The TV Zone

Madone, what a party last night at 30 Rock.

"The Sopranos" wrap party, where perhaps as many as 6,000 "Sopranos" goombares turned up to say goodbye to just the friggin' greatest TV show ever. Yes, that party. Nine episodes to go. We saw the first two at Radio City Music Hall. What a night. What a night. Still recovering.

You weren't there? I was, and where to begin…oh, right, the cast, the cast: About forty of the regulars assembled on stage as "Sopranos" capofamiglia David Chase called their names: One by one they came, walking from one end of the long stage to the next, to a near continuous round of applause and cheers that rose and fell according to audience preference, taste, familiarity – and whoever was nicest to them at the studio's coffee-and-donuts table over the years (The audience, other than some renegades from the press and a few HBO types, was comprised almost entirely of crew, friends and family members - in other words this was a real Sopranos family get-together.)

Just some of the names, in no particular order - James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli, Lorraine Bracco, Steve Van Zandt (or "the great Steve Van Zandt," per Chase), Tony Sirico, Robert Iler, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Aida Turturro, Dominic Chianese ("who the writers love cuz he'll say anything..."), Drea de Matteo (big cheer - everyone was glad to see that Ade was still alive), John Ventimiglia, Steve Schirripa, Federico Castellucio (you remember! Furio!), Vincent Pastore, Frank Vincent and many others.

Per my memory, just about everyone who was anyone turned up on stage last night, though there was at least one very surprising no-show - Joe Gannascoli, "Vito," who was so memorably dispatched by Phil Leotardo (The Great Frank Vincent) earlier this season. Where was Vito? No word from Chase...

Tony - Gandolfini - said a few words, and I do mean a few, for he is a man of sparse verbiage in real life: He stood up there next to Chase and Falco, further hunched those permanently hunched shoulders, coddled the mike, and praised "the blue collar work ethic" of his beloved "crew" (the guys who literally put out the show over the last six seasons) and Chase himself. "He's got courage," per Tony. "Not like Iraq courage" - those fighting in Iraq - "but courage. He didn't care what people thought" but did what he wanted over the last six seasons.

A reference to the nattering naysayers who have found so much to criticize in "The Sopranos" over the last season? No doubt. No doubt.

Falco - she of even briefer verbiage - then stepped to the mike: "I stand by my husband."

Big laugh line.

A couple minutes later, up goes the curtain and Chase spooled a 20-minute tribute to the crew - from hairdressers to grips - with the insistent thump of the baseline from A3's theme song, "Woke Up This Morning" playing over and over in the background. Aside from the first two episodes screened a few minutes later, that was - truly - one of the highlights of the night.

Later onto the party we went – held at that big space at 30 Rock which abuts the Seagrill and ice rink. Booze, food, thousands of my closest friends.

Madone, what a party.

Madone, what a great show.

It's a wrap.