Tony Danza Performing With 60-Piece Orchestra At LIU Post

MALVERNE, NY — For 45 years, Tony Danza has been a beloved actor with starring roles in "Taxi" and "Who's the Boss?" But he also is an accomplished singer.

He'll bring those talents to the LIU Post's Tilles Center for a concert on Sunday afternoon to benefit the United Cerebral Palsy of Nassau County. Danza's "Standards and Stories" is backed by the Nassau Pops Symphony Orchestra.

"So instead of having four guys in the band, you've got 60," Danza told Patch. "It's exciting."

For fans who haven't caught his concert, it's "sort of like an old variety show where you have a host and a lot of acts. Well, I'm the host and all the acts," Danza laughed.

Some of those "acts" are tap dancing and playing the ukulele. But his celebrity status guarantees plenty of "stories," including one about his mother and Frank Sinatra that will "knock you out."

He doesn't take the ability to entertain lightly.

"It really is a gift to be able to do it," Danza said. "It's about the most fun you can have. The more fun I have, the more fun the audience has."

It's even more fun returning to Long Island for the Malverne High School graduate.

"You never know who may show up from your past," he said. "That's part of the joy. It's like going home."

Danza, 72, was born in East New York, before the family moved to Malverne when he was a teenager.

"It's this idyllic, suburban; it was almost like being in 'Happy Days," Danza said of Malverne. "It was a great life."

Moving from East New York, he said "probably saved my life" as his mother said they had to leave the neighborhood. "Three months later we were in Malverne."

Danza, who calls Manhattan home after 35 years in Los Angeles, frequently visits his 96-year-old uncle in Lynbrook.

Due to the SAG/AFTRA strike, Danza wasn't able to discuss his acting achievements, but the former professional shared this memory.

"[Taxi] was on Tuesday night," he said. "Friday night, they flew us down to New Orleans to see the Muhammed Ali/Leon Spinks fight, which ABC was carrying. And the best part of it was, we had better seats than Lorne Greene."

Tickets are still available for the 3 p.m. concert.