BWW Q&A: Rob McClure Talks Damn Yankees at Arena Stage

We spoke to Rob McClure about Arena Stage's Broadway-Bound revival of Damn Yankees. This newly-imagined take on the beloved classic stars Rob McClure (Applegate), Ana Villafañe (Lola), Tony Award nominee Jordan Donica (Joe Hardy), Grammy Award nominee Quentin Earl Darrington (Joe Boyd), Bryonha Marie (Meg Boyd), and Alysha Umphress (Gloria Thorpe).

Damn Yankees includes a new adaptation by Lucille Lortel Award winner Will Power and Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Doug Wright, with additional lyrics by Tony Award winner Lynn Ahrens, and direction and choreography by Tony Award winner Sergio Trujillo.

Damn Yankees debuted on Broadway in 1955, winning seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. It includes music and lyrics by two-time Tony Award winners Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, and book by seven-time Tony Award winner and Pulitzer Prize recipient George Abbott and Tony Award winner Douglass Wallop. Damn Yankees is based on the novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant by Douglass Wallopp.

Rob McClure (Applegate)’s most recent appearance in DC was in Spamalot at the Kennedy Center. His Broadway credits include Mrs. Doubtfire (Tony, Drama Desk, Drama League, and Outer Critics Circle nominations), Chaplin (Tony, Drama League, Astaire, and Outer Critics Circle nominations; Theatre World and Clive Barnes awards), Beetlejuice, Something Rotten!, Noises Off, Honeymoon in Vegas, I’m Not Rappaport, and Avenue Q, as well as Where’s Charley? and Irma La Douce at Encores!. He starred Off-Broadway in the currently running production of Little Shop of Horrors. Regionally, he’s performed at The Muny, Paper Mill, The Old Globe, Arden, Cleveland Play House, A.R.T., Walnut Street, Delaware Theatre Company, Flat Rock, McCarter, Ogunquit, and La Jolla Playhouse. His acclaimed solo concert, Smile, has been performed on stages all over the world. Film: Recursion (Best Actor at the Queens World and Williamsburg film festivals.) 

What about the role of Applegate in Damn Yankees appealed to you?

I’ve always been a huge fan of Damn Yankees, and this role in particular. When I was in college, I went back and directed it at my old high school in New Jersey. It’s a perfect score and a moving testament to love conquering evil. Applegate in particular is such a delicious role. It’s rare for an actor to get to go “Full Jafar.” Pure chaotic bad.

How have you prepared for your role in Damn Yankees?

There’s lots of fun magic in the show, so I got to work with a brilliant magician named Paul Kieve to prepare my Devil his fair share of sleight of hand.

In what ways has this role challenged you?

Applegate has been a real challenge in the best way. The role has such a legacy. Ray Walston, Victor Garber, Jerry Lewis! I mean, come on! So when approaching “My Applegate”, I wanted to find exactly what I could bring to it. I’m proud of what I found. I’d like to think he’s a legitimately horrifying foil, disguised as a petulant used car salesman.

What can the audience expect from this new adaptation of Damn Yankees?

Our adaptation pays loving tribute to the “Heart” of the original, while bringing the show just far enough into the future to give every character their own agency. Will Power, Doug Wright and the inimitable Lynn Ahrens have thoughtfully spruced up the language to turn tropes into truths, but without a pinch of resentment for the brilliant source material. Without it suddenly feeling like a show that’s trying to be something it’s not, characters like Meg, Lola & Gloria have traded in subservience for humanity of their own. The nostalgia is present and accounted for, but the updates now allow Damn Yankees to be as timeless as it deserves to be.

What do you think makes this revival of Damn Yankees relevant to today's audience?

Right now, we need stories about Good triumphing over Evil. It’s cathartic. The audiences at Arena have been leaving the theater with full hearts and miles and miles and miles of hope.

What has been your favorite part of working on Damn Yankees so far?

The people. What a team. Every single person involved has brought their full selves, style and expertise to this production, resulting in something truly extraordinary.

Why do you think people should come to watch Damn Yankees at Arena Stage?