Since leaving the NY Knicks and the United States in semi-disgrace a few year ago, Stephon Marbury has become something of a basketball god in China, where a statue has been erected in his honor. Now his inspirational story has been converted into a musical titled I Am Marbury,—and as you can see from the clips of opening night below, it looks pretty bonkers.
The New Republic describes the show as "an allegorical tale of two Beijing street musicians who get selected for an American Idol-style singing competition. Allegorical, because their ups and downs mirror the oscillations of Marbury’s own career." Marbury doesn't sing—hell, he isn't even really in the musical until the end—and wasn't directly involved with writing or staging the play.
But he has embraced it just as he's embraced everything about his new life in China—and he also contributed some religious elements to his big climactic speech in the musical:
“I look at this as all God’s will,” he said. “That’s my reality and what I think and what I feel. I think this was all part of the destiny, part of the plan in my life. I feel I like I had to go through all the things back home in order to understand and accept all of the things that take place now.”
For more Starbury fun, check out a video about his "rebirth" which he narrates below.
