Playbill.com: Producers Fran Kirmser and Tony Ponturo are shooting for their production of Eric Simonson's basketball play, Magic/Bird, to have a March 21, 2012, Broadway opening following a Feb. 27 first preview. A theatre is yet to be announced for the open-ended run of the six-actor, 95-minute play about the professional rivalry and friendship between basketball stars Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Larry Bird. Producer Ponturo told Playbill.com on Oct. 31 that casting is ongoing for the title roles, and four other performers.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Magic/Bird, the New Basketball Play, Aiming for March Opening on Broadway; Casting Has Begun
Playbill.com: Producers Fran Kirmser and Tony Ponturo are shooting for their production of Eric Simonson's basketball play, Magic/Bird, to have a March 21, 2012, Broadway opening following a Feb. 27 first preview. A theatre is yet to be announced for the open-ended run of the six-actor, 95-minute play about the professional rivalry and friendship between basketball stars Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Larry Bird. Producer Ponturo told Playbill.com on Oct. 31 that casting is ongoing for the title roles, and four other performers.
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7 comments:
Rane Renshaw eat your heart out. Here is a show that does not attract my attention very much, but lets face it, I am a female who loves watching shows about weddings dresses. However, I will say that this seems a great way to draw the males in to becoming theatre audience members. What better way could you think of to attract such members than tricking them into thinking they're seeing a show about sports! I can't wait to see where this heads!
HELL YES. finally. the arts world reaching out its hand to finally attract the heterosexual male. BOOM. I cant say how excited I am to read about the worlds two most dominating entertainment industries (sports and theatre) merging together to create something, magical. I cannot wait to see how this develops and HOPEFULLY the stubborn, stuck up arts society will not raise their noses to a play about SPORTS. for instance - when i went to the NBA Finals this summer, the halftime show as a cirque du soleil act. Clearly the sports industry is inviting and eager to branch out into the world of art, and the arts world should be just as excited to join forces.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? Tricking men into thinking they are seeing a show about sports? You clearly have no idea who either Magic or Bird are and who the target audience is.
HEADS UP: Wedding dress show watchers and sports watchers are not mutually exclusive. The target audience is not just males and no one who is going to see this who knows anything about basketball is being tricked into thinking they are going to be watching a basketball game on stage. Both men were far too influential and if they wanted to see basketball they could watch the actual games.
As far as audience, first think about the teams of the players who are featured. LAKERS. CELTICS. The largest rivalry in basketball history. Both cities love their basketball teams like Pittsburgh loves it's Steelers. Shows about the Steelers are done in Pittsburgh every year to sold out houses. Why not bring a national rivalry and friendship to a national audience? Magic Johnson and Larry Bird are the most followed players in the NBA (as the article mentions) in the past 25 years. Magic Johnson is the reason a nation recognizes HIV/AIDS as a legitimate threat. A man asked to go to prison for 33 years instead of 30 so he could serve the number of years that was Bird's number (his jersey was 33). Neither deserves less than a Broadway stage.
I would also like to bring up the role of tourism in Broadway productions. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson are both international celebrities. This piece will also appeal to an international audience.
It is good that Broadway producers are spreading their wings a bit and looking for audiences that the big spectacle shows may not attract. Recently, Spiderman drew audiences interested in comic books, now we have Magic/Bird drawing basketball fans. Or are they? I am not entirely sure how many audience members are drawn in by the shows relationship with another entertainment form. It would be interesting to see the numbers. I could see these heterosexual males (as Rane put it) rejecting the piece because it is theater. (Although that in itself is stereotypical). Beyond the target audience concerns, it will be interesting to see how the creative team decides to make the show work. I would imagine that staging a basketball game on stage might be difficult. I am also not sure how strong the material is. Given, I am not familiar with the real life story, but based on the article, there isn't much to go on.
Rane-have you heard about the play Lombardi? It's the one that started this trend in my opinion, and I who know very little about football or the history of the man himself really enjoyed it! Getting straight men to the theatre may be one task (which shows like Rock of Ages, Book of Mormon, and perhaps this one will help to do), but I think it's equally great that these pieces can help theatre people understand more about sports, when the two were once considered such opposing worlds (think about it: in a lot of schools there were the jocks and the artists, and they were very much mutually exclusive). The more overlap the better, I say!
On one hand, its a great concept: a play about sports- in particular, the potential for this unique stage movement and choreography. On the other hand, I am very skeptical if this will work in a theater. By this I mean set design and casting. What I predict will happen is that an emphasis on the character interactions will be the focus of the directing. But will the cast fit the part: maybe. I see in the article they mention casting two people about the same height fairly tall, but not necessarily super tall. I think this is going to hurt the realism that they are striving for.
I am a great lover of sports. I can talk to you for days about anything happening in the world of sports, but it has been proven to me time and time again that I am a rare breed of theatre goer. Many theatre fans just don't care about sports, or the stories that they tell. This has been proven by many different shows to hit the theatres, such as Lombardi. Lombardi told the story of legendary packers football coach Vince Lombardi. Although the show received good reviews, it didn't fare well at the box office. I hope that this show is a success, but history says it probably won't be.
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