Brad Oscar Cast as Applegate in Arena's Damn Yankees

By: Aug. 22, 2005
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Brad Oscar, who currently stars as Max Bialystock in Broadway's The Producers, will trade swindling for soul-bartering in Arena Stage's upcoming production of Damn Yankees, which will run from December 9th to February 5th at the Washington, D.C. theatre.

Matt Bogart (Aida, Miss Saigon) will play Joe Hardy to Oscar's devilishly suave Mr. Applegate in the show, which will be helmed by Arena's artistic director Molly Smith.   With music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross and a book by George Abbott, the musical revolves around Joe Boyd's Faustian bargain with the devil (and his sexy assistant Lola)--to let his beloved Washington Senators beat the accursed team of the title.  The chubby, middle-aged Joe is transformed into the strapping young star of the Senators, but soon realizes that it may not have been worth the sacrifice.   The rest of the casting has yet to be announced.

Damn Yankees won the 1956 Tony Award for Best Musical, and received six others--including awards for stars Gwen Verdon and Ray Walston, and for choreographer Bob Fosse (Abbott was the director).  The show ran for 1,019 performances and was successfully revived in 1994 with Bebe Neuwirth as Lola, Jarrod Emick as Joe and Victor Garber as Applegate.  Jokester Jerry Lewis would succeed Garber on Broadway, and play the diabolic charmer on the road as well.

Oscar recently returned to the Broadway production of The Producers after starring as Max in London.  Before that, he was Nathan Lane's immediate successor in the role; originally, Oscar played Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind (and received a Tony nomination for doing so).  Oscar will also appear in the Actors' Fund benefit concert of On the Twentieth Century this September.  His other Broadway credits include Aspects of Love and Jekyll and Hyde, and he has also appeared in Forbidden Broadway (volumes 3 and 4) and the Actors' Fund concerts of Dreamgirls and Funny Girl.

For more information, visit www.arenastage.org.


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