyed breathtaking views of the Pizzaland shack, a diner under the Pulaski Skyway where Christopher Moltisanti took one for the team and the auto-body shop run by Sal Bonpensiero, known, of course, as Big Pussy.

“This is the first part of America we’re seeing,” said Mr. McGuire, who said “The Sopranos” was broadcast on free television in Northern Ireland. “It’s just like the show.”

Not exactly what the Puritans — or, for that matter, the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce — had in mind. But, while strolling in a light rain on Kearny Avenue in the town of the same name, Mr. Baron reminded everyone that many “Sopranos” settings were inauthentic. He pointed to the Irish-American Association, which in the show conveniently became the Italian-American Association.

Ethnicity notwithstanding, the street had a legitimate wiseguy feel, embellished by poker-faced, cigarette-smoking young men outside Big Stash’s Sub House.

“No kidding,” Mr. Baron said, “one time we had a body brought out of that green house across the street while we were here. I told that group, ‘We spare no expense.’ ”

Winding through Newark and Belleville and on into Bloomfield, the bus settled in front of Holsten’s on Broad Street. Since the final episode ended there with Tony, Carmela and A. J. waiting for Meadow, the Holsten’s staff has greeted fans with bags of the onion rings Tony endorsed and the Journey song “Don’t Stop Believing,” which provided the series-ending soundtrack.

Chris Carley, a co-owner of Holsten’s, said he won’t stop serving as long as the tourists keep coming (and buying assorted merchandise).

“In my perfect world,” Mr. Carley said, “there will be a movie, and it will begin with Meadow coming in and sitting down with her family.”

Mr. Carley and his partner, Ron Stark, had a don’t-blink-you’ll-miss-it appearance behind the counter in the finale, but he too thought his television was broken when the screen went dark as the episode concluded. “To this day people come in here and ask us, what the heck happened?” he said.

He has no answer except to point the twice-weekly busloads toward a booth now “reserved for the Sopranos” and occasionally occupied by Donald Metzger, a Tony Soprano impersonator, cigar and business card in hand.

Everyone in the “Sopranos” afterworld, it seems, is working an angle. Mr. Metzger, who strikes a pretty fair resemblance to Mr. Gandolfini, is available for weddings, fund-raisers and, according to his card, any occasion where he “can help keep people in line.”

He’s got Tony’s look of askance down too. When pursued by Mr. Metzger outside, a reporter thought twice of reneging on his promise of an interview. So sorry, Mr. Metzger was told, but the bus was leaving for the next and final stop: the Satin Dolls club on Route 17 in Lodi, otherwise known to the Sopranos-viewing world as the Bada Bing.

Inside the darkened club, another line formed for merchandise, though the scantily clad young women onstage did not go unnoticed.

“It’s business,” said one of the dancers, who gave her name as Anna. “I don’t mind at all them coming in, although they’re not around long enough to tip.” She admitted that she had never watched “The Sopranos.”

“Too violent,” she said. “But I guess that’s why most people loved it and why these people still come.”

Noting that those on the bus had come from as far away as Romania, Norway and Australia, Mr. Baron emphasized the potential for a movie. “There’s demand all over the world,” he said. “And they know how well ‘Sex and the City’ did.”

His source, the Satin Dolls owner, wasn’t around to shed more light on the subject, but the club’s manager said, “Everyone is keeping their fingers crossed.”

Asked for his name, he would identify himself only as “Jason Jr.” Not to be confused with Anthony Jr., Bobby Jr. or Uncle Junior. But par for the tour.

“Sopranos” fans who are hoping to see their favorite gangsters come to the big screen can, well, fuhgeddaboudit.

“I don’t think there will be one,” Michael Imperioli confessed at Tuesday’s screening of his directorial debut, “The Hungry Ghosts,” in NYC.

Added his former “Sopranos” co-star Lorraine Bracco: “There is no movie. It’s never going to happen, as far as I know.”

NEW YORK, Aug. 31 (UPI) — A New York actor whose credits include “The Sopranos” and “Analyze That” is suing the state lottery over a misprinted scratch-off ticket.

Vinny Vella, 62, who played Jimmy Petrille on HBO’s “The Sopranos,” said in his lawsuit against the New York State Lottery that his $500 Million Extravaganza lottery ticket, which cost $20, displayed two sevens, which earns a $5 million payout, the New York Post reported Monday.

However, Vella said the state lottery office told him the ticket he purchased in June was supposed to display a seven and a 17, but the “1″ was washed out due to a printing error. One of the sevens on the scratch-off displays the abbreviation “SVTN” under it.

Vella is being represented by lawyer Frank Blangiardo, who is also representing a Deer Park, N.Y., widow whose $500 Million Extravaganza ticket displayed a pair of sixes. The woman, Jeanne Consola, said lottery officials

told her the ticket she purchased was misprinted and was supposed to display a six and a 26.

Sopranos” producer David Chase remains coy about the possibility of a big-screen followup to the hit HBO show,but loose-lipped cast members are suggesting a script is already on the page.

It’s been speculated that a major holdup to the big-screen version is a strong reluctance on the part of James Gandolfini to sign on to the project.

But, according to a chatty Lorraine Bracco, that rumor is way off the mark.

“I don’t think it’s that at all,” says Bracco about Gandolfini’s supposed cold feet. “I think it’s really trying to get the right script. Without the right script, it’s really not worth doing.”

Bracco isn’t shy about making her concerns heard. “We’ve all talked to David to give him a kick in the booty to get it right,” she says pointedly.

While HBO mouthpieces yesterday shot down any talk about the existence of a script, claiming it is “just rumor,” Steve Van Zandt recently added to the buzz.

The “Sopranos” alum and Bruce Springsteen bandmate let slip to a Belfast newspaper that his character, Sil – who was struggling for his life in the show’s abrupt ending – “is still alive.”

Go figure.

And Bracco doesn’t sound like she’s planning to stop at just one movie.

“I want us to be like ‘Sex and the City‘ or ‘The Bourne Identity,’” she gushed. “I want to make a million of them.”

The SOPRANOS actress will be taking on a recurring role in the comedy

LOCATION: New York City

THE SKINNY: A fashion magazine isn’t the most likely employer for a mob princess, but that’s exactly where you can find SOPRANOS actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler.

Sigler is set to join UGLY BETTY for a recurring role, taking over for Betty as Daniel’s assistant. Betty was promoted to features editor in the season three finale.

Catch Sigler, along with the rest of the cast, when BETTY‘s season four premieres on October 9.

Former SOPRANOS star JAMES GANDOLFINI booted an audience member from a recent performance of his Broadway play GOD OF CARNAGE, after the fan sneaked onstage during the intermission.

Gandolfini was stunned when he returned to the stage for the second half of the show and found a man sat in his seat.

The male revealed he was a fan and wanted to meet his idol, but Gandolfini showed no mercy and tossed the man into the wings, where a security guard ejected him from New York’s Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, reports the National Enquirer.

The star, famous for his role as tough mob boss Tony Soprano, regained his composure before the curtain came up – as his co-stars Jeff Daniels, Marcia Gay Harden and Hope Davis looked on stunned.

Actress Aida Turturro was one of the bargain hunters at the 17th annual Decorators-Designers-Dealers (D-D-D) Sale, Auctions and Gala Saturday night to benefit the Southampton Fresh Air Home. “This is my eighth year coming here,” Turturro said. The former “Sopranos” star said she loves to shop at the sale. She started out looking for a desk for a girlfriend, saying later, “I ended up buying so much stuff I can’t believe it.”

Many preview patrons arrive an hour early to be among the first to race from room to room snatching up heavily discounted designer furniture.

What are Turturro’s summer plans? “I’ll be working on a little play in Italy with my cousin John (Turturro) and a possible project with Al Roker. Otherwise, I’ll just be hangin’ out in Montauk,” she said. Everyone seems to be talking about Montauk these days. “I’ve been living here all along,” she said. “I don’t want people discovering it. Tell them to stay away!”

Consider “them” told.

When you’re looking through a script trying to decide whether you want to take on a project, is there some sort of character trait or hook that makes you think, “Okay, I can play this?”

Not really, no. It’s not quite as intellectual as that. I don’t really ever know what it is. I just know that when I read it, I’m excited to turn the page. When it seems like something I can imagine being interested for a certain amount of time — that’s what it is. If I had to tell you what I’d be interested in next, I couldn’t tell you until it was handed to me.

So let’s talk through the process another way. Once you agree to play the character, how do you set about creating her in the performance?

I’m sorry, I really don’t know. The information I’m given is the dialogue and what the other characters say about her. That’s all I have to go with. Whatever process takes place takes place away from my knowledge of it, you know what I mean? The one important thing here is that she’s a nurse and been a nurse forever. So it’s very important that any technical stuff she does at least appears as if it’s something she’s done a million times. Technically, that’s something that needed to be attended to. That wasn’t the the case with Carmela. The playing of her, you discover more about her — the way she sounds and talks and stands and feels, and all that stuff.

Well, you played Carmela for a while. Was there a point over the run of that series where you said, “Okay, now I get her. Now it’s less work for me to be her.”?

I found it very early with her. I think when I read the pilot script, way back in the beginning, I thought, “I know who this woman is.” I was also sure I would never get cast, so it was easier for me to just be confident in that knowledge. I didn’t think I’d be put to that test. But I definitely had a feel for her early. I understood what her priorities were, and the things that she was drawn to. But over the years, what was great was that, once I had her down, you get to see what she’s like in this situation, or with this kind of personality — you get to see her react in different circumstances. That’s the one thing series television can offer you that not a lot of other mediums can, like movies or theater.

That leads me to my next question: “Sopranos” ends, you have a lot of options open to you, and eventually you found yourself back doing another series. Is it because of the creative options that gives you?

I think so. As per usual, I didn’t know what the hell I wanted to do. I just said, “Well, send me stuff.” And I started reading things. It wasn’t the first time in my life I’ve been disappointed. Especially after “Sopranos,” when my standards are so high, there’s not a ton of writing that moves me. I read a lot of movies and a lot of plays, and I said, “Maybe it’s just too soon. Maybe I’m not interested in working yet.” And then I read this thing, and someplace along the line, I decided that what I really loved was being in a series — much to my surprise, frankly. It’s the closest thing to a real job that an actor can have, with a Monday to Friday schedule. The hours are crazy, but at least you know you’ll be at your home by the end of the day. That was very comforting to me.

As “Sopranos” was coming to an end, my wife and I would talk a lot about what you all were going to do next, and I would say, “Well, the movies and TV aren’t going to know what to do with Edie, so she’ll probably just do a ton of theater for a long time.”

You and me both were surprised. The truth is, had a great play come along, I might not be doing this right now.

You’ve wrapped production on this first season already. Do you feel like you have a comfort level with Jackie yet?

I’m getting there. There’s still a great deal with her that I’m discovering. Every time I got a script I said, “Really? Wow. Okay, let’s follow this one.” Pieces of the storyline that were just fascinating. I loved the opportunity to discover what that would feel like on the inside. Same thing as “Sopranos” — the more you go along, the more you’re going to feel comfortable in that skin. But I’m certainly not there yet. If we’re lucky, we’ll get a chance to learn more, but who knows?

What’s the experience been like working with Paul Schulze again, in a relationship that’s similar in some ways but in others very much not?

Well, Paul Schulze is one of my oldest friends in the whole world. We’ve known each other about 30 years. This is something like 15 or 17 projects we’ve worked together on — films, plays, musicals, theater, movies — we’ve traveled in a pocket of people who graduated from Purchase and have worked together a lot. And throughout the years, we’ve played every kind of relationship that a man and woman could have. Very little is completely new. We played husband and wife in a movie called Sweet Talk a million years ago. There were reverberations of that when we were working together on this. I love Paul, I’ve worked with him so many times.

On a meta level, it’s just so weird to see Father Phil finally —

I know, I know — getting what he wanted. (Laughs) Ah, what are you gonna do?

