National Football League

Broadway's Vince Lombardi show has super night

Published Feb. 8, 2011 12:20 a.m. ET

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It wasn't too hard to guess which team producers of Broadway's ''Lombardi'' were rooting for at the Super Bowl.

''The end result is one that we're certainly not complaining about,'' said Tony Ponturo, who co-produced the play about legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi.

The show, starring Dan Lauria as Lombardi and Judith Light as his wife, enjoyed the coincidence of being on Broadway when the Packers won the Super Bowl as well as getting a few promotional segments in front of a record 111 million TV viewers.

''All the stars were aligned,'' Ponturo said Monday. ''It was very unique for a Broadway play to get that kind of exposure and reference on a Super Bowl Sunday.''

Ponturo and fellow producer Fran Kirmser estimate daily ticket sales for the show doubled Monday and they are seeing heightened activity on the show's website, helped in part by a few taped appearances with Lauria that aired during the telecast and an on-air endorsement by Fox Sports' Howie Long, who said he was a fan of the play.

The Lauria segments made sense from a business perspective since the NFL serves as a special producing partner of the Broadway show. ''It really did fit in with the programming in an appropriate way,'' Ponturo said.

The play examines a single week in the 1965 Packers season as a reporter tries to craft a feature article on Lombardi, who is famous for uttering the mantra, ''Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing.'' The show also looks at the costs his single-mindedness had on his marriage.

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Online:

http://www.lombardibroadway.com

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