NEW YORK (AP) – Watch out, “Rocky” – the producing team behind some recent sport-related Broadway shows have just gotten the rights to tell the story of boxing great Joe Louis.
Fran Kirmser and her producing partner Tony Ponturo said Wednesday that they’ve acquired the exclusive global, theatrical and movie rights to Louis’ life story. If they turn it into a stage story, Ponturo and Kirmser will have their fourth sports-related play since 2010.
Their play “Lombardi,” about the Green Bay Packers coach, turned into a modest hit, but 2012’s “Magic/Bird,” about the friendship between basketball legends Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, didn’t do as well, closing after only 37 shows. The third – a look at the New York Yankees called “Bronx Bombers” – lasted less than a month.