The new Broadway play LOMBARDI, will be featured on NPR's Weekend Morning Edition tomorrow Saturday October 30. Morning Edition airs in New York between 8-10 AM on 820 AM and 93.9 FM. Check www.npr.org<http://www.npr.org> for stations and times in other areas. Reporter Mike Pesca spoke to Dan Lauria who stars as Vince Lombardi; Judith Light who stars as Marie Lombardi; the NFL's Tracey Perlman; and to Steve Sabol, President of NFL Films and to Merril Hoge, a former running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears and currently an ESPN commentator.
LOMBARDI opened last week and the critics weighed in:
"Eric Simonson has given us an extremely well-crafted piece of intelligent middlebrow theater, a regular-guy equivalent of Frost/Nixon. A good one for the guys. It is both tasty and filling. I know nothing about football and less about the Green Bay Packers, but LOMBARDI held my attention from start to finish, and when it was over, I went home feeling properly entertained." Terry Teachout, The Wall Street Journal
"A fantastic production!" Star Ledger
"There's a place for LOMBARDI in the Broadway huddle... It is theatrical catnip for husbands or boyfriends otherwise reluctant to see most Broadway shows: Football! Vince Lombardi! The legendary Packers!" The Associated Press
"Go! And have a good time." David Richardson, WOR
"Even if you never cared about Lombardi, you will enjoy LOMBARDI. And that really is everything." Mike Vaccaro, New York Post
"I know what I like, and I liked this show." Peter King, Sports Illustrated
"I loved LOMBARDI" Fox Five
"LOMBARDI is not just for football fans, it's for anyone who wants to strive to succeed and overcome, especially in these challenging times. It is entertaining and shows people what can be done if you work hard and succeed. A solid experience for anyone." New Jersey Newsroom.com
"You should see this play." New York Post
"A rare Broadway drama that's also a real crowd-pleaser." AOL
"Sports fans will get a huge kick out of the it, but there's plenty for the uninitiated as well. As entertainment, LOMBARDI scores points." Roma Torre, NY1
"With its uniformly good cast, tight direction and frequent flashes of humor, Lombardi is solid playing in every sense of the word." David Cote, Time Out New York
"You don't need to be a football fan to enjoy Lombardi." ABC News
"LOMBARDI presents a great opportunity for female theater-goers to get their husbands to see a Broadway play. But it's more than that." Craig Ellenport, NFL.com
"Lombardi" is as entertaining and as moving an experience as you'll find on Broadway this season." Yahoo! Sports
"If you're married to a football guy or a sports guys who never wants to go to theatre at all. He's going to like this." Joan Hamburg, WOR
Directed by Tony Award nominee Thomas Kail, LOMBARDI is an original play written by Academy Award winner Eric Simonson and based on the best-selling biography When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi, by Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss. Joining producers Tony Ponturo and Fran Kirmser as special producing partner is the National Football League, marking the organization's first foray on Broadway.
The cast also features Keith Nobbs as Michael McCormick, Bill Dawes as Paul Hornung, Robert Christopher Riley as Dave Robinson and Chris Sullivan as Jim Taylor.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.telecharge.com<http://www.telecharge.com>, by phone at 212-239-6200, or in person at the Box Office (50th Street, West of Broadway).
