The Associated Press reported yesterday evening that former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson is Broadway-bound. The boxer’s one-man show will be brought to the Longacre Theater for a short run at the end of July, as a collaboration with acclaimed director Spike Lee. The one-man show, Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth, is a recounting of the life of the face-tattooed star, including his fame, addictions and relationships.
Gary Andrew Poole reviewed the original Las Vegas incarnation of the show for TIME.com, and found it a strange exercise in contradictions:
“I’m really an animal, guys, I’m just dressed up nice.” In a white cocktail jacket and black slacks, Mike Tyson, the former heavyweight boxing champion, recounts punching people in the face outside of nightclubs and having sex with prostitutes. It is all part of one of the more bizarre one-man shows ever staged on the Las Vegas strip, a production that also has the retired boxer gyrating and singing along to jazz tunes. But then for one moment, the narrative of the show takes on the promise of the American dream.
(MORE: Read the full review of Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth in Las Vegas)
Poole wrote that he hoped the show would get some revisions if it were to move to the Great White Way, and sure enough it’s due to receive some “tweaks” from director Spike Lee, who was not involved in the Vegas version. Even without having seen it, there’s at least one element we’re willing to bet will be different: the audience. The fight fans who get excited when Tyson yells about knocking “motherf—–s” out are very different from the stereotypical Broadway ticket-buyers—but we’ll know soon enough how the boxer fares with the new crowd.