I may have a last name associated with basketball, and I drive past the Basketball Hall of Fame at least daily, but I know little about the sport, and even less about LeBron James. Let me start by saying that King James, Rajiv Joseph’s play currently at TheaterWorks, is not a biography of basketball great LeBron James, although James is a presence in this a wonderful play about sports fans bonding over the game. And, King James is not the first play about basketball. Jason Miller’s Pulitzer Prize winner That Championship Season chronicled a reunion of a high school basketball trophy-winning team. And the Broadway musical Promises, Promises had a fantastic song, “She Likes Basketball,” set at Madison Square Garden.
King James is set in Cleveland at the beginning of the 2003-04 Cavaliers season, their first with LeBron James on the court. Matt (Gregory Perri), a bartender, has Cavaliers tickets he needs to sell, and Shawn (George Anthony Richardson), a writer, wants to buy them. The play chronicles their friendship over the years as well as LeBron’s. Joseph has built strong characters, and has given them a rich palette of dialogue, both witty and wise. The laughs are many. As these guys bond, you quickly realize that you need know nothing about basketball to understand their relationship.
