The old Faustian legend about the man who sells his soul to the Devil in order to regain youth and good looks received a clever updating in this whimsical musical, which took the tale and squarely set it against the background of America's favorite pastime, baseball. As reconceived by Douglas Wallop and George Abbott, Damn Yankees, based on Mr. Wallop's novel "The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant," transplanted Faust into middle-America and gave him the name Joe Boyd. After he makes a pact with the Devil, a businessman more prosaically named Mr. Applegate, Boyd becomes "Shoeless" Joe Hardy, a hard-hitter, who takes the Washington Senators, his favorite team (and perpetual losers), all the way to the finals of the American League game, where they face those "damn Yankees." But this being a musical, set in America, there is a happy ending to the story: in spite of Mr. Applegate, and his assistant, the sultry Lola, Joe Hardy invokes the "escape clause" he and the Devil had agreed on initially, and at the last minute, just before curtain time, returns to his loving wife as Joe Boyd, serene in the knowledge that it was he who helped the Senators win the Pennant. A multiple Tony Award-winner (including for Best Musical) in 1956, Damn Yankees ran for 1,019 performances (a rarity at the time), and made a star of Gwen Verdon, playing Lola, whose siren song, "Whatever Lola Wants," became a huge popular hit. Virtually intact, and with only one major cast change (Tab Hunter replacing Stephen Douglass as Joe Hardy), the show was transferred to the screen in 1958, in a splashy screen transfer that retained all the flavor and guile of the original. After extensive revisions, in 1994 it was revived on Broadway, with Bebe Neuwirth as Lola and Victor Garber as Mr. Applegate, where it enjoyed a successful run, before going on the road, with Jerry Lewis, billed above the title, taking over as the Devil. Of the three recordings available, the first Broadway cast offers the original stars (Gwen Verdon, Stephen Douglass, and Ray Walston as Mr. Applegate) in a spirited rendition which has all the freshness and excitement usually experienced when a show first hits Broadway. Its only drawback (if that's the word!) is that it is in mono sound, since stereo didn't become an industry standard until later that year. The soundtrack album, available for the first time in stereo in this CD version, is almost identical to the Broadway cast album, but offers, in addition to the cast change noted above, and Ray Heindorf's flavorful orchestrations, longer versions of some of the songs, as well as better polished performances overall. The 1994 Broadway cast album, with its abundance of new selections, and dynamic renditions of the songs by Bebe Neuwirth, Victor Garber, and the other members of the cast, is as good a recording as can be gotten. It has the vibrancy, the fun, and the excitement one usually expects in that kind of production, and its sound quality is up to the latest standards. -- © 1998 Visible Ink Press. All rights reserved.
Label: Decca Broadway
Deborah Martin and Jill Haley Release 'INTO THE QUIET' Album
by Blair Ingenthron
- May 27, 2023
Into The Quiet is the second collaboration between electronic ambient visionary Deborah Martin and renowned English Horn player and Oboist Jill Haley. Their previous album was 2021's The Silence Of Grace, a pastoral collection that received numerous accolades including Zone Music Reporter's list of Top 20 albums of the year.
Sylvie Courvoisier & Cory Smythe Release New Album 'RITE OF SPRING - SPECTRE D'UN SONGE'
by Blair Ingenthron
- May 20, 2023
With The Rite of Spring – Spectre d’un songe, two of contemporary music’s most vital and innovative pianists – Sylvie Courvoisier and Cory Smythe – interpret and converse with one of the 20th century’s landmark compositions. On this breathtaking new recording, released May 19, 2023 from Pyroclastic Records, Courvoisier and Smythe perform Igor Stravinsky’s striking two-piano rendition of his iconic Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring), followed by a bold new Courvoisier composition that draws inspiration from Stravinsky as a launchpad for investigatory improvisation.
THE GUAVA TREE, A New Bilingual Musical For Young Audiences, Releases Cast Album
by Blair Ingenthron
- May 20, 2023
The official cast album for The Guava Tree / El Guayabo, a new bilingual musical for young audiences, is available digitally on all platforms. With book and lyrics by Diana Grisanti and music by Emiliano Messiez, the musical premiered at the renowned Creede Repertory Theatre in Colorado in 2021. It toured across the Southwest and was seen by more than 40,000 students.
Listen: Matthew Scott's THE JESUS YEAR: A LETTER FROM MY DAD Out Now
by Chloe Rabinowitz
- May 19, 2023
PS CLASSICS, the label dedicated to the heritage of Broadway and American popular song, has announced the release of the debut album from actor-singer Matthew Scott, who has been lighting up the Broadway stage since making his debut in Jersey Boys.
Author Mike McHale Launches Monthly #DinoDogzDonates Program
by Blair Ingenthron
- May 13, 2023
Mystery Mike McHale and DinoDogz have announced the launch of their new fundraising program, DinoDogz has previously raised funds for various charities including WORTHY OF LOVE, TUESDAY'S CHILDREN and BELLA AND BUDDIES ANIMAL RESCUE through the sales of their first book DinoDogz: Eggzellent Adventure which is the first in a series.
Video: Patrick Pacheco Opens Up About Putting Pen to Paper with Chita Rivera
by Backstage Live with Richard Ridge
- May 09, 2023
She was born Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero—until the entertainment world renamed her. But Dolores—the irreverent side of the sensual, dark and ferocious Chita—was always present center stage, and was influential in creating some of Broadway most iconic and acclaimed roles, including Anita in West Side Story‚ the part that made her a star—Rosie in Bye Bye, Birdie, Velma in Chicago, and Aurora in Kiss of the Spider Woman. In this video, watch as co-author Patrick Pacheco chats with Richard Ridge about the new memoir!
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