“Small Ball” is a new musical about sports but it’s not your usual musical. It doesn’t have the grandeur of “Damn Yankees,” that famous musical of the 1950’s. Rather, it is a quirky story about a basketball player who winds up on an island called Lilliput, where the people are six inches tall. The coach loves basketball and wants a team, which is how Michael Jordan winds up there… No, it’s not THAT Michael Jordan as he keeps reminding us.
We are drawn in immediately with a song about losing after the first pre-season game as they wait for the inevitable visit from the reporter. But I can’t say any of the subsequent musical numbers were memorable. The story itself revolves around the losing team and how Jordan refuses to pass the ball to any other team members. They don’t understand why and neither do we.
The coach’s wife is also frustrated with her husband and the team. She is bothered by the fact that on this island, they don’t recognize the number 5. She leaves him and works to prove that the number 5 IS significant.
We meet the other team members- all three of them, one being Lily, the daughter of the coach. Through projections, on a screen where we see the characters in shadows, we understand the difference in size between Jordan and his teammates. They have all taken on the names of basketball legends- Magic (Johnson), Bird (Larry), and Phil (Jackson). It is amusing, as there are references to other fantasy tales- Horton (from Dr. Seuss) and Lilliputian (from Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels”).
Jordan (Jordan Dobson), who has not been paid yet, develops a crush on Lily, (Nadina Hassan) though he won’t pass the ball to her. And how can a 5’11” man have an affair with a six-inch woman?
There were a few fun moments, like the scene where the Lilliputians appeared holding tiny dolls in front of them. But the play was not compelling. The characters lacked substance. Though I understood the genre, the play needed more truth that went beyond the style. The weak jokes got few laughs in the half empty theater.
I believe that theaters are trying to stage plays that appeal to younger audiences but there weren’t many young ones in the house. A theater ticket is not cheap these days. Despite fine acting and good ingredients in the play, it simply didn’t develop into the production it might have been.
“Small Ball” with book and lyrics by Mickle Maher and music by Merel van Dijk & Anthony Barilla at Philadelphia Co. at Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 480 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, PA 19146, 215-985-0429 boxoffice@philatheatreco.org thru June 29, 2025
Philadelphia Theater Reviews by Frank Burd 