‘Sopranos’ Cast Members to Present at VMAs in New Jersey

By Dano Nissen

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – The VMAs will reunite “Sopranos” castmates for the big awards show happening Monday night in Newark, New Jersey — right next door to America’s favorite crime family. 

Drea De Matteo (who played the mobster girlfriend-turned F.B.I. informant Adriana La Cerva), Jamie-Lynn Sigler (who played Tony Soprano’s precocious daughter Meadow Soprano) and Vincent Pastore (who played Soprano family gangster Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero) will present awards. The “Sopranos” trio will join previously announced presenters from the US Women’s National Soccer team Alex Morgan, Ali Krieger and Ashlyn Harris as well as Ice-T, John Travolta, Jonathan Van Ness, Rick Ross and Salt-N-Pepa. Comedian Sebastian Maniscalco will host the event. 

The “Sopranos” ended its run 2007 and celebrated its 20th anniversary earlier this year. A prequel film “The Many Saints of Newark” is set to bow in Sept. 2020. The upcoming film features a young Tony Soprano (played by the late actor James Gandolfini’s son Michael) and is set against the backdrop of the 1967 race riots in New Jersey. 

Some of music’s biggest artists will perform at the show including Shawn Mendes, Lizzo, Lil Nas X, Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande. Swift and Grande lead the field with 10 nominations each. 

The will be hosted at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey and air on MTV on Aug. 26 at 8 p.m.