Getting back to those conversations I was having with my wife, did you guys on the show spend a lot of time as it was winding down speculating on what the world was going to be like for you when it came to an end? What opportunities would be out there?

We would have these sort of veiled conversations about it. I think everyone was a little bit nervous. Certainly, everyone was comfortable there for a long stretch. And then we heard a rumor that we were all going to be blacklisted for a while, because “Nobody wants to see those actors anymore.” We were all in a panic about this, that some casting person had said that. It might be totally ridiculous now, but there was that period of a week where we were all, like, “Ohmigod, what are we going to do?”

Anytime you finish any product, even something long-term like “Sopranos,” you just have to see. Who knows? If its busy, if there are creative casting things going on, if more mob stuff is going to happen because of this — we all had to see.

I guess that’s the one downside of being in something that iconic: the fear of typecasting.

Well, it’s interesting. It’s an actor’s choice on some level to be typecast. I had a friend years ago who said, “I always get the part of the waitress.” And I said, “No, you always TAKE the part of the waitress. Why don’t you just say no? Even if that means for a while you don’t work?” You’ve just gotta be brave and assume something different’s going to come along. But the more you say yes, the more they’re going to keep looking to you for that stuff. On some level, you are in charge of your destiny with that stuff.

Well, do you see any kind of through line between Jackie, Carmela and Whittlesey (her prison guard character from “Oz”)?

I would have to step way outside to answer that, but not off the top of my head. I think Whittlesey and Jackie are sort of low-maintenance in the female department. They’re doing their job, and it’s not about being a woman so much. They’re good at what they do and they work hard. I think Jackie’s got more life in her. She’s got more stability. She’s got this strong religious upbringing. I don’t know. My experience of playing them is all so different, it’s hard to see similarities.

“Sopranos” had many funny moments, but it was primarily a drama. After you did those “30 Rock” episodes, did you find that people — either in the business or civilians — were looking at you in a different way?

I don’t know. I’ve never been all that interested or aware of what people are thinking about me or saying about me. I think that has kept me safest and sanest. I did “30 Rock” because my agent said I should. “It’ll be really fun, and it’s not like anything you’ve done before, and you have the time, and it’ll be a great show,” and all that. It was not something I would normally say yes to, because that kind of comedy is not something I understand how to do. But because it was so difficult and challenging, I said, “What the hell?” And I have never felt more out of my element, like I don’t know what the hell I’m doing there. I couldn’t find my footing. I watched Tina and Alec in particular, and I thought, “Holy s–t, these guys are like magicians,” and I don’t have it. In particular, I was not interested in feedback on “30 Rock.” I felt like I was doing it, and I would just be proud of myself for showing up. It’s like doing a hard math problem. I was thrilled that they actually thought to use me. It was not my comfort zone at all.

So it doesn’t sound like this is something you’d want to do again.

Nope. Not really. I still don’t really know how. Alec would kind of walk me through the paces, but there was a comfortability in their bodies that I never found. Alec told me at one point, “Everything you’ve ever taught yourself not to do as an actor, because it’s bad acting, do it in this.” But that’s a technique! It works for this material, it’s just a different set of muscles. I loved it, loved being with them, and the opportunity to work on a show that’s so smart, but it was like speaking Swahili.

I’ve only seen the “Nurse Jackie” pilot so far, and I’m curious what the ratio is of comedy to drama. What’s your sense of that, from having worked on it?

I don’t know. I signed on to it when it was a drama. The first version that I read was certainly dark — too dark, which is one of the reasons I wasn’t ready to go with it completely. Then Linda Wallem and Liz Brixius got ahold of it as writers, and it morphed into something Showtime was more interested in grabbing hold of. But it’s hard to say, ratio-wise, because it all feels of a piece. It feels like the people’s relationships with each other are pretty funny, the situations are pretty funny. Though it’s an emergency room, it is Manhattan, and people come into emergency rooms for funny reasons. I would tend to think it’s in a similar ratio to “Sopranos.” Although the humor is certainly different on a million levels.

Were you ever surprised on “Sopranos” when something you didn’t think of as funny on the page, or when you were playing it, came across as funny to the audience?

