Bronx Bombers Previews

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 1/10/14 at 12:10pm

Who here is going to this tonight? Curious to hear how it is.

[PlayItAgain]

Posted: 1/10/14 at 10:01pm

really hoping they tightened this up between its run at the duke this has some potential but only if they cleared up some story points. And super curious about Peters performance I thought Richard Topol was the shows strongest asset off-broadway.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 1/14/14 at 11:07pm

Lombardi had the cream cheese crab dip and Bronx Bombers has potatoes. Lots and lots of potatoes; how they didn't work in a Dan Quayle joke I'll never know.

I went into Lombardi with the lowest of expectations and was surprised by how watchable it was. Magic/Bird was sloppy, but I still liked, and all the video footage was a lot fun. Sadly Bronx Bombers is an ungodly mess. Did the Circle in the Square really deserve to have this and Soul Doctor in the same season?

Of all the stories they could have told about the Yankees they chose to tell this mess. The first act lumbers along at a deadly pace, but at least there is a plot and story to tell. Peter Scolari enters at the top of the show, picks up a phone and shouts, "I'm Yogi Berra!" The audience apparently was going to need to be told who was playing whom throughout the evening.

The conflict of the first act was the Reggie Jackson/Billy Martin fight in 1977. Berra tried to smooth things over between the two of them in his hotel with the help of Thurman Munson. It's all very dull, and although everyone seems nervous the stakes just don't feel high at all.

Then there's a scene with Berra and his wife talking about a dinner party they're going to host for several past Yankees. The first act was about an hour, and I was hoping for a 40 minute second act.

Well, if act one was boring, act two was positively baffling. The first VERY long scene was like a bizarre sister scene to the first act of Top Girls. Berra has a dream where all these Yankees from Lou Gehrig to Derek Jeter come to dinner and spout Wikipedia factoids about themselves for an hour. Berra wants them all there to help him figure out what to do about Reggie and Billy, but they don't even discuss it!! They just cram as much info about the franchise as they possibly can before it mercifully ends.

The fourth and final scene takes place in 2008 with Berra, Jackson and Jeter in the Yankees locker room.

The design is as cheap as can be; the theater has been reconfigured back to the round, and similar to Lombardi, furniture rises from the floor for the different scenes.

Judging from the 100 people in the audience I'm guessing this won't run very long. If you have to go because you're a Yankees fan don't wait or you'll miss it.

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 1/14/14 at 11:36pm

Kudos to you for sitting through it. They seriously could not pay me to attend. Did you get the impression that many baseball fans were in attendance?

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 1/14/14 at 11:55pm

There were definitely a few Yankees fans in the audience. As those on here who know me personally can attest, I'm a huge sports fan so I'm not coming from a place of being turned off by the subject matter. A good play is a good play and a bad play is a bad play, regardless of topic.

[oasisjeff]

Posted: 1/15/14 at 12:00am

Worse than Magic/Bird?!

[ILuv2shop531]

Posted: 1/15/14 at 12:05am

I went on Saturday and like people have said, definitely quite a mess. Intermission ran rather long and eventually we were told we would "have an extended intermission, and everyone would be back in the dugout soon". There is a bed that is supposed to go into a fly space that wouldn't do so. The entire crew came out and put it on a flat bed. Peter Scolari came out in character saying how we were a great audience and "it ain't over till it's over" and they would start again. The bed was left on for all of act 2, and the cast worked around it. However, it was really awkward. A lot of jokes fell flat, definitely a snorer. There were a few people there that were clearly Yankees fans, dressed in full jersey and hat. Actually, it was sort of distracting sitting in a round when you are trying to watch the show filled with actors in Yankees uniforms & there is someone on the other side of the circle dressed exactly the same. Circle in the Square is going down the flop path once again & it's quite a shame.

[FishermanBob]

Posted: 1/15/14 at 12:26am

It sounds like it's even taken a step back from where it was when it ran Off Broadway last fall. There was an interesting Daily News article about the show last Friday. In it, the producers said we listened to the critics and made changes. But weirdly they got rid of Richard Topol whom critics thought was one of the show's few strong points while keeping the disjointed and unconnected two act play structure unchanged from what it was Off Broadway, which the critics hated. Topol at least looked and felt a little like Berra. Scolari does not at all but then truthfully I've never been a fan of his. The article makes it sound like the producers don't really give a crap whether it is successful on Broadway but are just getting it to Broadway for however long it lasts to check the box so they can make their real money from regional productions down the road. Certainly not a recipe for success or quality.
Updated On: 1/15/14 at 12:26 AM

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 6:23pm

"There were definitely a few Yankees fans in the audience. As those on here who know me personally can attest, I'm a huge sports fan so I'm not coming from a place of being turned off by the subject matter. A good play is a good play and a bad play is a bad play, regardless of topic. "

As a long time Yankee fan, it was sad to read how awful this play is by those who have seen it.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 7:41pm

Saw it Off Bway and found it entertaining. Not worth $ 137 for an Off Bway show that should be @ New World Stages

The price may be a big reason it has a ton of performances on TDF.

