BIO-PLAY OPENS AT CIRCLE IN THE SQUARE ON OCT. 21

by HENRY EDWARDS

“Lombardi,” the new American play, based on the best-selling biography, “When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi,” by Pulitzer Prize winning author David Maraniss, opens officially at Broadway’s Circle in the Square Theatre on Oct. 21.

"Lombardi" follows the legendary Green Bay Packers coach through a week in the 1965 season, as he attempts to lead his team to the championship.

Lombardi, who never suffered a losing season, led the Packers to a still-unmatched three consecutive NFL championships in 1965, 1966 and 1967.

In his Broadway debut, Dan Lauria, best known as the gruff dad on the Emmy Award-winning TV series “The Wonder Years,” portrays the title role of the fabled Hall of Fame football coach who ranks as one of America’s most inspirational and mercurial personalities.

Like Lombardi, Lauria is a former football coach; he began acting while attending college on a football scholarship.

Judith Light, last seen on the New York stage in Athol Fugard’s “Sorrows and Rejoicings” and “Colder Than Here,” co-stars as Lombardi's wife Marie.

Light, a two-time Emmy winner, is perhaps best known for her roles on the long-running TV series "Who's the Boss?" and most recently on “Ugly Betty” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”

“Lombardi” is written by Academy-Award winning documentary film maker and Steppenwolf Theatre Company playwright and director Eric Simonson and directed by Thomas Kail, a 2008 Tony Award nominee for his direction of “In the Heights.”

Tony Ponturo and Fran Kirmser are presenting “Lombardi” in association with the NFL.