BWW Reviews: DAMN YANKEES...An Enjoyable Evening of Escapist Theatre at Porthouse

DAMN YANKEES…an enjoyable evening of escapist theatre at Porthouse

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association, Cleveland Critics Circle)

Probably the golden age of musical theatre in the US was from 1950 to 1960.  Great scripts like King and I, My Fair Lady, and West Side Story were staged.  Also produced were such flops as Salad Days, Zuleika, Ankles Away, The Vamp, ShaNgri-La, Shinbone Alley, and Free As Air.   Most shows were of the neither great nor flop variety.  These included the likes of Call Me Madam, Guys and Dolls, Paint Your Wagon, Can-Can, Wonderful Town, Fanny, and The Pajama Game.   Also included in the list was DAMN YANKEES, now on stage at Porthouse Theatre. 

With a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop, and music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, it is a modern retelling of the Faust legend which takes place in the 1950s in Washington, DC.   It’s an escapist piece that makes no attempt to make a philosophical point nor give a snapshot of the real world.

The story concerns Joe Boyd, a long suffering fan of the Washington Senators’ baseball team.  He fantasizes that the Senators will beat the hated New York Yankees.  He also has a secret desire to be an all-star who plays for his favorite team.  As the saying goes, “be careful what you wish for.”   

The devil, in the form of red-sock-wearing, horned-headed Mr. Applegate, mysteriously appears to offer Boyd a chance for his desires to come true.  The only hitch is that Joe has to give his soul to the devil when the season ends.  Boyd, in desperation, agrees.   

As the Senators’ fortunes soar, Joe realizes he’s losing his beloved wife (Goodbye Old Girl) and looks for a loophole.  Enter temptress Lola (Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets), a charter member of the Home Wreckers Hall of Fame who surprisingly turns out to be his ally.  What will happen?  Will the devil prevail?  Come on now, this is a musical comedy.   

The show’s track to success was not easy.  The 1955 Broadway opening was met with mixed, mostly negative reviews.  The next day the writing team got together, cut one number, switched another from the second act to the first, cut twenty minutes of dialogue, and rewrote the ending.  The changes went in that very evening.  An invitation to the reviewers brought them back to the theatre and garnered much more positive comments.  This was enough to make the show a modest 1019 production run.  By comparison, MY FAIR LADY’s original Big Apple run was 2717 showings.

DAMN YANKEES is a good script choice for the Porthouse audience who tends to like folksy musicals, with lots of dancing and fantasy.   They do not tend to be the NEXT TO NORMAL, RENT or SPRING AWAKENING crowd.  Give them patter, humor and happy endings and they seem content to stand and cheer the final curtain. 

The production, under the sprightly direction of Terri Kent, moves along quickly, has dynamic production numbers, and pleases.  Kent is fortunate to have MaryAnn Black and Eric van Baars, Kent State faculty members and Porthouse favorites, to cast. 

Black, who defies age, high kicks, struts her stuff, and wiggles her fanny with the best of them.  While contemporaries, the likes of  Gwen Verdon, who played the role of Lola in the New York production, have faded, Black continues to entrance audiences.  This is one talented lady who knows how to control a stage.  Her versions of A Little Brains, a Little Talent and Whatever Lola Wants were show stoppers.

van Baars, who often comes front and center when Porthouse needs a character to do shtick, inhabits the role of Mr. Applegate, made famous by Ray Walston on Broadway, with ease.  While there are times when there could have been a little more devil-like scheming, as a whole, sported by hysterically appropriate devilish costumes, he makes us believe the devil is amongst us.  His Those Were The Good Old Days was fun. 

As  Joe Hardy, the reinvention of Joe Boyd, boy-next-door handsome Michael Glavan, is typecast perfect.  He looks and acts baseball jock in an unassuming and “aw schucks” folksy way.  He has an excellent singing voice, moves well, and gives a nice texturing to the role.  His A Man Doesn’t Know was charming.   

Roy Berko, a life-long Clevelander, holds degrees, through the doctorate from Kent State, University of Michigan and The Pennsylvania State University. Roy was an actor for many years, appearing in more than 16 plays, 8 TV commercials, and 3 films. He has directed more than 30 productions. A member of the American Critics Association, the Dance Critics Association and The Cleveland Critics Circle, he has been an entertainment reviewer for more than twenty years. For many years he was a regular on Channel 5, ABC-Cleveland's "Morning Exchange" and "Live on 5," serving as the stations communication consultant. He has also appeared on "Good Morning America." Roy served as the Director of Public Relations for the Volunteer Office in the White House during the first Clinton Administration. He is a professor of communication and psychology who taught at George Washington University, University of Maryland, Notre Dame College of Ohio and Towson University. Roy is the author of 31 books. Several years ago, he was selected by Cleveland Magazine as one of the most interesting people in Cleveland.

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