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 8:54pm

But who is the producer who thought this had a chance to turn a profit on Broadway? It didn't even get great reviews off Broadway. Where are they possibly going to find their audience?

[wexy]

Posted: 1/16/14 at 10:50pm

I'm a big Yankee fan. I go to 15 games a season and I have no desire whatsoever to see this.

[Kad]

Posted: 1/17/14 at 8:09am

They are papering this like crazy. I can't see this running very long.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 1/17/14 at 8:21am

Whizzer - You are 100% correct IMO, the story sounds really lame. If you are going to try and do a sports play, you need to do it about a individual and not a team. My original thought was that maybe a show about Steinbrenner could be interesting if done properly. Show could start with him buying the Yankees and be about the many battles he had with players (Jackson, Winfield etc), managers (Martin) and baseball commissioners.

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 1/17/14 at 9:01am

yankeefan- The play wasn't even about a specific team, but tried to cover the entire franchise! Can you imagine if Lombardi had been about Lombardi/Starr, Favre and Rodgers? It would have been a mess!

Steinbrenner's career could easily make for a good play (or tv show). Oddly he's one of the few people NOT to appear the play, although they mention him quite a bit. I couldn't figure out why they made Yogi Berra the main character when they're not telling his story at all.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 1/17/14 at 9:04am

You never know how reliable Riedel is but according to him there is a Steinbrenner play in the works.
NY Post Link

[stevenycguy]

Posted: 1/17/14 at 9:05am

Strongly hated Bronx Bombers off-Broadway (Primary Stages could have put the show with the Queer as Folk actor on Broadway instead for a much more successful run. But Major League Baseball is footing the bill for this disaster known as Bronx Bombers instead.) There is no way I would even consider the thought of returning to see it on Broadway unless I was paid for my time. Dull, meandering, confusing, boring and endless. Staring at a blank wall would have been more interesting than seeing this 2 hour 10 minute mess of a show. I can't wait to see the abysmal grosses, but I don't think Major League Baseball cares. They just want to tour it around the country. There are so many great new shows on Broadway like Machinal that I'd highly recommend. Stay far, FAR away from Bronx Bombers.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 1/18/14 at 2:57pm

Whizzer - Once again you are right on the money, having it be about the entire franchise is just incredibly stupid. Sometimes you wonder what these people are thinking - lol.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 1/18/14 at 5:09pm

Just saw it. The play and performances are so atrociously bad, that I won't even bother wasting energy to write a review.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 1/24/14 at 11:38pm

Saw it tonight. Yeesh.

I thought LOMBARDI was hit or miss, but mostly enjoyable and I was pretty much bored out of my mind by MAGIC/BIRD, which I openly hated. I don't know if I disliked it as much as I disliked MAGIC/BIRD (my dislike for M/B actually grew in the days after seeing it), but BRONX BOMBERS makes LOMBARDI look like DEATH OF A SALESMAN.

For the majority of the first act, we get constant talk of action we'd rather be seeing than hearing about. This is an inherent problem with sports-related plays. It's difficult to stage the action of a sporting event, but it's an absolute bore to hear people talk about it ad nauseum. Especially if the playwright's renderings of the characters in question are one-dimensional and wildly uninvolving. After that's all done, we get a weird entrance from Babe Ruth towards the end of the first act, which brought back memories of the appearance of Jesus in The Circle in the Square when SPELLING BEE was there. Except this Christ-like conjuring isn't supposed to be funny. And yes, we get dry ice and all the works. The second act is absolutely bizarre. Yogi is having dinner with his wife and six of the Yankees' most legendary players. They just sit around and talk. And yell. And we get heavy-handed references to 9/11, Lou Gehrig's illness, and Joe DiMaggio's relationship with Marilyn Monroe. As well as some of the most lazy jokes I've heard in the theater in some time (Lou doesn't know what a TV is because it wasn't invented when he was on the Yankees. GET IT?!?!) These players are clearly revered by the playwright and millions of Yankee fans, but there is a fine line between paying homage and painting them like actual Gods. BRONX BOMBERS crosses that line. And isn't subtle about it.

The acting all falls into one of two categories. They're all either phoning it in or overacting. There's really no middle ground here.

Unless you are an absolute die-hard Yankee fan, you're not missing much if you skip this one. To say the least. Updated On: 1/25/14 at 11:38 PM

[PlayItAgain]

Posted: 1/25/14 at 12:18am

what I want to know is what moron decided to start previews in the middle of january, they really couldnt have atleast waited for spring training to start?