Damn Yankees

Rodger McDonald has a fiendishly good time in the Woodland Opera House production of 'Damn Yankees.'

McDonald plays Mr. Applegate, otherwise known as the Devil, who manipulates the action in this sparkling musical, directed by Bobby Granger.

Mr. Applegate is called to Earth by long-time Washington Senators fanatic Joe Boyd (Steven Read), who says he'd sell his soul to see his beloved baseball team win the pennant just once. Enter Mr. Applegate - a great entrance, by the way - who promises not only to give the Senators a winning season, but to allow Boyd to be the man who makes it all happen.

Joe suddenly is transformed into youthful heavy-hitter Joe Hardy (Tim Stewart).

McDonald does such a wonderful job in this role that one wants to check under all that hair, to see if maybe he's hiding a couple of little horns. His satanic persona is assisted by Laurie Everly Klassen's black-and-red costume design, and Jeff Kean's delicious lighting effects.

'Damn Yankees' has a number of familiar songs, such as 'Heart' and 'Whatever Lola Wants,' but opens with the misogynistic 'Six Months Out of Every Year.' This song implies that women have no interest in baseball, but simply sit around the kitchen in aprons, complaining, waiting for their husbands to emerge from baseball season and take notice of them again.

I know many women who would take offense at that portrayal.

But remember that this show - with book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop, and music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross - was written in the 1950s, and so we can take it as a quaint historical perspective.

Read, emerging only recently after a 30-year absence from the stage, gives a credible performance as Joe Boyd. He's a little shaky in his portion of the lovely song, 'Goodbye Old Girl,' but delivers a moving and tender reprise during his reunion with his wife, Meg (Kathi Davi), at the play's conclusion.

Tim Stewart steps out of the shadows to become the transformed Joe Hardy. Stewart is sensational, with a voice that fills the Opera House and an eagerness that makes his Joe a fresh-faced, likable ball player. Yet he's also able to pull off the underlying sadness of the man who lives inside him, who still misses the relationship he had with his 'old girl.'

Laura Lothian is mesmerizing as Lola, whom Applegate calls from Hades to seduce his young protégé, after Joe starts to waver in his commitment to sell his soul for a winning season. The lithe and winsome Lothian looks great in all those slinky outfits, and she manages to be both evil and sympathetic.

Brian McCann, also listed as the show's vocal director, is outstanding as Van Buren, the team manager. Although familiar to Davis Musical Theatre Company patrons, McCann is making his debut appearance at the Woodland Opera House; he's a great addition to the company.

Jori Gonzales also is making her WOH debut as Gloria Thorpe, a sports reporter who suspects there's something not quite right about Joe Hardy, and is determined to uncover the truth about the Senators' newest star player.

Kathi Ichtertz is quite good in the small role of Miss Weston.

Other standouts in this uniformly strong cast include Jessica Larrick as 'Sister' and Kathleen Flint as 'Doris,' two women who go ga-ga over Joe Hardy; and baseball players Erik Catalan (Henry), Tyler Russell Warren (Sohovik), Dan Masden (Smoky), Andrew Leathers (Vernon) and Justin Kelly (Bouley).

Gino Platina's choreography is first-rate. The ball players, in particular, display a range of athletic abilities that draw applause from the audience.

The show is set in several different locations, and the confines of the Opera House stage do not lend themselves to the kind of spectacular effects one usually expects from Kean's set design. The ball park, the locker room and the manager's office are quite good; the Boyds' home and the wall outside the ball park are disappointing, but they still work well.

'Damn Yankees' is an outstanding show, with lots of good, wholesome fun. And the original script has been given some interesting enhancements that bring the story up to date in an entertaining manner.

Damn Yankees

One of the more recognizable songs in the Richard Adler/Jerry Ross musical, Damn Yankees, ending the current Davis Musical Theatre season at the Varsity, is “Heart.” We’ve all heard the lyrics:

You’ve gotta have heart
All you really need is heart...

