Anthony Crivello Returns to Milwaukee as ‘McGuire’

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What more can possibly be said about Al McGuire, the legendary, winning Marquette University basketball coach who created championship teams and went on to become a well-known television broadcaster?  

Plenty, according to his fellow sportscaster and good friend, Dick Enberg, who wrote a play simply titled McGuire. And who better to take on the role of the coach than a Tony Award-winning actor—and Milwaukee native son—who went to Marquette University during the McGuire years? Anthony Crivello.

In fact, the two shared time on the basketball court, but not as coach and player. 

 “I was a cheerleader,” Crivello recalls during a sit down while in town to visit family. “I was close by to him [on the court] and we would have conversations.” Little did the actor know that “those conversations” would help to provide background one day in portraying McGuire as a one man show.

It’s a monumental role to take on and Crivello’s theatrical credits certainly give him the range and experience to take on the larger-than-life man and sports figure. Crivello has appeared on Broadway in many shows including Evita as Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara, Les Miserables as the unforgiving police inspector Javert and his Tony Award-winning role in Kiss of the Spider Woman as the prisoner, Valentin. 

Currently residing in Los Angeles, the 66-year-old actor’s portrayal of McGuire is more about embodying the spirit and dynamics of the man, who could be as controversial as he was laser-focused on winning. 

Charity as Well as Basketball

“He was brilliant in so many ways and cutting edge in so many ways,” says Crivello, explaining how McGuire would travel back to his native New York City (he was from Queens) and head into urban areas, scouting the public basketball courts looking for talent—unheard of at the time. 

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McGuire helped to increase the popularity of college basketball nationwide with his on-air convos with fellow broadcaster Billy Packer. But most important in his work was that of charities and in Milwaukee in particular.  “Al’s Run” was founded in 1977 and designed to benefit the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. McGuire who suffered from leukemia for a number of years, died in Brookfield, Wisconsin in 2001 at the age of 72. 

Yet, the play McGuire gives the legend of the man and coach “new life” as audiences who saw him coach and watched him on TV—and those unaware—can learn what this very private and dedicated man was all about. 

So how does an actor like Crivello keep the show fresh for himself since he’s all alone up there on the stage?  “The good thing about live theater is that there’s another player involved—and that’s the audience.”

And even after he’s learned all his lines and played the role countless times already, it’s still a learning process for the highly accomplished and respected actor. “Night after night, I’m being somebody so respected and beloved,” says Crivello, “and Al continues to teach me.”

McGuire runs July 14-31 at Next Act Theatre, 255 S. Water St. For more information, call:  414-278-0765 or visit; nextact.org.