broadfan,
A friend and I were discussing Lucky Guy and when I told him I thought they should have just dramatized one case he said the same thing you did: the play would become about the crime and the cops, not about McAlary.
I agree that it could easily become about that, but one could write a play about the case, but tell it through the eyes of the reporter. The first scene could be the woman walking into the police station claiming she had been raped. Then it would be up to the reporter to sort out the facts and we would follow the case through his eyes. Discover the police corruption as he did, etc.
The man won a Pulitzer Prize for his investigative journalism. Write a play about the how he followed a story, gathered facts, protected sources, etc. The case would be important, but it wouldn't be about the case. It would be about how a journalist, and by extension the "tabloid media," produces a narrative for the public to follow.
Sure it's not the most original idea ever, but I think it's better than what they gave us.
I think Lucky Guy is both better and worse than Lombardi and Magic/Bird. It's better in the sense that it's more polished, has slicker direction, perhaps a stronger ensemble, but it's also weaker in that the two sports plays didn't try to present themselves as the "highbrow" bio-play that I felt Lucky Guy wanted to be. The latter two plays knew what they were and didn't try to present themselves as anything more- I think!
Marie: Don't be in such a hurry about that pretty little chippy in Frisco.
Tony: Eh, she's a no chip!
