Curtain Closing for 'Lombardi' on Broadway

By Alex Weprin 

The Broadway play Lombardi will close its doors May 22, the producers of the show announced. The news comes the same week that one of the show’s stars, Judith Light, was nominated for a Tony award for her performance in the show as Vince Lombardi’s wife Marie.

Lombardi opened late last Summer to mostly solid reviews. Based on the life of the legendary Green Bay Packers coach, the play counted the NFL and sports advertising legend Tony Ponturo as producers. Dan Lauria played the title role.

In February, the producers announced another play, based on the real-life friendship of NBA stars Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. Magic/Bird will open on Broadway in 2012.

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More information on the end of Lombardi is in the official announcement, after the jump.

Broadway’s LOMBARDI to close on May 22

The producers of Broadway’s LOMBARDI announced today that the show will play its final performance on Sunday May 22. Producers Fran Kirmser and Tony Ponturo said, “LOMBARDI was a story that we wanted to tell and an idea that we believed in. We wanted to attract both an audience which had never set foot in a Broadway theatre, and to satisfy the traditional theatre goer. Vince Lombardi’s remarkable life offered us the opportunity to assemble a cast made in heaven, and a creative dream team. We are so proud that we were able to do this on Broadway and are thrilled to announce that the show will continue to be seen across the country in licensed productions through The Dramatists Play Service. We hope to continue to inspire new audiences through our upcoming production of Magic/Bird, based on the lives of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.”

LOMBARDI ‘s Judith Light was also honored this week with a Tony Award® nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play, a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, and an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Play.

Set designer David Korins and projection designer Zachary Borovay also received a Drama Desk Award nomination for their work.

The production opened on October 21 and will have played a total of 30 previews and 244 regular performances.

Directed by Tony Award nominee Thomas Kail, LOMBARDI brings the audience into the life and times of legendary Hall of Fame football coach Vince Lombardi, one of America’s most inspirational and mercurial personalities. LOMBARDI is written by Academy Award winning playwright 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.

Starring Dan Lauria as the legendary Hall of Fame football coach Vince Lombardi and Judith Light as his wife Marie, LOMBARDI also features Keith Nobbs as Michael McCormick, Bill Dawes as Paul Hornung, Robert Christopher Riley as Dave Robinson and Chris Sullivan as Jim Taylor.

The creative team is David Korins (Set), Paul Tazewell (Costumes), Howell Binkley (Lighting), Acme Sound Partners (Sound), and Zak Borovay (Projections).

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