'Sopranos' Auditions Mobbed

H A R R I S O N, N.J., July 23, 2000 -- They ain’t gotta be pretty, just good, capece?

The producers of The Sopranos didn’t use those exact words in announcing a casting call for the popular HBO series about a fictional New Jersey mob family, but hey, you get da point.

About 13,000 Soprano wannabes did Saturday, turning out for open auditions at Harrison High School, dreaming of becoming the next Big Pussy. And yeah, you could say it was a mob scene.

Italian, in Jersey

Joey Saladino came from Coral Springs, Fla., to try out.

“When we came through the toll booths, we were wondering how many Italians there were in Jersey,” he said. “We just found out.”

Saladino, resplendent in a black pinstripe suit, black shirt, black tie and shoes, accessorized nicely with a gold chain and cross and what he claimed was a real Rolex, said he sometimes gets bit parts in local gangster flicks shot in Florida.

But being a Soprano was a dream — like the best cannoli and pasta e fagioli he ever had, rolled into one. He was only too glad to offer an impromptu sidewalk audition.

“We’re in da parts business,” he said. “We do da shins, da knees, and for special holidays, like, uh, Valentine’s Day, we send hearts to people,” he said.

Jewelry, With Three Syllables

Eighteen year-old John Vasta of Central Valley, N.Y., hoped his high school acting experience would help.

“I went to a class; they told me, you know, how to breathe and stuff,” he said. ‘I played an Italian guy in a play once, or something. I talk like them, I got a schnoz on me, and I wear jewelry.” And he pronounces it with three syllables.

He looked the part: black polyester shirt unbuttoned to just above the navel, two gold chains, one bearing a cross and the other spelling out his name in diamonds; two gold bracelets and three gold rings.

Lora Oliveri of Fort Lee grew up loving Mafia movies.

“I figure this is the closest I’ll ever get to the mob,” she said.

Robert Anzelone of Bayside, N.Y., figured he was a shoo-in despite his lack of acting experience.

“When you grow up with these people, it’s not acting,” he said. “I’d be playing myself.”

Highway Exit Closed

So many people showed up that the casting call was shut down after just 30 minutes. HBO staff members told people in the lines, which stretched for blocks, to mail their applications. Police had to call reinforcements from neighboring towns to help disperse the crowds, and highway entrances to Harrison were closed temporarily.

Before the event even started, HBO stressed there was no guarantee that a walk-on in Harrison would be appearing anytime soon on cable alongside Anthony Soprano and the rest of his crew. But hey, you never know. Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bompensiero got whacked at the end of last season, so a young wiseguy with the right juice might move up, make a name for himself, ya know?

“It’s more of an open call,” said HBO publicist Natalie Sarraf in an interview Thursday. “They’re going to see what happens. It could be they’re looking for new blood.”

Applicants had to be over 16 and bring along a photograph of themselves. Or as Sopranos staff put it, “a head shot.”

Most importantly, they had to be “Italian-American looking.” Roles that might be offered include speaking and non-speaking parts, Sarraf said.

Show Offensive to Italians?

The show received 18 Emmy nominations on Thursday. In addition to garnering legions of fans (one Trenton beauty parlor came up with Sopranos-like nicknames for all its customers), it also has angered many Italian-Americans. One New Jersey group last month awarded its producer the “Pasta-tute” award for negative media portrayals of Italian-Americans.

Manny Alfano of Bloomfield, whose Italian-American One Voice Committee handed out the award, took special umbrage at the requirement that applicants be “Italian-American looking.”

“Does that mean that anyone who fits the stereotype of a buffoon, bum, bigot or bimbo?” he asked. “By the way, is it true that HBO is paying 30 pieces of silver to any Italian-American to sell out his or her Italian heritage?”

And an Ocean County man named Anthony Soprano asked HBO to kill the show before it even debuted, anticipating all the agita he’d get from having a fictional mobster share his moniker.

Thoroughly New Jersey

The Sopranos is Jersey to the bone. It regularly films scenes here, including shots in Elizabeth, Newark, North Arlington and Asbury Park.

It deals with the exploits of Tony Soprano, an enterprising mob capo in Essex County, his wife Carmela, and various junior wiseguys, mooks and mo-mos carrying out the family business.

Even Bompensiero’s nickname smacks of authentic Jersey mob. The name “Big Pussy” evokes Anthony “Little Pussy” Russo, who met with an unfortunate end at Long Branch’s Harbor Island Spa in 1979. He earned his nickname for his fondness for a small pet cat.

Saturday’s casting call was just the first step; no parts were expected to be handed out on the spot. Auditions may or may not be held later for those the producers liked.

You got a problem with that? One woman apparently did. As police announced that the event was being cut short, she wailed, “I missed a freakin’ hair appointment for this!”