The 95-minute production at Circle in the Square theater, which was extended this week through June, has been a surprising success on Broadway, where football is as unlikely a subject for a hit play as dentistry.
Far from being a hagiography, Lombardi tells the complex story of a man who drove himself and his players toward an unachievable perfection and, in the process, damaged his family and his health.
"We didn't want to sugarcoat it," said producer Tony Ponturo. "One of the reasons people are relating to the show is that we all know life isn't easy. It's not just a Cinderella story. There's a balance to what it takes to be successful. Obviously, he was not a good parent, and probably not the greatest husband either. Yet he related to his players, embraced them, loved them."
Since opening in October, the demographic of the show's crowds has been unusual, tending to include as many sports fans as regular theatergoers.
At Wednesday's matinee, for example, some spectators wore Packers jerseys and Giants and Redskins jackets, the three NFL teams coached by the play's subject, the driven son of a Brooklyn butcher.
Dozens of big, burly old men - seemingly as miscast in the audience of a one-act drama as a chorus line would be in a huddle - hobbled around the intimate theater, fascinated at first by the Vince Lombardi photos and artifacts displayed in the lobby and then by the play itself.
"That [kind of crowd] is typical for the play, but not typical for Broadway," Ponturo said. "We really talked about these two levels of expectations. On the one hand, you have the normal theatergoer who's going to come expecting a good story, good characterizations, good performances. And then there's the sports fan who maybe never walked into a theater. How do you bring them together?"
The show also has attracted far more female ticket-buyers than might have been anticipated, given its macho subject matter.