I was surprised on every level with that — not just with the comedy, but how people reacted to all of it. “Oh, when you did that scene, it was such an example of…” and I’d go, “What? Really? I had no idea.” That’s a good sign: I was lost inside what Carmela was going through at that moment. Once again, how it’s perceived is the part of your brain that you use to step outside and go, “How does this look?” And I don’t want to spend a ton of time there when I’m working. But, yes, when I found out something was funny, I would be very surprised.

When I would do interviews over the years with David Chase, he would get frustrated by a certain segment of the audience viewing the show through a lens that he didn’t expect it to be viewed through. They just wanted straight mob drama with whackings, and almost viewed some of the characters as aspirational. Was that ever your experience with people?

It sure was. I was thrilled at the popularity of Carmela. A bunch of women in a parking lot on Long Island came screaming up, with the nails and the hair: “Ohmigod, we’re having a pajama party this weekend! We’d love for you to come!” And I thought, “Jesus Christ, if these women had any idea of who I really am and how bored they would be with my presence at a pajama party…” The fact that they found Carmela engaging was thrilling to me.

But I had more than one person tell me they found Carmela to be a role model… I loved playing her, but that’s not what I would have thought, necessarily. She was a lot of things, but I would prefer that, I don’t know, Judge Judy is a role model. Someone with more of a sense of morals. And then some woman was at a bar, could have been 10 years younger than me, she was very drunk, and she put her arms around me and said, “I wish you could be my mother.” And I was, first of all, shocked that she was not that much younger than me, but second, that someone would want Carmela to be their mother? But it was exciting to me, in a way, that I could be so far off in how the character was perceived — that you can not necessarily know the ways you are affecting people. It doesn’t feel quite as manipulative in that way. Like, I’m just playing the character, and people react.

Obviously, you’ve wrapped, the show doesn’t even premiere for a few months yet. Do you have any idea how Showtime feels about it? Whether this is something you’ll also wind up doing for a few years?

I have no idea. They keep things very close to the vest over there. That’s sort of fine with me. I’m continuing along, doing press and publicity, doing looping. I don’t always like to be included in a lot of that stuff (with the network). It sort of clutters my brain. I just want to know when I need to know. If we’re going to have to go again, I just need to make plans for more babysitters. But it’s kind of none of my business. I would surely love to do it again. There were so many aspects of the job that I loved, but I’ve been disappointed a lot in this career, and I’ve been elated a lot, and I’m prepared for both.

At the risk of being the millionth person to ask you about the “Sopranos” ending, I’m just curious what the mood was on the set that day, when you guys were at Holsten’s.

That whole period of time was so rife with emotion. Also, we had had those false endings so many times. Every time we finished a season, we had no idea if we’d wrapped forever. Is HBO going to want us back? Is David going to want to do another season? Will Jim want to do it? But at a certain point, it occurred to us that we were really going to be done this time. We were just so crazy about each other, and had been through this crazy war together. We started out doing this pilot with a bunch of unknown actors — except for Lorraine Bracco, we’d all been theater people, or done small jobs in movies. And it turned into this whole thing while were doing it: doing press in Paris, and going to fancy restaurants and flying private jets. The whole thing was a joke, you know? But here we were, ending this personal phenomenon, and it was really — all I can think of was being choked up for a period of weeks on end. “This is the last time we’ll be together as a family, this is the last time I’ll be working with my pretend daughter, this is the last scene Jim and I will ever do.” It was a lot — there were a lot of lasts. How do you walk away from something like that? It was not easy.

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2009/06/nurse_jackie_edie_falco_qa.html

A veteran actor with roles in “The Sopranos” and “GoodFellas” played a tough guy in real life, too, prosecutors say.

Anthony Borgese – along with a reputed Gambino crime family soldier – was charged with trying to strong-arm cash from an unlucky soul who owed money to a loanshark.

Borgese pleaded not guilty Friday to charges he tried to extort the unidentified man in upstate Monticello in 2004.

The longtime character actor, who grew up in Brooklyn, uses the stage name Tony Darrow and calls himself the “Goodfella of Comedy” on his Web site.

