Multiple generations know Tony Danza from TV’s “Taxi” or “Who’s The Boss?,” and though he’s since starred in a bunch of Broadway musicals, many might not realize the iconic actor/occasional recording artist also tours as a solo headlining singer and dancer, joined by a jazzy band.

On Sunday, October 11, the Des Plaines Theatre will have a chance to hear “Standards & Stories,” such as classics popularized by his main muse Frank Sinatra, plus tales of an extraordinary life that includes professional boxing, teaching high school, writing a couple of best-selling books and hosting a daytime talk show.

The New York native rang Chicago Concert Reviews for a sample of not only what to expect during this unique show, but glimpses into playing the beloved parts of Tony Banta and Tony Micelli while changing the face of sitcoms forever.

You’ll be performing locally at the Des Plaines Theatre. What comes to mind when you think of the Chicago area and can you recall any of previous appearances?

Tony Danza: Yeah, I’m really excited about coming. The big band sounds great. I can’t wait to do that. I wish I had another day of rehearsal with those guys, but we’ll take what we can get. It’s really exciting. I went to school in Dubuque, [Iowa] and I got married in Cook County when I was a kid (laughs), so I know the area pretty well. I lived in DuPage County, Downers Grove and Lemont.

I’ve been doing this awhile now, I can’t even remember all the places I’ve been. Last week I was in Mason City, Iowa. That’s the inspiration for River City in “The Music Man.” One of the great things about doing this act is you get around. I go to all sorts of places in the country, places I wouldn’t go. There was a time when I was a kid I used to think everything west of New York was New Jersey, so this is big for me to get to see the country.

How did you get the “Standards & Stories” idea?

Danza: I wanted to do something a little more autobiographical and I wanted to use my father. The show that I’m gonna do this weekend, my mother dominates the show (laughs) cause she was funny. But my father was also funny, so I’ve wanted to do that [based off of them]. That’s what this was about, doing the fall opening of Cafe Carlyle in New York City, two weeks, so ten shows. I wanted to be a big shot. I said, “Alright, I’m gonna write a new show.” And it worked out. It actually is so much fun. I gotta come back to Des Plaines and do my [Frank] Sinatra show too. I’ve been really writing, it’s great.

Can you give us a sample of some of the songs you’ll be singing?

Danza: We open up with three songs actually. The first is “As Long As I’m Singing.” That’s Bobby Darin. He wrote the music and sang the song. Then a wonderful [Sinatra] song called “How Little We Know” by Carolyn Leigh and Phil Springer. Then one of my favorite all time songs, “That’s All” by Bob Haymes and Alan Brandt. It’s an old Nat King Cole song. And then I go through a litany of styles. There’s a couple of surprises. There is some ukulele and there’s a lot of tap dance. There’s a lot of great songs that go along with the stories.

Obviously you’ve been in several musicals, but some fans who haven’t followed you as closely might not realize you’re a full-blown touring solo singer as well. What would you like to tell them about your musical history?

Danza: It really all was about [after] I had an accident in 1993. I’m on top of the world. I just finished “Who’s The Boss?” I just finished “Angels In The Outfield.” It had just come out. It was a good time. I went skiing and I hit a tree. I almost killed myself and it took me two years to come back from it. I do a joke [about] when you wake up on a respirator and everybody’s crying, including the priest. You say, ‘Man, I need a second opinion.” So anyway, it took me two years to come back and it was a pretty awful prognosis that might have happened that luckily didn’t. I recovered and it was like a second chance. I should take advantage of it.

I wanted to be a song and dance man. I had been tap dancing about ten years by then, so I put together an act. I rented out the Pepperdine theater and I had the audience supplier from “Who’s The Boss?” get me an audience. You’d be surprised how much they like the show when you bring ’em to the show! My assistant, who was very close to me, at the end of it, I said, “What did you think?” She said, “almost not embarrassing.” I knew I had a ways to go. That’s what I would like people to know that I put in the time. I’ve been doing it ever since. I’ve sung ballads as the roller coaster went by and I played the Desert Inn in Vegas. I got a telegram from Dean Martin that night to “knock ’em dead.” You know how old you are when you can say you got a telegram (laughs), but Dean Martin sent me a telegram and said, ‘knock ’em dead!”

