First announced earlier this year… Fran Kirmser and Tony Ponturo – the producers of Lombardi, the Broadway play about the life and times of legendary football coach Vince Lombardi – have been working on a new play called Magic/Bird, that will tell the tale of the lives, as well as the professional and personal relationship between basketball hall-of-famers, Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Larry Bird.

The show is said to have the backing of the NBA, with both Johnson and Bird expected to participate in the new project, although we don't know in what manner exactly – whether on-stage or off.

It was announced earlier today that actor Kevin Daniels, a rising stage performer (credits include Lincoln Center Theater's Twelfth Night), has been cast as one-half of the duo, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, joining the previously announced Tug Coker, who will play Larry Bird.

The official synopsis of the play reads:

At the heart of one of the fiercest rivalries in sports history, two of the greatest basketball players of all-time battled for three championships, bragging rights, and the future of their sport in the 1980s. Johnson and Bird electrified the nation on the court, reinvigorated the NBA, and turned their rivalry into one of the greatest and most famous friendships in professional sports.

A Broadway debut is planned for March 21, 2012, and a website has already been setup for the project: www.magicbirdbroadway.com.

Well… hmmm… I'm certainly curious… I'm trying to imagine what a stage play based on this material would look, sound and feel like.

Guess I'll find out in about 4 months.

And who knows, maybe a film adaptation will follow, since that seems to be the natural order of things these days.

Photo of Kevin Daniels below…