Mitch Albom’s ‘Hockey, the Musical!’ plays it for laughs – Detroit Free Press
If you wanted laughs Thursday evening, Hockeytown Café in downtown Detroit was the place to be.
Free Press columnist Mitch Albom’s “Hockey, the Musical!” opened before a packed City Theatre and had the audience roaring for most of the 90 minutes.
The musical, written by Albom and directed by his younger brother, Peter, details the journey of five “pure souls” called upon to save the sport from abolition after God deemed hockey expendable.
“It’s all about laughter and having fun,” Albom told the Free Press before the show’s debut. “A lot of the things that I’ve created on a large scale … have had some serious overtones to them or life lessons. But this, from the very beginning, was just for laughs and so to do something just for laughs, you find that you wind up laughing a lot.”
As you can imagine, the musical was hockey-themed, with video appearances by Red Wings legends Steve Yzerman, Brendan Shanahan, Darren McCarty, one half of the “Bruise Brothers” in Joey Kocur, current star Pavel Datsyuk, famed coach and broadcaster Don Cherry and Detroit R&B singer Kem.
It was Albom’s first play since the widely successful “Ernie,” which will be running for a sixth year this summer starting July 28. But Albom said the shows are different.
“Other than we’ve turned a sports story in a theatrical piece, other than that there isn’t much connection at all,” Albom said. “If you like Detroit and you like underdogs that part is similar.”
Near the end of the musical, 2016 NHL All-Star Game MVP John Scott was “randomly” picked from the audience to play Scotty Bowman and pick out Lord Stanley’s Cup from a table of three items, including a protective cup. Also in the audience was Chris Ilitch, president and CEO of Ilitch Holdings.
“Hockey, the Musical!” was Mitch Albom’s first experience working with his brother, and the culmination of their bond and hard work is what helped make the evening so special.
“We were like, ‘Why haven’t we done this before?’ ” Mitch Albom said. “We’ve never worked together on anything, so to have this happen in our 50s has really been eye-opening.”
The musical was filled with references and videos to hockey and the city of Detroit. There was projected footage of Yzerman, McCarty, Terry Sawchuk and Petr Mrazek among other Red Wings, as well as Wayne Gretzky and Jaromír Jágr.
“It’s an underdog sport, it’s a blue-collar sport,” Albom said. “It’s not glitzy, it’s not glamorous. The guys are hardworking, they don’t have all their teeth.”
Though most of the audience dressed formally or in everyday clothing, two fans stuck out. Frank and Paullette Baker were wearing jerseys; Frank donned a navy-and-white Detroit baseball/hockey jersey while Paullette proudly wore a Pavel Datsyuk sweater.
“It’s a musical about hockey, and we love hockey,” Frank said. “We were fortunate enough to see the preview (Wednesday night) and were really happy to have tickets for opening night. We enjoyed it so much, and it’s a must-see more than once.”
The musical was dedicated to Albom’s friend and colleague Lee Rifield, who died in March. Albom credited Rifield, a booking manager for Olympia Entertainment working the Red Wings, Fox Theatre and City Theatre, with nudging him to make his hockey musical idea a reality.
After the show, Albom brought Rifield’s sister, Ilyne Barten, and her two children to the stage, and presented them with a bouquet of flowers to an ovation.
The musical is scheduled for 29 shows, running through June 19 at the City Theatre.
Friday’s show is at 8 p.m. To purchase tickets to any of the shows, visit OlympiaEntertainment.com, the box offices at Fox Theatre and Joe Louis Arena, or call (800) 745-3000.
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