Welcome

All the world’s a stage, and that includes the boxing ring. Boxing Over Broadway is a site

Danny Burstein and the cast of the 2012 Production of "Golden Boy". Doodle by Ken Fallin
Danny Burstein and the cast of the 2012 Production of “Golden Boy”. Doodle by Ken Fallin

where we will explore the arts, primarily theatre and the Art of Boxing, from a number of different angles in the hope of expanding the audiences for all the great performances of the past, present, and future. Our hope is to spark a desire in those who may never have seen live theatre, to go and buy a ticket for a local performance and experience the thrill of seeing actors practicing their art live on a stage. We also want to reach those both outside of the boxing world as well as those who are only familiar with the current boxing scene, so they may appreciate the great artistic history and talent of the once great sport of boxing.

Sugar Ray and Sammy Davis Jr. Rehearsing Golden Boy
Sugar Ray and Sammy Davis Jr. Rehearsing Golden Boy

We think many of those who start following this page will at first be surprised at how much theatre and boxing share. Both take place on a stage, are rehearsed, choreographed, and then performed live. Each performance is a one time event that is lived in the moment.

. In her brilliant treatise “On Boxing”, author Joyce Carol Oates wrote:

“A boxing match is a story without words, this doesn’t mean that it has no text or no language…only that the text is improvised in action; the language a dialogue between the boxers of the most refined sort (one might say, as much neurological as psychological: a dialogue of split second reflexes) in a joint response to the mysterious will of the audience which is always that the fight be a worthy one…Ringside announcers give to the wordless spectacle a narrative unity, yet boxing as performance is more clearly akin to dance or music than narrative.”

We hope you will enjoy our site as much as we are enjoying bringing it to you.

So, ring the bell, light the lights, and raise the curtain, it is time to enjoy Boxing Over Broadway.

Check out this video of Ray Robinson and Gene Kelly: