| Lombardi | |
|---|---|
 Original Broadway windowcard | |
| Written by | Eric Simonson |
| Characters | Vince Lombardi Marie Lombardi Michael McCormick Paul Hornung Dave Robinson Jim Taylor |
| Place premiered | Circle in the Square Theatre, New York City |
| Official site | |
Lombardi is a play by Eric Simonson, based on the book When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi by Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss.
The play follows Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi through a week in the 1965 NFL season as he attempts to lead his team to the championship. (The Packers won the NFL championship that year, which would be the last season before the introduction of the Super Bowl.) [1] A "Look Magazine" reporter, Michael McCormick, wants to "find out what makes Lombardi win". [2] However, players on the team refuse to be interviewed, wary of giving up information. He goes instead to Lombardi's wife, Marie, for answers. Meanwhile, in a flashback, Lombardi frets over his lack of promotion and contemplates quitting football. His wife reveals that the family had an emotional move to Green Bay, Wisconsin when Lombardi joined the Packers.
Lombardi ends up yelling at Michael in front of the team, prompting both to storm off. Linebacker and place kicker Dave Robinson comforts Michael at a local bar, sharing stories about his initial impressions of the coach, the "honor of being barked at" by Lombardi, and the equality established on the team. After more positive insight from running back, option quarterback and kicker Paul Hornung and fullback Jim Taylor, Michael decides to attend the next game. As he narrates what happened at the game, the Packers win.
After he writes his news story, Michael reveals to Lombardi that he is quitting "Look Magazine" to form his own publishing company. Lombardi congratulates him on his move to independence and celebrates the win with Michael and Marie. Michael realizes that Lombardi is "the most imperfect, perfect man" he ever met.
The Broadway production of Lombardi was conceived by Fran Kirmser and produced by Kirmser and Tony Ponturo. Kirmser and Ponturo met with David Maraniss to base the play on his book When Pride Still Mattered. Maraniss introduced Kirmser and Ponturo to Eric Simonson who was them contracted to write the original play.[ citation needed ]
Simonson created an earlier version of the play entitled Lombardi: The Only Thing, which was produced in 2007 by the Madison Repertory Theatre at the Overture Center in Madison, Wisconsin. The play then had a successful run at the Next Act Theatre in Milwaukee in 2008. After some interest surfaced in a Lombardi play for Broadway, Simonson "developed an entirely new play leaving only one five-minute scene from the original script." [3]
The production had a pre-Broadway tryout at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, playing from July 22 to July 28, 2010. The production featured Dan Lauria and Judith Light as Vince and Marie Lombardi, respectively. [4]
Lombardi officially premiered on Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theatre on October 21, 2010, after previews beginning on September 23. [1] The creative team includes direction by Thomas Kail, sets by David Korins, costumes by Paul Tazewell, and lighting by Howell Binkley. [5] [6] This production is being produced by Tony Ponturo and Fran Kirmser. [7] Lombardi closed on May 22, 2011, after 30 previews and 244 performances. [8]
Due to the Packers winning Super Bowl XLV in 2011, their fourth Super Bowl but their second since Lombardi was head coach, the show's producers were "hoping for a halo effect at the box office." [9] Patrick Healy wrote in The New York Times : "The Packers’ victory on Sunday lent "Lombardi" plenty of visibility before and after the Fox broadcast of the game. One FOX commentator, Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders Hall of Fame defensive end Howie Long, who had seen the play, talked up the play before kickoff and during the postgame show he said, 'I think Lombardi the play just got an extension on Broadway.' " [9] Healy also wrote that the show had not recouped its $3 million investment, and while producer Tony Ponturo said that the show was scheduled to run until June 19, 2011, [9] it ended its run early. Producers would not comment on whether or not the play had earned back its production budget. [10]
The original Broadway cast included Dan Lauria as Vince Lombardi, Judith Light as Marie Lombardi, Keith Nobbs as Michael McCormick, Bill Dawes as Paul Hornung, Robert Christopher Riley as Dave Robinson, and Chris Sullivan as Jim Taylor. Light was nominated for a 2011 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in Lombardi. [11]
The regional premiere of Lombardi began in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater. The production starred Lee E. Ernst as Vince Lombardi and ran from October 11, 2011 to November 13, 2011. Simonson said in a statement, "I grew up in Wisconsin, so [Lombardi] was always a part of the ether. When I started doing a play on him, it was not just to recount a famous man's life story, it was really to find out and unearth the reasons why this man was famous. He's a fully dimensional man, a complicated man, more complex than people realize." [3]
Lombardi continued its professional run in Wisconsin at Peninsula Players Theatre in Fish Creek (Door County) September 5, 2012, to October 14, 2012. Fish Creek, Wisconsin, is 70 miles north of Green Bay. [12]
The show received mixed reviews from New York critics, garnering a "B+" rating on StageGrade. [13] Charles Isherwood said the show "seems to depend heavily on a playbook that emphasizes the importance of team effort. In examining the life of the title character . . . this workmanlike drama often keeps him offstage for long stretches, almost relegating Lombardi to a supporting role in his own story." [14]
Most critics were in consensus that Lauria's performance was the highlight of the show. [15] Variety's Marilyn Stasio emphasized that "[Lauria] brings that endearing quality to his scrappy portrait of Lombardi . . . Working off his own bulldog physique and gap-toothed grin, Lauria achieves an eerie physical resemblance to Lombardi, who used his whole body to speak his mind." [16] However, The New Yorker added that "Lauria would do well to tone down the yelling." [17]
The response from the football community has been very positive. The 2010 Broadway premiere was attended by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Packers president Mark Murphy and New York Giants president John Mara (son of Wellington Mara, who was Giants co-owner when Lombardi was the Giants' offensive coordinator), as well as Susan Lombardi – daughter of Vince and Marie – and a number of Lombardi's former players. The real-life Dave Robinson spoke of getting chills and feeling as if he were back in Green Bay when Lauria as Lombardi turned and looked at him in the audience, while the real-life Jim Taylor was also present and guard Jerry Kramer was seen in tears at the end. Goodell and Long hosted a special performance the month after the premiere to benefit the NFL's Player Care foundation, providing support to retired players in need. [18] Lauria also played Lombardi in NFL Network promotional material for the 2010-11 NFL Playoffs, including Super Bowl XLV. [19]
The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the third-oldest franchise in the NFL, dating back to 1919, and is the only non-profit, community-owned major league professional sports team based in the United States. Home games have been played at Lambeau Field since 1957. They have the most wins of any NFL franchise.
