King James explores how sports fandom is tie that binds guys

Actor Devin MacKinnon—one of only two performers in King James—says it has a universal theme: friendship.

The Da Vinci Code is coming to a Calgary stage in a few months, but before that, Rajiv Joseph’s entertaining and moving King James gave us a night of comedy that might alternately be described as Cracking the Bro Code.

The funny two-hander explores the friendship of Shawn (Michael Blake) and Matt (Devin MacKinnon), a pair of Cleveland Cavaliers fans whose friendship is built around the arrival, departure, return and ultimate triumph of hometown hero Lebron James, who led the Cavs -- as Jesse Jackson once put it in a different context -- from NBA disgrace to Amazing Grace when they won the NBA title over Golden State in a seven-game thriller for the ages in 2016.

It’s a bromantic comedy about two guys who make friends and the challenges and tribulations that follow the duo, who love their Cavaliers, one of unluckiest and most unsuccessful NBA teams.

That is until 2003, when the Mozart of the hardwood, Lebron James, a basketball prodigy who grew up just up the interstate in Akron, arrives to lead the Cavaliers to the promised land, just in time for Shawn to meet Matt when he has to sell his season tickets to pay some debts.

Friendship is a tricky thing to stage – a lot of whether you buy it or not rides on the ability of the actors to forge that bond with each other over the course of 90 minutes.

For King James, the chemistry lesson works beautifully between Shawn (Michael Blake), a 30something jack of all trades who writes stories on the side and Matt (Devin MacKinnon, a self-professed C student who was never very good at anything which makes you love him a little bit more.

When we meet them, Matt is working at a wine bar even though he hates wine. Lebron is a rookie and Shawn, a lifelong fan who has never attended an NBA game, makes a little money selling a story and puts it towards what’s left of Matt’s seasons -- and the two of them become fast friends.

King James spans a dozen years, with as many reversals of of friendship as the Cavaliers have reversals of fortune on the court.

The script is full of hoops chatter -- Michael or Lebron? -- that is familiar to anyone who listens to sports talk radio. (I plead guilty).

Of course, Calgary is a puck town, so I wondered how all the hoops smack would go over with the audience and it was a little bumpy, but maybe that’s just as much because it’s not exactly a great moment to be championing an American sports legend.

Every time Matt got philosophical and started a rant with, “That’s what’s wrong with America!”, he got whoops of applause from the Calgary audience, which very obviously has the question of what’s wrong with America on its mind these days.

As King James, which is sharply and energetically directed by ATP artistic director Haysam Kadri, winds down towards one of the more miraculous comebacks in NBA history, the two friends fight, make up -- and realize that having good buddies to argue about sports with is exactly the opposite of a waste of time.

In Cleveland -- and a hundred other smallish market sports cities everywhere that get a moment in the sun once every 50 years or so -- arguing about sports is a lifetime committment.

I’ve been arguing about sports with buddies all my life so I got all the references King James throws at us, but at the end of it, my wife, who knows LeBron but that’s about it, said she felt connected to the characters too -- even if the question of who’s the GOAT, Michael or LeBron, has never crossed her mind.

There’s a house DJ, Fly Lady Di (Diana Reyes) as well -- and Saturday night, she nailed it by spinning Wish I Didn’t Miss You just as I read the news to my wife that neo-soul star Angie Stone died Saturday in a car crash, adding another huge dollop of emotion to ATP’s enjoyable production.

King James is at the Martha Cohen Theatre through March 16. For tickets and info, go here.