Chazz Palminteri, one of the reasons I love Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway so much, is bringing his one-man show A Bronx Tale to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Theatre Sept. 23 through Oct. 19. The show will be the final entry in the SHN/Best of Broadway 2007-08 season.

First mounted off-Broadway in 1989, the show didn’t become a movie until 1993. Palminteri wrote the screenplay, and Robert DeNiro made his astonishingly assured directorial debut. Before heading out on national tour, Palminteri revived the show on Broadway last year under the direction of Jerry Zaks.

A Bronx Tale is the story of a young man coming of age in the early 1960s amid much mafia mayhem. Curiously, there is a musical version (of course) of the story with a score by Jimmy Webb (the wonderful songwriter behind “MacArthur Park,” “Up, Up and Away,” “Wichita Lineman” among many others), who collaborated with Palminteri on the show. Here’s a suggestion: warm up Bay Area audiences with Palminteri in the original, then get all the producers in line (as if that were easy) and hold the out-of-town tryout in San Francisco. Next stop, Broadway!

Tickets to see Palminteri in A Bronx Tale are $40-$85 and will go on sale this summer. Visit www.shnsf.com for information.

Here’s a piece on the Broadway run: