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During the days before guaranteed contracts, profit sharing, and big salary free agents, baseball truly was a national pastime. For some, though, it was more like an obsession. During the '50s, while the New York Yankees were winning pennant after pennant, the hapless Washington Senators and their fans had to content themselves to living the role of the lovable losers. Some of the Senators' fans would have done anything to win a pennant, even sell their souls. From this basic situation came the cute, lightweight Adler and Ross musical, Damn Yankees. One thing's for sure, Sondheim it ain't. It does have a few recognizable tunes, most notably "(You've Gotta Have) Heart" and "Whatever Lola Wants." It's also a cute look back at a more innocent time, much in the way "Bye Bye, Birdie" is.
Diehard Senators fan Joe Boyd is approached by a man named "Mr. Applegate," who is none other than the Devil himself, with an offer to make him into the 18 year old power hitter and fielder the Senators need to beat the Yankees and take the pennant. To do so, he has to sign over his soul and leave his wife and life behind. He agrees, but with an escape clause set for the last day of the season; if he wants to return, he can, but it may mean his Senators will lose the pennant. The resulting chaos, and his second thoughts about the situation, lead to dirty dealings by Mr. Applegate, even to bringing in his voluptuous underling Lola to distract Joe.
TheatreWorks' "Summerstock" production of this cutesy chestnut, co-directed by Gregory Jaye and Greg Santos, is like a .500 team; for every bloop single and spectacular fielding play, there are just as many strikeouts and blundering errors. Two of the leads, Timm Rogers as Applegate and Kim Haveman as Lola, score sure hits, while Lou Grossman as the younger version of Joe Boyd, slugger "Shoeless" Joe Hardy, whiffs miserably. The other leads and the chorus are solid like sure-footed fielders, but the sequenced music they sing to is canned and tinny like a bungled double play. While Robert Harper's choreography is enjoyable and appropriately exuberant, Gregory Jaye's set design belongs on a blooper reel. For every run scored, another is unaccountably given up.
The shows charm rests on its generally solid performers, with the blaring exception of Mr. Grossman. Mr. Rogers' performance of Mr. Applegate is terrific, and his smug sneers and superb voice carry a good part of the show. As the sexy vixen Lola, Ms. Haveman uses her solid "belter" voice and dance talent to balance Mr. Rogers' sinister charm. As the loudmouthed Senators manager, Van Buren, Randolph Carels is a great comic relief, and does a solid job, along with his "boys," of singing the most famous song of the show, "Heart." Also enjoyable are Robert Waller and Jacque M. Collins as the older Joe Boyd and his forlorn wife, as well as Tina Khalil's smart and sassy reporter, Gloria. On a whole, the entire chorus is wonderful, dancing and singing up a storm. In direct contrast to these good performances is Mr. Grossman's integral yet amazingly uninspired performance, which involved so little acting and movement as to seem like an interminably long freeze-frame.
Directors Gregory Jaye and Greg Santos have done solid jobs with this large cast, and Robert Harper's choreography is wonderful. While the performances generally shine, the overall look of the show is a rain out. Inexplicably, Mr. Jaye has taken a show which screams for flashy colors, and has designed a set without a stitch of color on it. Even the bunting of the baseball stands and the still-life painting in the Boyd home are inexplicably gray. The lighting and Margaret Emerson's costume design somewhat make up for this, though not enough to get past the question, "What was he thinking?"
TheatreWork's Summerstock Season is meant to be a time of trying out new things, new people, and new approaches. During the regular TheatreWorks season, this show would be out of the pennant race. But, giving allowances and considering just how much "Heart" this cast and chorus have, the show manages to keep itself out of the cellar, and even wins a few more than it loses.
Production Details:
Damn Yankees-Story by George Abbott & Douglass Wallop,
Music &
Lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross
Theatre Works, Peoria
815-1791
July 19th-August 4th, 1996
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