Touchdown on Broadway! Lombardi to Land at Circle in the Square

A new American play starring TV and stage vet Dan Lauria (The Wonder Years) will bring the life of legendary football coach Vince Lombardi to Broadway this fall. Eric Simonson’s Lombardi will begin previews on September 23 and open October 21 at Circle in the Square, directed by Thomas Kail (In the Heights). 

Simonson’s script is based on the best-selling biography When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi by Pulitzer Prize winner David Maraniss, which chronicles the icon's journey from Brooklyn boy to master gridiron strategiest. Lombardi most notably was the coach of the Green Bay Packers from 1959-1967, leading that team to five league championships.

Lombardi will have a one-week pre-Broadway run, July 22-28, at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Massachusetts. Other members of the six-character cast and additional creative team members will be announced shortly.

Like Lombardi, Lauria has coached football—the actor began performing while attending college on a football scholarship. His New York theater resume includes Ears on a Beatle, The Winning Streak, Inspecting Carole and A Stone Carver. Lauria’s numerous TV credits include CSI, The Ghost Whisperer, ER, The Bronx is Bruning, From Earth to the Moon and Law and Order: SVU. On the big screen, he has been seen in Independence Dance, Stakeout, Big Momma’s House 2 and Alien Trespass.

The show will be produced by Tony Ponturo and Fran Kirmser in association with the National Football League. Lombardi marks the NFL’s first foray on Broadway, with the organization authorizing use of its logos, NFL Films’ footage and music for the production.