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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="color:rgb(204,0,0)"></span><br><b><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"><br></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">LOMBARDI kicks a field goal at Cleveland Play
House</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Roy Berko</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Palatino;color:black">(Member, American
Theatre Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Vince Lombardi, the long time Green Bay Packers
coach, is considered to be one of the, if not <u>the</u> most inspirational football
coaches of all time.<span style> </span>Unknown to
many is the fact that if not for Paul Brown, the first head coach of the
Cleveland Browns, Lombardi might never have gone from being a New York Giants
offensive assistant coach to his reign with the Pack.<span style> </span>It was Brown, recognized as the father of modern football,
who, in 1958, recommended that Green Bay hire Vincent Thomas Lombardi.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">LOMBARDI, which is now on stage at Cleveland
Play House, is a bio-fiction by Eric Simonson whose scenes shift between the
Lombardi house to the playing field, to his office, to the locker room.<span style> </span>Based on the book WHEN PRIDE STILL
MATTERED:<span style> </span>A LIFE OF VINCE LOMBARDI
by David Maraniss, the story centers on the fictional Michael McCormick, a
supposed reporter for <i style>Look Magazine</i>,
who is assigned to do a feature on Lombardi.<span style> </span>McCormicks boss, Tom Ryder, arranged for McCormick to be a
house guest of the Lombardis, Vince and his wife Marie.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Its 1965. Lombardi has transformed the Pack
into a championship team, following a 12-year losing streak.<span style> </span>(And, you thought being a Browns fan is
rough.)<span style> </span>The reporters probing
displays both Lombardis brilliance and dark holes, his all too human
positives, and his flaws and vulnerabilities.<span style> </span>It also showcases the love for his players, his difficulty
in being a good father, and his wifes keeping him in some kind of emotional
balance. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">How much of this depiction of the great man is
true?<span style> </span>Who knows.<span style> </span>Can we trust Maranisss book and
Simonsons play?<span style> </span>Whatever, the
story, as it is developed by the duo makes a plausible case for revealing the
Lombardi known to the public as well as the private man.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:#262626">Lombardi is as well known for his pontificating about
life, as he was as a football genius.<span style>
</span>His quotes include:<span style> </span>People
who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or
the problems of modern society. Winning is not a sometime thing, it is an all
the time thing. You dont do things right once in a while
you do them right all
the time. And, To achieve success, whatever the job we have, we must pay a
price.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:#262626"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:#262626">Interestingly, as revealed in the play, his most famous
line, Winning isnt everything its the only thing, wasnt a Lombardi
original.<span style> </span>It was actually uttered
in the 1953 movie, <i style>Trouble Along the Way</i>.</span><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">The CPH production, under the direction of Casey
Stengl, is generally engaging.<span style> </span>The
two-act play is well paced, the characterizations clearly etched, the staging
on target.<span style> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Bob Ari, who won over Cleveland audiences as
contemporary artist Mark Rothko in last seasons RED, is mostly effective as
Lombardi.<span style> </span>Part of the
difficulty in his character development is the way the role is written.<span style> </span>Ari often finds himself having to change
emotional moods with little lead up or stimulus, which results in some acting
rather than reaction moments.</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Palatino;color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">DeeDee Rescher as Maria, Lombardis heavy
drinking wife, is wonderful.<span style> </span>She
has a fine sense of comic timing, a consistent New Jersey accent, and handles
sarcasm well. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Nick Mills, as Michael, the reporter, jumps back
and forth between being the storys narrator and the principal catalyst for the
action, comfortably.<span style> </span>He is quite
believable.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">Branton Box has the good looks and Superman body
of the womanizing playboy Paul Hornung.<span style>
</span>Box has the cocky attitude and swgger down perfectly.<span style> </span>William Oliver Watkins as Dave
Robinson, and David Hardie as Jim Taylor each develop a spot on
characterization.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">When the show opened on Broadway, of the five
major reviewers, two loved it, two hated it, and one was on the fence.<span style> </span>The script was termed, heavy on sports
and light on content<span style> </span>and the
play doesnt make it to the goal line.<span style> </span>It was also sized up as being mostly predictable and
mechanically digestible. On the other hand it was also dubbed,<span style> </span>an extremely well-crafted piece of
intelligent middlebrow theater. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black">I found the script uneven, lacking at times,
while being fascinating in some instances.<span style> </span>The story held my attention, but was not compelling.<span style> </span>The production got all it could out of
what it had to work with.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:14.0pt;text-autospace:none"><i style><span style="font-family:Palatino">CAPSULE
JUDGMENT:</span></i><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"><span style> </span></span><i style><span style="font-family:Palatino">LOMBARDI doesnt get the full six
points of scoring a touchdown, but is good enough to get three for kicking a
field goal.<span style> </span></span></i><span style="font-family:Palatino;color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino">LOMBARDI runs through October 7 at the Allen Theatre.<span style> </span>For tickets call 216-241-6000 or go to
<a href="http://www.clevelandplayhouse.com">www.clevelandplayhouse.com</a>.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="color:rgb(204,0,0)"><br><span style="font-family:Palatino"></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:Palatino"><span style="color:rgb(204,0,0)"></span><br></span></p>