<P> Produced by Frankie Hewitt and the Shubert Organization, it opened December 22, 1976, at Broadway's Lyceum Theatre in New York City . It moved to the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on November 16, 1977, and closed January 1, 1978, after 429 performances . </P> <P> Your Arms Too Short to Box with God was revived twice on Broadway, first at the Ambassador Theatre and the Belasco Theatre (June 2--October 12, 1980), then at the Alvin Theatre (September 9--November 7, 1982). During the 1982 run, Al Green appeared with Patti Labelle in the show . </P> <P> The phrase first appeared in James Weldon Johnson's poem "The Prodigal Son," which was published in his 1927 book of poems God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse . The passage--which refers to an arm singular rather than arms plural--reads: </P> <P> Young man--Young man--Your arm's too short to box with God . </P>

Sometimes your arms are simply too short to box with god