I’ve been plying my trade and I enjoy doing it. I feel like it’s such a gift. I used to watch the TV and see the Rat Pack. They’d do a movie in the day, then at night they’d go and entertain. A couple months ago, I did a movie with Mario Lopez. It’s called “Christmas At The Starlight,” but I was up in Buffalo, and while I was up there, I played a couple of nights at the Seneca Casino. So it was like the Rat Pack when you work on a movie during the day and then at night you go [perform a show]. Another thing I did just recently, I was doing an Off Broadway play right here on 71st Street, so I went right from the matinee and did my show at the Carlyle that night, so I’m still in shape. I can still do it.

You’re of course no stranger to television in your own right, starting with the iconic “Taxi.” What made it stand out at the time and continue to resonate today?

Danza: It’s just everything. It had the best writers. It had the best director. It had the best actors. One of the things that I talk about in this show is the way they did it right. The actors went to school. They learned their craft. They knocked around Hollywood and they finally got the show. It had the best, the best, the best of everything and it also had the best time slot. It was scheduled right after the number one show on TV, so it had everything, except for one thing. We found this boxer in New York. He never acted professionally really, but we’re gonna put him in the show. I wonder how I would react? But they welcomed me with open arms and it’s because of their encouragement and love [that I made it]. I loved them so much, Judd [Hirsch], Danny [DeVito], Marilu [Henner], Jeff [Conaway] and Andy [Kaufman]. Because of them, I learned a lot. I was smart enough to keep my eyes and ears open. The other thing was the writing. The writing’s unbelievable.

Here you go, so the scene opens with me knocking at a door. The door opens and it’s a nun. It ends up it’s a rectory and she says, “Oh Tony, what can I do for you?” And I said, “Can I see the father?” She says, “I’ll get him for you.” The priest comes out and he says, “Hey Tony, what’s going on?” “Well father, I’ve got a problem. The garage closed and I lost my job. I tried like crazy to find another job and I couldn’t. I really, really tried, so I had to take a job as a collector for my uncle, the book maker.” And the priest goes, “Oh no Tony!” And I say, “Father listen, I don’t do it like everybody else. I don’t hurt anybody to get the money. I do it like nobody else.” The priest says, “Well then Tony, why have you come to me so troubled?” And I say, “cause you owe three hundred bucks.” The mentality of the show, it was just great. A lot of people get breaks, but that’s a big break on a show like that!

Lightning struck all over again for you with “Who’s The Boss?” In what ways do you feel like that sitcom broke new ground?

Danza: First of all, I took everything I learned on “Taxi,” and everything I didn’t like on “Taxi,” I didn’t take there. I used to think we overdid rehearsal. It just was a lot longer of a process than with “Who’s The Boss?” “Who’s The Boss?” was shorter cause we were crack troops. I mean Katherine Helmond never made a mistake. Judith [Light] is mind-bogglingly good. She can cry out of one eye and wink at you with the other (laughs). And the kids, [Alyssa Milano and Danny Pintauro], were so good. We just had a wonderful environment. It was great, but I think, again, it’s the writing. I’d like to think the acting, but the writing. If they don’t write it for you, you could be the greatest actor of all time, it doesn’t matter. You have to have the material.

Think about it, it’s 1984 and here’s this guy living in this woman’s house and he’s the housekeeper! A very funny joke [was when] he breaks up a date that she has. I come down the stairs in this [bedtime] outfit with a baseball bat. I break up the date and I’ve got the guy up against the wall. He says, “Angela, who is this man? And she says, “This my housekeeper.” And he says, “That’s the ugliest woman I have ever seen” (laughs). We just had a lot of fun on that show too.

What type of comments do you typically get from viewers nowadays?

Danza: I’ve had some incredible “Who’s The Boss?” things. I’ve had a father come up to me with his young daughter and say, “When she was a baby, I used to watch you while I was alone. I was raising her on my own. You really helped me get through that.” I say, “That’s one of the nicest things anybody’s ever said to me.” He says, “No, you made me a better father” and his daughter was standing there nodding. That’s one way, and then I get, “hey, Tony,” and I look, and they go, ‘who’s the boss?'” You get those too (laughs). People are really nice and they, for the most part, like the show. You know this new show I’m on, “Raising Kanan,” I play the bad guy, [Stefano Marchetti], so I have really a whole new audience.

