Monday, June 23, 2008

Theater Review: Damn Yankees

By Mark-Brian Sonna of MBS Productions

There is a moment in Act 2 of Damn Yankees currently being presented by Garland Summer Musicals that stops the show. Literally. John Garcia, the editor and founder of The Column plays Applegate the devil. He comes out on stage and begins singing "Those were the Good Old Days." He stops the show cold. He begins chatting to the audience. He ad-libs, reacts, and like a true consummate performer starts up his song on key only to stop a few moments later and do some more ad-libs. I was laughing so hard tears were streaming down my face. If there is a mega male star in the Dallas theatre scene it would be Mr. Garcia. After seeing this performance it’s evident why.

Damn Yankees, if you are unfamiliar with it, is the retelling of Faust. The premise here is that Joe Boyd, an older gentleman, inadvertently bemoans that he would do anything to see the Washington Senators baseball team beat the Yankees and take the pennant. The devil -- Applegate -- appears and a bargain is made: Joe will become a younger man and play for the Senators and help them win. Joe Boyd becomes Joe Hardy and he joins the team. Because an escape clause was factored into the bargain, Applegate hires Lola to ensure that Joe Hardy doesn’t follow through on his “out”. Everything of course falls back into place, but not before taking a few twists and surprises. I’d spill the beans since it’s a classic show but on the chance you’ve never seen it, I’ll let you be pleasantly surprised. Suffice to say, the ending is predictable but how they get there is not, and that’s what makes the show so fun. The other reason it’s fun is that the score by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross has some of the most famous musical and dance numbers in Broadway history.

Damn Yankees is a daunting show. It catapulted the career of Gwen Verdon and made her a legend. The Broadway show and later the film made her a household name. The role of Applegate was played on Broadway by Ray Walston and he too reprised the role for the film. The only one that wasn’t in the film that was on the original Broadway production was Stephen Douglass; he was replaced by Tab Hunter. For Mr. Walston and Mr. Hunter these roles defined their careers for years. The film version is pretty much a moment-by-moment recreation of the stage show except it’s done on locations so seeing the film is like seeing a filmed version of the musical. Any actor willing to do this musical is competing with seminal and award-winning performances. It takes guts to step into these big shoes. Or as is the case with the current stage version being presented, they smartly got rid of the shoes and got themselves a new pair.

John Garcia is nothing like Ray Walston and he’s perfect! I forgot Waltson’s performance the minute Mr. Garcia stepped on the stage. He had the audience eating out of the palm of his hand. The same can be said about Joshua Doss as Joe Hardy. I actually have to say that I prefer Doss’ take on the character over Hunter’s. He’s not as dreamy as Tab Hunter (few people are), but he exudes a charm that is almost illegal. He makes Joe Hardy sexy and because of it I’d pick Mr. Doss over Mr. Hunter any day. He also has a fantastic voice that suits him well for the role. Jennifer Laws (understudy for Morgana Shaw) is a powerhouse but she’s in the unenviable position of being saddled with the most difficult role. The role of Lola had been written prior to the casting of Gwen Verdon, but once Ms. Vernon was cast the musical was altered to fit her talents. Anyone who does Lola falls in the Ms. Vernon’s shadow. Keep in mind Gwen Vernon was considered the best dancer ever of musical theatre, and some would say the only other female dancers to ever have equaled her are Chita Rivera, Anne Reinking and Bebe Neuwirth. Ms. Laws gives us a flavor of Ms. Vernon, and while she can’t compare in the dancing she more then makes up for it in the singing.

The singing in this version of Damn Yankees exceeds the film and original cast recording. The emphasis on this production was the vocal performances versus the dancing. The tunes are classic staples of musical theatre and have become ingrained in the popular culture. To hear them sung so well is a delight: a big treat!

Where the production falters is in the dancing. This show was Fosse’s first mega hit. He had done Pajama Game and received acclaim, but he was still developing his style. Damn Yankees is the first true Fosse show. His signature dance moves were established with this musical. I’ve had the agonizing pleasure of having to recreate Fosse choreography. It is extremely difficult because it looks so simple to the viewer, but it requires a precision and control of a highly skilled and trained dancer. Add to this the fact that the score was tailored to fit the dancing so anyone who tries to choreograph this show is saddled with Fosse orchestrations. Joseph Jones does the best as he can given these limitations. And while he has some very good dancers on stage, his attempt to recreate excerpts of the choreography is where the show falters. The dancers are simply not Fosse dancers and it reads as such. Fortunately, Mr. Jones doesn’t do this throughout. He does break away from Fosse in "Two Lost Souls" and that number is a showstopper.

The cast for Damn Yankees is rather large and the entire company chews up the scenery. There are no weaknesses here. Stand outs include Keith Warren as the baseball player Rocky. His goofy grin had me smiling ear to ear. Doug Fowler as a fellow team member belts it out of the ballpark. Delynda Moravec and Linda Frank are adorable as fans of Joe Hardy. Jenay Puckett makes Meg Boyd palpable in her anguish over her husband having dissapeared. Emily Antrainer gives her probing reporter a delicious spin that made me think of the screwball comedies of the 1930’s.

On the technical side I must commend Buff Shurr the director for keeping the action on stage moving and never allowing it to seem crowded even when there was a crowd on stage. The lighting by Susan A. White was very nicely done. The costumes were to die for! Michael Robinson and Suzi Shankle found great clothes.

A few minor quibbles:

• The rotating platform confused me. The point of a rotating platform is to have different scene changes preset. The platform rotates and voila the scene has changed! But the platform was divided by a wall that on both sides was faux brick, so regardless of the rotation we always got a brick wall!
• The wigs were good, but styles varied from 40’s to 70’s, a little more cohesiveness would have worked better, they were a bit distracting because I was unsure of what period we were in.
• The pace. Damn Yankees is not short show. It has a long first act that clocked in at nearly 1 hour and 45 minutes. Act two runs about an hour. The whole thing could be tightened up a bit, there were some odd transitions half way through Act 2 that dragged the show some.

Lastly, two more things to consider:

• If you have seen Damn Yankees before do keep in mind that this show is viewed as a show where the singing is just OK and the dancing is great. Garland Summer Musicals has reversed this. The singing is great and the dancing is OK.
• If you have never seen Damn Yankees before, you will enjoy the show immensely. The audience gave it not just a standing ovation but a second curtain call, which happens infrequently.

Either way it’s still a enjoyable.

And for those of you keeping track…they had no mugs for sale. I would have bought one.

The production runs until June 29 and tickets can be reserved by calling 972-205-2790.

Pegasus News content partner - MBS Productions

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