One baseball fan’s lament, and an actual “deal with the Devil,” set off the action in the musical, “Damn Yankees.” A production is currently underway at Peoria Players Theatre. Stan Strickler has this review for Peoria Public Radio and the Live Theatre League of Peoria. Opinions expressed are those of the reviewer, not those of Peoria Public Radio or the Live Theatre League.
Damn Yankees opened appropriately on Friday at Peoria Players just as baseball season is beginning. The show is a nostalgic look back at baseball when the Yankees won the pennant every year, and were the team everyone loved to hate. Like many 50’s musicals it has a love story, some dance numbers, comic characters and oddly enough a requisite song with a Spanish flair.
The story revolves around Joe Boyd -- an avid Washington Senators fan who is tired of losing to the Yankees every year and says he would sell his soul for a long ball hitter for his favorite team. Enter Mr. Applegate who promises to make Joe that hitter. Joe transforms into Joe Hardy and leaves his wife behind for the chance to play baseball. As the season progresses, he realizes how much he misses his wife, and Applegate sends his ally Lola to seduce Joe. Naturally, the whole thing ends happily with the Senators winning the pennant and Joe back with his wife.
Director Jimmy Ulrich has assembled an excellent cast for this production. Bill Barr as Joe Boyd does a credible job as the long suffering fan. Deric Kimler as Joe Hardy is a talented singer and actor and a decent dancer. It is a pleasure to watch him on stage. Also outstanding in this production are Ingrid Behyl as Lola, Bryan Blanks as Mr. Applegate, Wendy Blickenstaff as Meg, and Jillian Risinger as Gloria. Behyl brings a sexiness and charm to the stage in her number “Whatever Lola Wants” and shows a tenderness as she falls in love with Joe. Bryan Blanks is all evil and conniving. Blickenstaff shows exhibits her emotional side as she longs for Joe and Risinger plays the part of the nosy reporter quite well.
All in all this was an excellent production. The singing was good and music director Lyndsay Byers seems to get the best of the cast. Maggie Sloter as conductor is also to be commended. It is nice in this age to hear a live orchestra rather than electronically produced music. The set design by Christine Paternoga [patter-NOH-guh] was excellent allowing for quick movement between scenes.
As you entered the theater the feel of attending a baseball game was evident with large Washington Senators logos facing the audience. This feeling was further enhanced by singing the National Anthem at the beginning of the show and “Take Me out to the Ballgame” at the end of intermission. Jimmy Ulrich made a wise decision to include these touches in order to make the experience more real.
The choreography by Dedra Kaiser [DEE druh KY zur] was varied and good, however most dance numbers went on too long, a criticism I heard from several other audience members during intermission. If the dancers were professionals, I don’t think this would have mattered as much. But most of the dance numbers could have been cut by half or even eliminated.
All in all though, this was an enjoyable evening with familiar songs, a pleasant story, and good singing and acting. It moved quickly, but not quite quickly enough.
Performances of “Damn Yankees” continue through Sunday at Peoria Players Theatre. More information is available at peoriaplayers.org.