NBASports & Race

Magic/Bird Review: How The Hell Do You Do A Broadway Play About Basketball?

Basketball and Broadway aren’t exactly a natural pair. But neither were Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, subjects of the new play Magic/Bird opening April 11 at Longacre Theatre in New York City. Carrying on that theme, producers drafted two relative unknowns in Kevin Daniels and Tug Coker to play the leading duo. What results isn’t a masterpiece of a production, however the sports elements of the show are rich with both reality and nostalgia.

From the play’s start, you’re greeted with introductions that set the mood for the evening. Jerseys hang along the back wall, a locker room can be seen on the stage, and the hardwood floor allows for dribbling and quick footwork. This isn’t your run-of-the-mill set. The theatrics only get heightened as the show rolls along — baskets come down from the sky, footage from the 1980′s shadows the ongoing storylines, and the shoes and warmups that the main characters wear almost throughout are updated to reflect the changing styles. At this theatergoer’s performance, someone sat close to the stage donning a Celtics jacket and a backwards Lakers cap.

He fit right in.

All of the show’s details and props lend themselves well to the subject matter at hand, the strained yet sentimental relationship between two of the NBA’s all-time greats. Bird and Magic entered the league together, and also (at least at first) exited together. A sharp comparison is set up between the way the two deal with the press, their agents, their teammates, and others, and the basketball hoops that hang down offer more than a backdrop. For Bird, whose disinterest in all things unrelated to basketball is well known, the hoop is a haven to escape to when distractions emerge. For Magic, the court is a familiar place to return to when he’s diagnosed with HIV. And for both men, the game gave them a spot to battle first and to bond later. David Korins’s set serves that purpose well, bringing the men together as rivals first.

There are few scenes in this show not centered around basketball and those are the ones that stand out. Take Magic and Bird away from the game and they’re not the same two people. “I always wanted to be a businessman,” Magic says early on. That comment is contrasted with Bird’s sharp request to a reporter to “Ask me something about basketball” instead of race relations or the pressures to perform in Boston. There are several other underlying themes in this show, but the two men’s basketball styles and approaches to the game off the court are what resonates most.

Lots of real game video, arguably too much, is featured alongside the live action. It provides necessary background that pushes along the show’s weak story about this awkward relationship, and a chance for the audience to see how well these actors stack up against their inspirations. But the other thing this video does is escort us back to an era when two men could be judged and defined by how they handled the ball and not by how they handled their fame. They gave it everything they had and left their feud on the court. The court we witness in this production is purer than what we see on TV today.