Producers Fran Kirmser and Tony Ponturo are "shooting for their production of Eric Simonson's basketball play, 'Magic/Bird,' to have a March 21, 2012, Broadway opening following a Feb. 27 first preview," according to Kenneth Jones of PLAYBILL. A theatre has "yet to be announced for the open-ended run of the six-actor, 95-minute play about the professional rivalry and friendship" between Basketball HOFers Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Ponturo said that casting "is ongoing for the title roles, and four other performers." Ponturo said that they "may not find men who are 6-foot-9-inches (as Bird and Johnson are, roughly), but the actors have to at least match each other in height." He added that the production "will be 'fast-paced, like basketball.'" Thomas Kail, director of "Lombardi," will direct the play. The play will be produced in association with the NBA, marking the league's "first relationship with Broadway." Johnson and Bird are both "involved in the creative process of this original play, which is not based on source material" (PLAYBILL.com, 10/31).
