http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/r...ating-a-basketball-musical-called-small-ball/ Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey is well known for being advocating the use of advanced analytics in the NBA. But when Morey isn't crunching numbers, the GM spends his free time at the theater -- more specifically the Morey musical theater. Morey's self-called obsession for musicals has inspired him to create a musical of his own, which appropriately enough is about basketball. From the Houston Chronicle's Hunter Atkins: He has collaborated with playwright Mickle Maher on a treatment for a musical he titled "Small Ball." The premise: The people of Lilliput, a fictional island nation that appears in the 1726 novel "Gulliver's Travels," want to join an international basketball league. But to be competitive enough for that, they import "Michael Jordan," a man who turns out not to be the NBA Hall-of-Famer but happens to have the same name. This merger of his life passions is not a pipe dream. Morey said the show will debut in Houston within 18 months. "It's definitely happening," he said. There is a lot to unpack here. The title "Small Ball" is pretty great and one that Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni, who loves trotting out smaller lineups, likely enjoys. The twist that a "fake" Michael Jordan is part of Morey's musical is also highly amusing. But what Morey should've done instead of having a fake Jordan help Lilliput be competitive, is have the team starting shooting threes at an ungodly rate. That way art could imitate life since Morey's Rockets have been quite successful this season beyond the arc.
I love this. I have a daughter who is very much into theater, we just saw In Transit on Broadway over the holidays, and my kids remarked that one of the actors in that musical looks like James Harden. So we'll have to give that actor a heads up about this project.
i am just waiting for someone to comment and say, "Shouldnt he be working on a trade or something"? but i guess clutchfan has changed..
Yes, this is that. We haven't announced it officially yet but will be doing so in the next two weeks. Daryl isn't actually a writer on the piece. He is on our board of directors and he commissioned the writer Mickle Maher to create this musical for our group, The Catastrophic Theatre, to premiere right here in Houston. There were a few things national media got wrong when they picked up the story but I'll correct all the misinformation here. The musical is highly experimental and absurdist and a thing of great depth. It's not a lark though it is very funny and just a ton of fun. It's sort of a dream play, with music by amazing composers Merel Van Dijk and Anthony Barilla, whose original compositions are often heard on This American Life on NPR. I've been collaborating with Barilla since 1997. The playwright and lyricist, the one that had the entire idea, Mickle Maher is incredible and we have produced more work by him than by any other playwright because he's just so extraordinary in so many ways. Daryl sits on our board of directors and the way the idea began was that I asked Daryl if he'd be interested in commissioning a new musical about basketball and he was thrilled by the prospect. Because he sees all of our work he is a huge fan of Mickle Maher's writing and we agreed he would be the perfect person to conceptualize and write the piece. It was Maher that set it in Lilliput, for example. The entire script is from Maher, though Daryl was an invaluable contributor to the project because of his vast knowledge of the subject matter. This is the play I've been wanting to announce for two years. It's not a Space Jam and it's nothing like Andrew-Lloyd Weber. In fact, my company, The Catastrophic Theatre was recently cited among a very small handful of theatres across the country that are redefining the way music and theatre work together in the top theatre publication, American Theatre magazine. This play will be wonderfully weird, hilarious, heartbreaking, and unlike anything anyone has ever seen before. I wish I could share the script and music with you all because it's just so great. A lot of the national sports media picked up the Chron article and jumped to inaccurate conclusions so I'm setting the record straight here before doing so more broadly in an official press release announcing the project and all the details. If you're interested in keeping up with this project, please go to our website at http://catastrophictheatre.com/ and sign up to receive our emails. That way you'll receive regular updates on this project and on our other work. This project is planned to premiere in April 2018. There's one last detail to be sure of the dates but we're 95% certain that will be when we'll premiere it. Tickets will go very fast once they're on sale. And my theatre, Catastrophic, is the only professional theatre in town that has a Pay-What-You-Can ticketing system, allowing you to tell us what you can afford to pay rather than dictating a price to you. Other theatres do this on some nights but we are the only ones that do it for each and every performance. It's not for people to have a bargain or a discount. We say Pay-What-You-Can rather than Pay-What-You-Want because we need people to pay what they can actually afford to make the program sustainable. It's a core value of ours to address income inequality by making bold, adventurous theatre available to everyone at a price they can afford. Our recommended ticket price is $35 but we rely on those that can pay above that to make up for the ones that can't afford that price. We do this in order to eliminate any financial barrier to seeing a play. I'll be directing the premiere so I hope you'll all come see it. I feel certain every single one of you will absolutely love it. It really is that great. I can't wait until I'm able to share the full release with you all.
I don't care for much for musicals/plays. Last one I've seen was probably in high school. But It sounds interesting. Would I be able to enjoy this? @Batman Jones
@Batman Jones , In rehearsals for this play on Small Ball, do you practice costume and set changes in 7 seconds or less?
When this happens, start a thread for it please. Don't just add it to an existing thread. It's more likely to be overlooked if it's just another post in a thread. My bday is in April so this will be what my wife and I will do for it.
This is awesome on so many levels!! You must be stoked to work on something so unique. Thanks for the info.