Vincent Thomas Lombardi was an American football coach and executive in the National Football League (NFL). Lombardi is considered by many to be the greatest coach in American football history, and he is recognized as one of the greatest coaches and leaders in the history of all American sports. He is best known as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers during the 1960s, where he led the team to three straight and five total NFL Championships in seven years, in addition to winning the first two Super Bowls at the conclusion of the 1966 and 1967 NFL seasons.
The Vince Lombardi Trophy, also known simply as the Lombardi Trophy or even just the Lombardi, is the trophy awarded each year to the winning team of the National Football League's championship game, the Super Bowl. The trophy is named in honor of NFL coach Vince Lombardi, who led the Green Bay Packers to victories in the first two Super Bowl games.
Paul Vernon Hornung, nicknamed "the Golden Boy", was an American football halfback and kicker who played for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL) from 1957 to 1966. He played on teams that won four NFL titles and the first Super Bowl. He is the first Heisman Trophy winner to win the NFL Most Valuable Player award, and be inducted into both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and College Football Hall of Fame. Packers coach Vince Lombardi stated that Hornung was "the greatest player I ever coached".
Bryan Bartlett Starr was an American professional football quarterback and head coach for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide, and was selected by the Packers in the 17th round of the 1956 NFL Draft, for whom he played for 16 seasons until 1971. Starr is the only quarterback in NFL history to lead a team to three consecutive league championships (1965–1967). He led his team to victories in the first two Super Bowls: I and II. As the Packers' head coach, he was less successful, compiling a 52–76–3 (.408) record from 1975 through 1983.
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James Charles Taylor was an American professional football player who was a fullback in the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons, with the Green Bay Packers from 1958 to 1966 and with the expansion New Orleans Saints in 1967. With the Packers, Taylor was invited to five straight Pro Bowls and won four NFL championships, as well as a victory in the first Super Bowl. He was recognized as the NFL Most Valuable Player (MVP) after winning the rushing title in 1962, beating out Jim Brown. An aggressive player and fluent trash talker, Taylor developed several personal rivalries throughout his career, most notably with New York Giants linebacker Sam Huff. This confrontational attitude, combined with his tenacious running style, a penchant for contact, and ability to both withstand and deliver blows, earned him a reputation as one of the league's toughest players.
Dan Lauria is an American actor, who played the role of Jack Arnold in The Wonder Years (1988–1993), Jack Sullivan on Sullivan and Son (2012–2014), and Al Luongo on Pitch (2016–2017).
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The 1966 Green Bay Packers season was their 48th season overall and their 46th in the National Football League (NFL). The defending NFL champions had a league-best regular season record of 12–2, led by eighth-year head coach Vince Lombardi and quarterback Bart Starr, in his eleventh NFL season.
The 1967 Green Bay Packers season was their 49th season overall and their 47th season in the National Football League (NFL) and resulted in a 9–4–1 record and a victory in Super Bowl II. The team beat the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL Championship Game, a game commonly known as the "Ice Bowl," which marked the second time the Packers had won an NFL-record third consecutive NFL championship, having also done so in 1931 under team founder Curly Lambeau. In the playoff era, it remains the only time a team has won three consecutive NFL titles.
The 1958 Green Bay Packers season was their 40th season overall and their 38th season in the National Football League. The team finished with a 1–10–1 record under first-year head coach Ray McLean for a last-place finish in the league in 1958 and the worst record ever posted by a Packers team.
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James Michael Weatherwax is a former American football player. He played professionally as a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for the Green Bay Packers. He played college football at San Bernardino Valley College, California State University, Los Angeles and West Texas A&M University.
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