Former Boxer Jake LaMotta Will Be Seen Off-Broadway in Theatrical Tell-All, Lady and the Champ

By Andrew Gans
06 Jul 2012

Jake LaMotta and Denise Baker
Jake LaMotta and Denise Baker

It's not only Mike Tyson who is heading to the New York stage.

Former boxer Jake LaMotta will be seen in his theatrical tell-all, Lady and the Champ, beginning July 19 at the Richmond Shepard Theatre in Manhattan.

LaMotta will share the stage with his seventh wife, Denise Baker, for "an evening of stories, videos, and song and dance." The production, which continues through July 29, will also feature Carl Shimkin and Patrick Jude. Opening is July 22.

Written by Bonnie Lee Sanders and Baker, with stage direction by Baker and music direction by Joel Diamond, Lady and the Champ is described as such: "LaMotta relates, in ribald detail, his years as a boxer, and, later on, post-retirement, his many years owning bars, working as a stand-up, and racking up a long list of wives. He developed the show with Baker, to whom he affectionately refers as his future seventh wife, 'lucky #7.'"

The former world middleweight champion was famously portrayed by Robert DeNiro in the 1980 film “Raging Bull,” which earned the actor an Academy Award. LaMotta is currently being sued by MGM, the studio that made the film, to prevent a sequel based on LaMotta’s 1986 memoir “Raging Bull II” from being made. LaMotta, who was born in 1922, turns 90 on July 10.

Richmond Shepard Theatre is located at 301 East 26th Street (at 2nd Avenue). Tickets are $25; call (212) 684-2690.