Levittown Boxing Play Coming to Long Island

The critically-acclaimed Off Broadway play, Kid Shamrock, which is based on the life and boxing career of Levittown resident Bobby Cassidy Sr., is coming to Long Island for an afternoon of boxing entertainment. 

Kid Shamrock, written by Bobby Cassidy Jr., premiered on Off Broadway in 2011 and has gained notoriety because of it's authenticity. Half the cast is made up of former world-class professional boxers, and the play re-creates Cassidy's fights and demonstrates the emotional swings that a fighter goes through.

"The boxing scenes may well be the best-choreographed fight action ever seen on a New York stage, on or off-Broadway," wrote the Irish Times in a 2011 review.

Cassidy, a lifelong resident of Levittown, was featured in a Patch article on Nov. 23, 2011 when Kid Shamrock was about to premier on Off Broadway.

Patrick Connolly, also a Levittown resident, plays a devoted Cassidy fan that meets an older version of Cassidy in a bar. On Connolly's resume is an appearance in the final episode of The Sopranos and Saturday Night Live.

The Long Island premier of Kid Shamrock will kick off a real boxing event - headlining the boxing card is a pair of regional title fights. The first is a New York State junior middleweight title bout between Brooklyn's Cindy Serrano and Little Rock's Kerri Hill.

In the main event of the evening, Oceanside's lightweight sensation, Michael Brooks (7-0) will fight Brooklyn's Jonathan Cuba for the IBA Eastern lightweight belt.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime event," said former heavyweight champion Michael Bentt, director of Kid Shamrock. "I've seen some of these prospects fight and I am telling you the future looks bright for them. The cast is ready, the fighters are ready, don't miss this."

The event takes place on Aug. 11 at the Plattduetsche Park Restaurant in Franklin Square.

For more info. on Kid Shamrock, please visit their Facebook page and watch footage of the play on Patch.