LOMBARDI

Coach Vince Lombari. If the name does not tweet your brain, then “sports” does not serve your interest. The Broadway show, entitled Lombardi, may still perk your attention as the biographic plot, based on David Maraniss’ 1999 book “When Pride Still Mattered,” would apply to anyone who teaches or simply wants to take in an enjoyable Broadway performance.

The play is mostly set around November of 1965, just before the Green Bay Packers began their NFL championship winning streak and mainly revolves around Lombardi’s (Dan Lauria) exchanges with a magazine reporter (Keith Nobbs) writing a feature story about him.

As the reporter moves into the Lombari home, it creates the opportunity to interact with this volatile coach and his ever so loyal wife Marie (Judith Light). Lombardi is frustrated by his team’s failure over the prior two seasons with the Green Bay Packers coming in second. In the meantime, hard-drinking Marie offers some humorously stabbing comments about life in Wisconsin.

Much of the action also takes places in the locker room where Lombardi interacts with three of his players. There’s the black linebacker Dave Robinson (Robert Christopher Riley), partying halfback Paul Hornung (Bill Dawes) and a fullback Jim Taylor (Chris Sullivan) who has a brain for finance.

So now that you have gist of what the show is about…this hour and a half performance, with no intermission, is staged at the Circle In The Square theatre on W. 50th between Broadway and 8th Avenue. There is no bad seat in the house! There are also a few high screens that bring in some of that football flavor.
The lobby is done well to suite the show. You will find a replica of Lombardi’s trophy on a glass enclosed stand, a set up seats from the game (I believe that they are replicas as well) and a cut out of Vince Lombardi with his arm around a player…however, the face is cut out so that you can place yours and have someone take a photo.

Back to the performance or rather the performers. Did Dan Lauria capture Vince Lombardi? I am one to admit that sports, other than having worked with the New York Sharks women’s pro football team, has little interest to me. That means that I am not familiar enough with Lombardi’s character, or any of the others. With that I did feel that all of the actors gave an outstanding performance.

I have to applaud both the producers and marketing staff for their website. They have not only set up a fan zone, facebook, and twitter but also a partnership page. I understand that the New York Sharks should be up on there by the time this article is viewed where you can get discounted tickets to their upcoming season home games. And… if you go to www.nysharksfootball.com and click onto the Lombardi banner, you will be able to get discount tickets for the show.

Let’s add one extra to this. You can download a study guide that’s perfect for teachers or parents bringing kids. I’m also getting that if you bring your ticket stub across the street to Palm restaurant, you can get a free drink at their bar until the middle of June…I’m sure that they will card the kids if you bring them.