Damn Yankees

From left, Dennis O’Bannion as Vernon, Dallas Padoven as Rocky,
Justin Keyes as Smokey and Stephen Berger as Van Buren
sing a number in “Damn Yankees,” produced by Music Circus
at the Wells Fargo Pavilion through Sunday, Aug. 13.
Charr Crail/Courtesy photo

The Music Circus has hit a home run with its current production of “Damn Yankees,” the modern-day version of “The Devil and Daniel Webster,” set in the dugout. While this is the seventh time Music Circus has presented this show, it is only the second time in the Wells Fargo Pavilion.

This Richard Adler/Jerry Ross musical, directed by Charles Repole, features Jason Graae as the devilish “Mr. Applegate,” who enters from beneath the stage in a cloud of red smoke and carries his own smoke with him, in case you forget from whence he came. (How did they do that? Kudos to costume designer Heather Lockard.)

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, and steal it Graae does. His signature song, “Those Were the Good Old Days,” was an all-out production number using all of the Music Circus raised platforms. It was a high point of the evening.

Applegate has been summoned unwittingly by Joe Boyd (Jeff Howell), a lifelong baseball fanatic, who dreams of a winning season for his beloved Washington Senators. After a particularly painful loss, he cries that he would sell his soul for a winning season.

Enter Mr. Applegate, gleam in his eye and a contract for Joe’s soul in his hand. Not only will he give him a winning season, but he himself can become the player who saves the team. Naive Joe makes sure he has an escape clause in case he decides this life is not for him and agrees, singing a bittersweet farewell to his beloved wife Meg (Lynne Wintersteller, last season’s Dolly Levi in “Hello, Dolly”).

The transformation from middle-aged, balding, pudgy Joe to tall, young, virile Joe (now called Joe Hardy, played by Zach Trimmer) is pretty impressive.

Meanwhile, the team is suffering the depression that comes with yet another loss and gets a pep talk from manager Benny Van Buren (Stephen Berger), who reminds them that all a team needs is “Heart.”

Applegate, in the guise of Joe’s agent, coerces Van Buren to give his client an audition. Joe, of course, impresses everyone with both his batting and fielding and is signed immediately to the team.

A reporter sent to get a story on the team (Danette Holden), is fascinated by Joe and determined to make him a star. She sees him trying to find shoes that will fit him and dubs him “Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo.” Holden’s role is small, but she’s fun to watch.

With Joe at the helm, the Senators make a big turn-around and are on top of the league, heading into the World Series, but Joe finds he misses his wife and his old life and even manages to rent a room in his old house so he can be around her (“A Man Doesn’t Know”).

As Applegate realizes Joe is about to exercise his escape clause, he summons Lola from Hades to be a seductress. Lindsay Roginski slithers and shimmies and does all she can to seduce Joe, who is only centered on his memories of his wife. It may be true that “whatever Lola wants, Lola gets,” but not in this instance. Instead, she and Joe become friends.

Applegate sets up more roadblocks to keep Joe from returning home, but in the end, true love wins out over evil and Applegate must return to Hades.

If you love dancing, this is the show for you. Choreographer Michael Lichtefeld has created some great numbers, including “The Game,” a raunchy reminder of what players give up in order to focus on playing the game.

“Damn Yankees” is a fun show that should appeal to baseball fans, their long-suffering spouses and anybody who just enjoys spending an evening watching a bunch of talented actors give it their all.

Damn Yankees

At the start of the second act of the Davis Musical Theatre Company’s production of “Damn Yankees” — directed and choreographed by Rand Martin — the coach of the Washington Senators (Scott Minor) gives his team a big pep talk. After the pep talk, the team does a rousing rendition of “The Game.”

It made me wish that Minor had given the pep talk to the entire cast before the show started. The show is OK, and I suspect DMTC devotees will enjoy it, but it desperately needs some energy.

“Damn Yankees,” by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, is a modern version of the Mephistopheles story, the story of a man who so desperately wants his beloved baseball team to win the World Series that he’s willing to sell his soul to the devil to make it happen.

Joe Boyd (Mike Ball) has been an avid Senators fan all his life, a fact that has bothered his wife Meg (Chris Cay Stewart) throughout their marriage, but she has learned to live with it (“Six Months Out of Every Year”). Once again, the team is facing another losing season.

When Joe cries that he’d be willing to sell his soul for a penant win, “Mr. Applegate” appears (Tim Gaffaney) and promises Joe that not only can he ensure a win for the Senators, but Joe himself can fulfill his lifelong dream and be the player who saves the day. All he needs to do is sign a contract, pack up his cleats and his bat, and leave a note for Meg.

No fool, Joe, he insists on an escape clause, to which Applegate reluctantly agrees (certain he can find a way to work around it). The play, and the game, is on.

“Damn Yankees” relies heavily on a strong, vital Applegate. While Gaffaney is a good actor, sings well and dances well, he lacks that pizzazz that make the performance rise to the level of great. Applegate’s signature number, “Those Were the Good Old Days,” is such an audience pleaser that an encore was written into the script, despite the fact that applause had died off before Gaffaney returned to sing it.

Ball gives a competent performance as Joe Boyd and the difference between the middle-aged Boyd and the young, vibrant Joe Hardy who appears when the contract is signed is like night and day. Kevin Foster’s first notes establish him as a very good singer and he is outstanding in each of his scenes.

Jenny Plasse plays Gloria, a reporter who follows the Senators around and who is the only one who picks up that there is something odd about the team’s new superstar. Plasse is fun to watch, especially when she is being tossed about by the team during “Shoeless Joe from Hannibal Moe.”

The choreography throughout was clever and would have been much better if the ensemble had maybe a few more rehearsals. The team dance numbers are striking when all the men are in precision, but when one or two are on the wrong foot or can’t get back in sync with the others, it just looks sloppy.

I am assuming that with additional performances under their uniforms, the precision will improve, and will then truly be a wonderful thing to watch.

Likewise, the chorus doesn’t always start on the right key for their songs, but eventually they find their way back, with the help of DMTC’s 20-piece under-stage orchestra.

Danielle DeBow is Lola, called from the netherworld by Mr. Applegate to seduce Joe. She undulates nicely through her signature song, “Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets,” though since Joe’s love for his wife is so strong, in this case Lola doesn’t get what she wants.

But she becomes a sympathetic character when she and Joe both commiserate about their respective dues owed to Applegate. Their duet, “Two Lost Souls,” was one of my favorite numbers.

Others in the cast include Jan Isaacson as Sister and Mary Young as Doris, two middle-aged Senators fans, and Steve Mo (Rocky), Mark Suarez (Smokey), James Cubbage (Sohovik), Adam Sartain (Linville) and stage manager Marc Valdez as the baseball commissioner.

The children — Iona Cubbage, Keiran Cubbage and Anthony Swaminathan — also did a good job.

I think fans of DMTC will enjoy this show. It can only get better as the performers settle into their roles. There’s a lot of fun stuff going on on stage and if they get Coach Van Buren to give everyone a pep talk before the curtain opens, DMTC could hit this one out of the ball park.