He was busted by FBI agents at LaGuardia Aiport as he arrived home from a film shoot late Thursday, sources said.

The 70-year-old actor looked haggard in court Friday after spending the night at the federal lockup in Brooklyn.

He declined to talk to the Daily News after he was released on a $750,000 bond secured by his upstate home and $50,000 cash.

“I can’t comment until I find out what this is about,” he said as he hauled a cart with his luggage out of Brooklyn Federal Court.

Also charged in the two-count indictment were reputed Gambino soldier Joseph (Joey Boy) Orlando, who is serving a 33-month sentence for a separate extortion conviction, and alleged mob associate Giovanni Monteleone, who was released on bail.

“This is a violent crime, but we are satisfied that with the bond being posted the community will not be at risk,” Assistant U.S. Attorney John Buretta said.

Borgese is best known for his role in “GoodFellas” as Sonny Bunz, the beleaguered owner of the mobbed-up Bamboo Lounge. The timid Bunz fights over a bar tab with hothead Tommy DeVito – played by Joe Pesci – who breaks a bottle over his head.

He also appeared as Larry Boy Barese in 14 episodes of “The Sopranos,” and several Woody Allen movies, as well as having a Vegas nightclub act.

“I travel a lot,” Borgese told Magistrate Roanne Mann Friday. “I do autograph signings and personal appearances.”

Borgese worked in the real Bamboo Lounge in Canarsie, Brooklyn – a hangout for Luchese crime figures Henry Hill, James (Jimmy the Gent) Burke and Tommy DeSimone, whose stories were the basis for “GoodFellas.”

In an interview with The News in 2000, the East New York-bred Borgese said: “Most of my friends from the old neighborhood are either dead or in jail. Sometimes I wonder, ‘Why did God forget me?’”

Borgese isn’t the first “GoodFellas” cast member to be linked to the Gambino crime family.

Earlier this year, at the trial of hit man Charles Carneglia, prosecutors introduced into evidence a photo of actor Frank Sivero – who died on a meat hook as Frankie Carbone in the film – posing with the Gambino goon.

jmarzulli@nydailynews.com

Here’s a reminder that there will be a reading of Hoboken playwright Louis LaRusso’s 1980 off-Broadway play, “Marlon Brando Sat Right Here” this weekend, Friday, June 5, and Saturday, June 6.

“The Sopranos” actor Vincent Pastore is one of the many stars who will perform in the New Artists Theater Company’s production. Tickets are $25 and reservations are strongly recommended; please call (201) 656-2240 to pay by credit card, or stop by the museum at 1301 Hudson St. to reserve your seat.

In addition to Pastore, who played Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero, the cast will include several more actors from “The Sopranos:” Maureen Van Zandt, Nicholas Giangiulio, Joe Lisi, Garry Pastore, Tony Rossi, Anthony Ribustello and Janet Sarno. Other actors are Gerard Canonico from the Broadway hit, “Spring Awakening,” as well as Sedley Bloomfield, Ernie Mingione and George Palermo (a Hoboken native who starred in the ABC soap opera “Loving” and also owns Sullivan’s bar on Washington Street).

According to director Frank Licato, the play is set in gritty Hoboken circa 1955, a year after the town hosted silver screen icon Marlon Brando and the multiple Oscar-winning cast of “On the Waterfront.” The regulars who frequent Gracie’s restaurant, the very longshoremen depicted in the movie, try to recall the glory days when their hometown was a movie set.

“Marlon Brando Sat Right Here” is a prequel to LaRusso’s “Lamppost Reunion” (also starring Pastore), which was performed to a sold-out crowd at the Hoboken Museum two years ago and then moved off-Broadway.

The reading will take place two nights only, Friday, June 5, and Saturday, June 6, at 7:30 p.m., near the museum in the vacant retail space behind Starbucks, at 12th St. and Shipyard Lane (the old video store).

“Marlon Brando Sat Right Here” is a benefit for both the New Artists Theater Company and the Hoboken Historical Museum.

Source: http://www.nj.com/hobokennow/index.ssf/2009/06/sopranos_stars_to_perform_in_m.html