OMERTA is the Mafia code of silence.
When Anthony DeVito’s mother finally revealed the truth about his late father – what the Mob lingo-savvy among us would call a “made guy” in a prominent organised crime family – she bound him to her own form of omerta, and made him swear never to tell another living soul.
But, as he admits with a shrug, if he didn’t, he wouldn’t have a show – and so this jaw-dropping and absolutely compelling hour came about.
I have to say, I REALLY want you to go and see this show, I just don’t want to tell you anything about it.
The BBC’s film review guru Mark Kermode says that sometimes it’s better to go into a film knowing as little as possible about it so that the subsequent revelations have maximum impact, and that’s exactly the case here.
But the Editor says if I don’t tell you something, I don’t get paid so here goes.
Anthony’s father died when he was just seven months old. Armed with a single photo, and abetted by his mom, he began to construct an image of him using anecdotes about his loving, generous nature to build a picture of a gentle, caring, doting new dad.
There were elements of truth there, sure, but there was also much darkness to be revealed and this is where I genuinely don’t want to ruin any of the shock value of what he – and we – learn. Suffice to say John Gotti, head of New York’s Gambino crime family, the most powerful organised crime syndicate in the States, was at his christening.
Anthony just casually drops this staggering piece of information into his mesmerising tale, a tale you’d swear came from the same pen as the guy that wrote Goodfellas but all the more astonishing because every word is true.
But don’t think it’s all grim, Mafia stuff – he’s funny as all hell, too.
A story is only as good as the storyteller and here we have an absolute gem. I could listen to Anthony’s northern New Jersey/Italian-American tones read the phonebook and be spellbound. He’s a natural raconteur who makes this story of a guy dealing with a lot of crap while trying to figure out his own identity one of this year’s Fringe must-sees.
Anthony DeVito: My Dad Isn’t Danny DeVito, 19.30 Just the Tonic @ The Mash House, August 5 – 14, 16 – 28
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/anthony-devito-my-dad-isn-t-danny-devito
Alan Shaw
