from New York:
“Lombardi,” the Broadway play that tried to draw men to the theater with a story about the legendary Green Bay Packers coach, will close on May 22 after a total of 30 preview performances and 244 regular performances, the producers announced on Tuesday night.
Previously scheduled to run through June 19, “Lombardi” is leaving the field after receiving only one 2011 Tony Award nomination, announced Tuesday morning, for best featured actress in a play for Judith Light, who plays the coach’s wife, Marie. The production grossed $155,898 for its eight performances through Sunday, just 21 percent of the maximum possible and the lowest dollar total earned by a Broadway show last week.
Despite mixed reviews from critics in October, “Lombardi” survived through the relatively fallow winter months on Broadway as the only brand-new drama of the fall 2010 season to keep running.
The producers, who included the National Football League, had hoped to capitalize on the Packers’ victory in the Super Bowl in February. The play was praised by game commentators, and the actor Dan Lauria, who plays Lombardi, made an appearance in character in a taped segment during the Fox Sports coverage of the game.
A spokesman for the show did not immediately reply on Wednesday to an email asking if the show would earn back its capitalization, believed to be in the $2 million range, before closing. Few Broadway plays turn a profit.
Some of the “Lombardi” producers are now working to bring another new sports-oriented play to Broadway in 2012: “Magic/Bird,” based on the lives of basketball players Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.
Lombardi was my favorite Broadway play since "Francona," a musical about a bald little man who spits constantly.
