Bronx Bombers to transfer to Circle In The Square?

[PlayItAgain]

Posted: 10/9/13 at 5:09pm

Heard this rumor today. Now that Soul Doctor is vacating Circle it seems a familiar tenant might be taking its place. Eric Simonson whose play Lombardi played the theater for over 250 performances maybe bringing his new baseball play Bronx Bombers to the space. Being that the show is set in the round at its current theater The Duke on 42nd street, this could be a good fit. Presumably it would launch in the spring to coincide with the beginning of the 2014-2015 baseball season.

Updated On: 10/9/13 at 05:09 PM

[ACL2006]

Posted: 10/9/13 at 5:29pm

Lombardi was a flop, so why do it again??

[PlayItAgain]

Posted: 10/9/13 at 5:48pm

MLB money/ it is a play about the Yankees, something New Yorkers cares a lot more about than the Green Bay Packers

[evic]

Posted: 10/9/13 at 5:59pm

Just in time for football season.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/9/13 at 6:32pm

Both plays were flops: Lombardi and Magic/Bird. But maybe third time's a charm? It's got a great cast, and the reviews were pretty good.

I thought Lombardi was actually pretty interesting, but I missed Magic/Bird. Not sure normal theatergoers care about sports like this, but maybe they can make it work.

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 10/9/13 at 7:20pm

I've only read one review of this and it was today's Post. Two stats. Very "meh". Are other notices more positive?

I dunno. This guy seems like the Frank Wildhorn of sports plays. He keeps churning out the flops and they keep getting produced.

[winston89]

Posted: 10/9/13 at 7:27pm

I know that the NFL was a producer of Lombardi, hell their logo was on the corner of every poster for that show outside the Circle in the Square. Furthermore, I remember reading stories of various NFL teams seeing that play when they came to New York to face either the Jets or Giants. Maybe something similar can happen here? Who knows.

I think that the big difference between Lombardi and something like Magic/Bird, was that the NFL has been well known for having NFL Films. And, although those films are documentaries, the music, narration and the way that they are produced gives it the feel of an intense war drama. To me, when I saw Lombardi, it had that similar feeling and I felt that I was seeing an NFL Films documentary on stage.

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 10/9/13 at 8:12pm

Bronx Bombers seems like a natural fit for the Circle in the Square. Magic/Bird was a flop. Lombardi ran for 7 months and got Judith Light a Tony nom. Considering it targeted a very specific audience, that's not a bad run and I certainly would not call it a flop (if you are using whether it recouped as your defintion, save it. By that standard, most shows are flops).

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 10/9/13 at 8:39pm

So baseball fans are going to pay a hundred and fifty bucks to see this thing? Dont hold your breath. Anyone else running to the box office with their hundred and fifty waving in their hot little had to get in? Doubtful.

And yes, I'll "save it" about being recouped on Lonbardi. Everyone knows that no show needs to recoup. Zzzzzzz.

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 10/9/13 at 11:06pm

The statement "So (fill in the blank) fans are going to pay a hundred and fifty bucks to see this thing? Dont hold your breath" could be said about many shows, past and present. It's an extremely short sighted view completely ignoring whether a compelling story is being told and whether it is good theater. If it is, they will come and if it isn't they won't, regardless of the subject. I haven't seen it so I don't know. It doesn't sound like you have seen it either but fortunately, you're not letting that small detail stop you from proclaiming it a flop based on one review in the Post. Good thing you weren't a decision maker when Damn Yankees was first trying to get to Broadway.

Updated On: 10/9/13 at 11:06 PM

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 10/9/13 at 11:24pm

MAGIC/BIRD sucked, but I enjoyed most of LOMBARDI. Sports-related shows seem to be a total crapshoot, but they're definitely an...extreme uphill battle in terms of success.

[jbm2]

Posted: 10/10/13 at 12:08am

Is Bronx Bomers worth checking out? While it's Off broadway

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/10/13 at 12:11am

And Lombardi is being produced like crazy by regional houses, so it's been a success.

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 10/10/13 at 8:26pm

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Fishermanbob, you're right and I'm wrong, and oh, by the way, now that the Times has trashed it, is it still on a bullet train to Broadway?

http://theater.nytimes.com/2013/10/10/theater/reviews/bronx-bombers-revisits-the-1977-.comhtml?_r=0.com

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 10/10/13 at 10:30pm

Matt, I never said it was a hit or on the bullet train to Broadway. My comment was that if it did transfer, Circle in the Square was a good fit for it. My larger point which I hope you can grasp is that I wasn't sure of what it was since I hadn't seen it and the reviews were largely not in yet. You however, gleefully proclaimed it a flop based on one early review. Would you have had the stones to come on here and say you were wrong if the Times liked it? I doubt it. Most reviews were mixed and think it is too sentimental and syrupy but that there is some good stuff there. It's a 4 week off Broadway run at a 200 seat house, basically the equivalent of a first "out of town" tryout. The acting was well received and they can certainly make changes and rewrite it to give it more bite and weight based on the feedback they received if they want to try for a transfer, something numerous other Broadway bound shows have had to do after the first staging. But in your world of pull quotes, sound bites and knee jerk reactions I suppose it's just easier to make black and white judgments with little information. And by the way, I thought your criteria for a flop was whether the show recoups. What do you care what the reviews say anyway. Shouldn't you just be looking at the box office receipts.

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 10/10/13 at 10:44pm

It is hardly a play at all, it's a marketing strategy. Baseball fans are smarter than this show.
Bronx Bombers Review: The Yankees Bunt Off-Broadway

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/10/13 at 10:52pm

Granted the only review I read was in AM New York on the way to work in the morning....and it was a rave, but maybe not the best source.

[NewYorkTheater]

Posted: 10/10/13 at 10:58pm

Here are quotes from the AM NY review: "unapologetically unchallenging....hardly a masterpiece....serviceable in-the-round staging...a guilty pleasure, ." Yes, he liked it. But a rave? And this was the most positive one I saw.

[PlayItAgain]

Posted: 10/20/13 at 1:38am

Some second act revisions and bringing on another director, could definitely see this moving in the spring its about as good as Lombardi, not amazing but definitely a step up from Magic/Bird

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 10/20/13 at 1:51am

Why bother? I guess I'm kind of biased though since I do not keep up with sports in any way, shape, or form, and could not care less about them.

[PlayItAgain]

Posted: 10/20/13 at 2:00am

unlike Lombardi (Green Bay packers) or Magic/Bird (Lakers/Celtics) Bronx Bombers has a huge new york audience already built in, its a play about the home team which should at least draw more business then his last two shows, the number of folks wearing Yankees stuff at tonight's performance was mind blowing

[wexy]

Posted: 10/20/13 at 8:17am

I'm a rabid Yankee fan. There is no way in the world that I'm going to see this..

[theatreguy]

Posted: 10/20/13 at 9:19pm

It's happening. Previews begin January 10.

http://www2.telecharge.com/BehindTheCurtain.aspx?prodid=10058

[PlayItAgain]

Posted: 10/20/13 at 9:29pm

boom. nailed it :) and apparently richard topol is being replaced by peter scolari

[CapnHook]

Posted: 10/20/13 at 9:32pm

I was hoping DOMESTICATED would transfer there.