What do you remember about the “Taxi” and “Who’s The Boss?” theme songs, each of which are iconic despite being very different?

Danza: It’s funny you mentioned this. I wanted to bring this up. I have a teen program here in the city. I want kids to get their fair shake. They’re not having the childhood I had in this city, so I started this teen program called the StarsOfTomorrowProject.org. It’s a 501(c)(3), thank you Uncle Sam. We’re tax deductible. We do our benefit October 29 here at Lincoln Center, how about that? Pretty good. Anyway, it’s a free program, acting, dance, movement and wellness cause that’s important. I teach ’em how to cook. Anyway, it’s for high school kids. We solicit it to schools, and because schools don’t have any money for arts, they’re very willing to help us with the kids. And the kids come along and we open ’em up. We show them the city cause most of these kids live in a five block radius and don’t go anywhere. We make ’em come out of their shells and we push ’em to go to college. Then we make sure we can make them finance college cause you don’t want to dangle it in front of them and then say, “You can’t afford it…” We take kids to campuses and get them ready for that kind of thing. It’s basically a life program where the motto is, “When you teach a kid how to act, you teach a kid how to act” (laughs). So that’s what we do.

So here it is, what happened was last year on the show, we had this wonderful choir and chorale director, a great teacher, Timothy, and he taught the kids how to do [the theme songs] and surprised me. They did both the theme song from “Taxi” and “Who’s The Boss?” They sang it and it was incredible. Bob James wrote the “Taxi” theme. It’s called “Angela,” and then I’ll tell you the truth, I love the song from “Who’s The Boss?” I just think it’s one of the happiest songs and to hear the choir do it was really thrilling. They made me go outside for the rehearsal cause they were surprising me. I didn’t know what was going on and thank God it wasn’t that cold cause I’m standing on the street waiting to come back in. They did it for me in the show. It was incredible.

You even had a long-running talk show bearing your name. What did being the subject of so many interviews allow you to bring to the table when you were asking the questions?

Danza: When you’re doing a talk show like that, you have time to prepare. You’re getting this guest and you look for something that might interest the guest to talk about. Because like you just said, you go to a lot of these interviews, and you say the same things over and again. I used to look for that little bit of something that would maybe get the guests interested in the interview, so I had a lot of fun doing it. I was the king of New York for awhile. It was great (laughs).

Outside of all these projects, you’ve also been a boxer, a Broadway star, a teacher and an author. Give us a little glimpse into your experiences with those vastly different roles.

Danza: The book was from the year I taught, so you can put those two together, “I’d Like To Apologize To Every Teacher I Ever Had: My Year As A Rookie Teacher At Northeast High.” As far as the boxing, I was a kid. I thought I could be champion of the world. I really did! The song and dance stuff was just a dream I’ve always had because my mother turned me onto to Frank Sinatra when I was like eight-years-old. But I’ve been lucky. I’ve had the ability to do different things and not just end up doing certain things. I’ve worked with such wonderful people. Somebody walked up to me last night and said they should stop playing the old “12 Angry Men” and play the one we did for Showtime with George C. Scott, Armin Mueller-Stahl and Jimmy Gandolfini. He said it’s “the greatest thing ever” and I’m really proud of that piece of work.

When people come across Tony Danza in any of the many ways you entertain, what do you hope they will take away from encountering you?

Danza: That I’m just a regular guy, just like them. I try to be funny and I try to get a laugh, but I just want people to feel comfortable, that’s all.

Is anything you still hope to achieve?

Danza: I want to get back on Broadway. I wrote a play and I’d like to get it on Broadway. I’m still looking for that great part. I’m still in it. I don’t know how much longer. I mean I’m afraid because it’s like, “You’re really getting old.” You get old like this, it’s like living in a bad neighborhood. Anything could happen. I wake up old sometimes. You go to sleep, you’re fine. You wake up with a broken leg, you go, “What the hell happened?” It’s a little different as you get older, but anyway, I still enjoy it. I still really get a kick out of it and really want to work with the best people. I’m looking so forward to this weekend, oh my goodness!

---

Tony Danza performs at the Des Plaines Theatre on Sunday, October 11. For additional details, visit TonyDanza.com and DesPlainesTheatre.com.