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Play captures spirit of a legend
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“McGUIRE” at the Alliance Theatre
Grade: B
Showings: 1 and 5 p.m. on Sunday; Tickets: $25
Veteran sportscaster Dick Enberg shared a few memories of former Marquette basketball coach Al McGuire on Saturday afternoon at the Alliance Theatre.
“He saw life differently than the rest of us, with that New York street genius,” said Enberg, a close friend of McGuire’s, before a performance of his play, “McGuire.” “He was a one-of-a-kind character.”
Cotter Smith, in a 70-minute performance sponsored by Marquette University, captures the essence of McGuire’s Irish wit, streetwise philosophy and pure folk poetry that so captivated Enberg and college basketball fans. While Smith doesn’t quite match the fast New York cadence of McGuire’s speech, he fully explores the complicated man who received technical fouls for screaming at referees and wept in 1977 when his Marquette team won the NCAA championship at the old Omni in Atlanta.
At the start of the play, the final moments of Marquette’s upset victory against North Carolina are projected above the stage. The game is the catalyst for the character — McGuire’s reflections on his life’s progression from tough kid who grew up in his father’s Irish bar in Queens, N.Y., to the beguiling TV personality who brought basketball’s pleasures to millions.
Much of the drama of the play comes from McGuire’s growth. Smith convincingly portrays the conflicting facets of McGuire’s personality, from the pugnacious spirit that dominated his youth, to the humor, good cheer and “off the top of my head” wisdom that grew prevalent during his career as a basketball analyst. He also shows a knack for McGuire’s vintage jokes, based on basketball and life, drawing waves of laughter with each punch line and wry observation.
After winning the 1977 championship, McGuire left coaching and soon joined Enberg and Billy Packer in one of the most memorable sportscasting teams in TV history. McGuire and Packer frequently argued on the air, making for wonderful theater during their broadcasts, but the two actually liked each other off the air, as the play points out.
The performance punctuates McGuire’s philosophy of life through his last encounter with a serious illness. Smith paints a strong picture of a courageous man who faced death with the same cockeyed spirit he approached everything else. He died Jan. 26, 2001.
Smith’s performance fully shows the many facets of personality that made McGuire a true American original. His fans will leave the performance wanting to raise a beer — with a lot of foam, as McGuire liked to pour them — to the guy who loved basketball and life with equal passion.
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By Rambler
April 1, 2007 10:27 PM | Link to this
I went to the matinée Sunday and really enjoyed the performance, as well as meeting a living legend in Enberg, “Oh My!” Bill Walton sat behind us and UNC coach Dean Smith was in the front row. Ironically, McGuire defeated Smith in the 1977 Final here in Atlanta, which is the initial setting for this story. Afterwards, Enberg mentioned that he was hoping that the production could be filmed at some point, some vintage broadcast footage of McGuire added, to make this into a TV retrospective. The play would make a great addition to the event calendar for every Final Four in the future.