DMTC patrons will not be disappointed in Damn Yankees. It’s designed to be fun from the moment one enters the Varsity Theatre, with bios on the wall done in the style of baseball cards, and a vendor wandering around hocking raffle tickets as if they were peanuts and...well, I won't give it away, but let's say that the opening of the show--before the lights come up--is "classic.".
It’s a show with lots of heart. One would also wish for a bit more energy.

Director Steve Isaacson has created a good looking musical, with interesting dance numbers by choreographer Stephanie Skewes, all of which are executed well enough, but the show needs a bit more punch to make it sparkle.

There is a wide range of ability among the principals on stage, ranging from adequate to quite good. Some performers had problems staying on pitch opening night. Still, this is a show on which a lot of care has obviously been lavished, a lot of work has gone into it, and one can’t fault the earnestness of the result.

Damn Yankees is another version of the Mephistopheles story, it’s The Devil and Daniel Webster meet in the dugout. Joe Boyd (Billy Trainer) is a middle-aged man who has been an avid fan of the Washington Senators all of his life. His long suffering wife Meg (Gayle Wakefield) is resigned to losing her husband to the television “Six Months out of Every Year.” It is Joe’s fervent wish for the Senators to beat the “damn Yankees.” It is, he says to himself, something he’d sell his soul to see happen.

Enter "Mr. Applegate," (Mike McElroy) with an offer he can't refuse--The Senators will not only have a winning season, but, in exchange for his soul, Boyd can fulfill his childhood dream and be the player who helps them to victory. Boyd agrees, but insists on an escape clause in case he changes his mind. The predictable plot is set in motion.

For a production of Damn Yankees to really soar, one must have a terrific Mr. Applegate, the role made famous on both stage and screen by Ray Walston. Applegate should steal the show, but while McElroy is definitely a competent actor, he doesn’t steal anything. His signature song “Those Were the Good Old Days” is such a traditional audience pleaser that encores are written into the script. But McElroy had to encourage the audience to continue the polite applause, which subsided before he could start his first of two un-requested encores.

Tevye Ditter, as the strapping young Joe Hardy, is one of those in the “quite good” category. When he first appears on stage, confused about what has happened to cause his transformation, he is a commanding presence with a powerful voice and he holds the stage in each of his appearances. His love for his wife, to whom he cannot reveal his true identity (“A Man Doesn’t Know”) is poignant.

Another in the “quite good” category is Erin Jones, as Gloria Thorpe, the reporter who gives Joe his nickname of “Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, MO” and vows to make him a household name. Her role is small, but she is fun to watch.

J.D. Diefenbacher, who did a fine job as Joe in Showboat, is well suited to play the Senators’ Coach Benny Van Buren and he does a good job of it. It is he who encourages the team members to have “Heart” in one of the more memorable numbers of the show.

Megan Soto is the sexy vamp, Lola, whose assistance is enlisted by Mr. Applegate to seduce Joe. Her famous “Whatever Lola Wants” was fine, but again, one would have preferred a bit more “oomph” to make it sizzle. Her seduction of Joe is unsuccessful--and whatever Lola wants, Lola doesn’t get.

Others in the cast include Jan Isaacson as sister and Dannette Bell Vassar as Doris, two middle aged Senators fans; Ryan Adame (Rocky), Arthur Vassar (Smokey), and Chris Baker (Sohovik) with a reprise by Billy Trainor as the Baseball commissioner.

The DMTC orchestra and the performers were sometimes in disagreement about the specific keys of certain songs, but one assumes that this problem will be solved next season when DMTC moves into its new theatre and the orchestra will have its own pit rather than a platform off to the side of the stage.

This Damn Yankees will not top the list of “Best DMTC productions ever,” but there is a lot to like--how can you miss with a show about romance, love, commitment, dreams, fantasies and America's favorite pastime? One cannot deny that the production has “miles and miles and miles of heart.”