On June 10, 2007, HBO cut to black and Tony Soprano disappeared from our lives forever.
Or did he?
Whether you think Tony was alive or dead (or neither) at the end of the series finale, “The Sopranos” has unquestionably remained alive in the public consciousness.
This year, the series cast and creator David Chase celebrated the 20th anniversary of the show’s 1999 premiere. And the family saga isn’t even over. “The Many Saints of Newark,” an upcoming prequel movie slated for release in September 2020, will take us back to Tony’s childhood.
Many who were too young to watch “The Sopranos” when the show first aired have become fast fans, thanks to streaming and the HBO catalogue. Others, like Joe Fama, know each episode inside out, but happily revisit the series from start to finish anyway.
Because when nothing else hits the spot, Sopranoland is always waiting.
This weekend, SopranosCon, a fan extravaganza that Fama first envisioned four years ago, makes its debut just a stone’s throw from the New Jersey Turnpike that Tony cruised in the opening credits, at the Meadowlands Exposition Center in Secaucus. The convention is set to draw thousands of “Sopranos” faithful, whether locals who live down Route 3 or diehards an ocean away.
The two-day event on Saturday and Sunday boasts a lineup of 54 series actors (and one horse!), including those who had guest spots and main, recurring characters. Sights and sounds of the iconic show — Dr. Melfi’s office, the Bada Bing, the gritty theme song — will all play a role in the fan tribute.
Fama, 36, of Wantagh, Long Island, collaborated with fellow “Sopranos” superfans Danny Trader and Michael Mota to plan the convention.
None of them are from New Jersey, but fittingly enough, when they finally met, it was in the Meadowlands. Before that, the trio had done all of their planning remotely and through social media.
“We didn’t have any idea what we looked like, how we acted,” Trader says. “It was all off of a gut feeling that we had a passion.”
Trader, 34, who has worked as a real estate agent and private investigator, hails from Baltimore and runs the Time Immemorial Sopranos Facebook page, a forum for memes, screenshots and quotes from the show. More than 200,000 people follow the page, which hosts a related The Sopranos: Commission group of 17,000 fans.
“We wanted to have some kind of meetup with just us, and maybe we could have some cast members,” Trader says. “Joe was kind of the vision behind the whole thing.”
Fama, who owns a sign and printing company and builds displays for trade shows, is known for his spot-on “Sopranos” art and character sketches, which he posts on Instagram.
From there, the concept grew.
“It took a while to build a legit lineup,” Trader says. The pitch to actors, he says, was this: “You guys never got the internet treatment,” meaning that “The Sopranos” ended before the true rise of social media and its fan communities.
It helped that Trader and Fama linked up with Mota, 39, a Rhode Island marketing professional. His selling point: He had planned events, but was also friends with Federico Castelluccio, who played Furio Giunta on the show, and knew other cast members.
“I said, ‘You know what? I think this might have legs,’” Castelluccio, 55, tells NJ Advance Media. “’If you don’t do it, somebody else might jump on this. You know, it’s the 20th anniversary.’”
The actor, a native of Italy who grew up in Paterson and played Tony’s Italian soldier, considered himself a fan of the show before he joined the cast in the second season.
“I knew that there was something different about this because it gave me emotions while I was watching the show that I hadn’t had — ever — from a television show,” says Castelluccio, who is also a painter.
The convention had modest beginnings. A Bada Bing dancer and Pie-O-My, the horse Tony loved, were initially the only other guests on deck.
Castelluccio began reaching out to his former co-stars, like Vincent Pastore, who played Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero, and Vincent Curatola, who played Johnny Sack. In a few months, the lineup snowballed — Tony Sirico, aka Paulie “Walnuts” Gualtieri, got onboard, along with Drea de Matteo (Adriana La Cerva) and David Proval (Richie Aprile).
Castellucio calls having upward of 50 cast members in one place “a historic event.” (For $20 or $40 per actor, fans can get photos and autographs.) He’s so committed to the project that he’s narrating “Don’t Stop,” a documentary about the making of the convention due out next year.
“When we started this, we knew it would be big, but we didn’t know it would be enormous,” Mota says.
Castelluccio encouraged Kathrine Narducci, who played Charmaine Bucco, to sign on for the convention, even though it meant she would miss the opening of her art show in Los Angeles (she will be giving away two pieces to the first and last fans at her booth). Narducci currently stars opposite Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” and has a recurring role on the Epix series “Godfather of Harlem.”
“We’re always happy to see each other because we’re all friends,” she says of the “Sopranos” cast. “We all got along like a family. For us, we’re celebrating this as much as the fans.”
Narducci, 53, is eager to see the 1960s-set “The Many Saints of Newark” next year. The movie filmed in Newark, Bloomfield and Paterson, and features her former “Wizard of Lies” co-star, Alessandro Nivola.
“He texted me the day it was confirmed he got it last year,” she says of Nivola landing the part. “He was so excited, and I was so excited for him.”
In the movie, Nivola plays Dickie Moltisanti, father of Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli will not be attending the convention) and mentor to young Tony Soprano, played by Michael Gandolfini, the 20-year-old son of James Gandolfini. The Emmy-winning actor, who died in 2013, grew up in Park Ridge. His classic performances as Tony helped inspire a new wave of antiheroes, like Walter White on “Breaking Bad.”
“Jimmy will always be with us,” Narducci says. “He was the best guy on the planet.”
The convention will have a Feast of St. James indoor street festival and a dedication to Gandolfini, featuring a mural that Fama created using small photos of the actor. He also designed a ketchup packet-strewn maze inspired by the fan-favorite “Pine Barrens” episode of the show and a Dr. Melfi escape room, as well as a quote wall and “Sopranos” family tree.
“It’s almost like social media live,” he says. Cannoli-eating, costume and trivia contests are on the bill, too.
An immersive “Sopranos” experience begins upon entry.
“Once they walk in, they should feel like they’re walking into the show,” Trader says. “They’re going to be walking through the Lincoln Tunnel.”
Fans will also be able to explore a re-creation of the Bada Bing, complete with mirrored walls and stripper poles (there will also be an afterparty at the real thing — Satin Dolls in Lodi).
Alabama 3, the English band whose song “Woke Up This Morning” became inextricably linked with the show as its pitch-perfect theme song, will be performing at a VIP portion of the event. So will Dominic Chianese, aka Corrado “Junior” Soprano, who is making the trip all the way from London, where he lives.
Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz, co-authors of the “The Sopranos Sessions” and critics who covered “The Sopranos” for The Star-Ledger during the show’s heyday, will be on hand to talk about the show and moderate a cast Q&A at a fan VIP session.
Those who wouldn’t mind taking a ride can leave the exposition center to briefly visit “Sopranos” sites with On Location Tours, which may be of special interest to anyone coming from overseas. Trader says he’s seen interest in the event from fans in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy and the Netherlands.
Will SopranosCon be a one-shot deal? Not exactly. It’s branching out.
