Outsports.com: Judith Light Talks About "Lombardi"

By David Mixner -

 

Some of the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers Meeting The Cast Of "Lombardi" Backstage

The LGBT sports site, Outsports.com, has a lengthy article and powerful interview with actress Judith Light. The actress has become the toast of Broadway with her performance as Marie Lombardi who was the wife of legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi. Light is mentioned at the top of the list of possible Tony Award nominees. The play "Lombardi" really isn't a sports play but a play about complex personal relationships surrounding the coach from his family to his team. Not only is Light outstanding, but it is one of the better ensemble casts (outstanding Dan Lauria and Keith Nobbs)on Broadway right now.
Here are some excerpts from the Outsports.com "Gay and HIV Activist Judith Light Stars In Broadways New Hit Play About The Legendary NFL Coach" by Cyd Zeigler:

What could a play about the roughest, toughest, most legendary coach in NFL history have to do with a gay audience? You might be surprised, but there’s plenty in the current Broadway run of “Lombardi on Broadway” to keep theatergoers of any sexual orientation intrigued and entertained.

At the top of that list is the performance of actress Judith Light who plays Vince’s wife, Marie. Light is best-known for her long-running stint as Angela Bower on the hit TV series, Who’s the Boss. Light has long been an advocate for the equality of gay and HIV-positive people. In fact, she said the overarching theme of Lombardi is exactly what drew her to the gay community in the late ‘80s and early ’90s.

“This was a community that rose to its feet as one body that had a vision and a goal to take care of its own,” she remembers. “They wouldn’t be dragged down by the AIDS epidemic and instead lifted themselves up in the world.”

“Lombardi on Broadway” is much the same, Light said. With football as the backdrop, the play explores the power of personal relationships and the importance of setting aside your own personal needs for the good of the many.

“It looks at human beings and how they operate with each other,” Light said. “How people operate as a team, what happens to people when they have their own desires and agendas, and what happens when you’re willing to surrender those to the vision of one person.”

Zeigler reveals that Lombardi's life had a huge LGBT angle in that Lombardi's brother Vince was gay and was loved and supported by the coach. In addition, two of the most famous gay football players Dave Kopay and Jerry Smith both played for Lombardi.

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