Walton, Lewis and Merrick Cast in North Shore's Damn Yankees, April 25-May 14

Jim Walton, Shannon Lewis and George Merrick have been announced as the stars of the North Shore Music Theatre's upcoming production of the classic musical comedy Damn Yankees, which will begin performances on April 25th and run through May 14th at the Beverly, MA theatre. 

The first show of North Shore's 2006-2007, it will star Walton (Merrily We Roll Along, 42nd Street, Sweeney Todd) as Mr. Applegate, Lewis (Sweet Charity, Fosse, The Look of Love) as Lola and Merrick (national tour of Carousel) as Joe Hardy, with more casting to be announced.

For the North Shore production,  Joe DiPietro has adapted the book from the original by George Abbott and Douglas Wallop; Washington Senators fan Joe Boyd is now a Boston Red Sox fan in the North Shore version. "NSMT puts a new spin on this hilarious and heart-warming classic which now tells the story of a die-hard Red Sox fan who makes a deal with the devil to help the Sox take the pennant from the dreaded Yankees," state press notes on the musical, which features a score by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross.

Based on Douglass Wallop's novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant, 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.

The North Shore Music Theatre is located at 62 Dunham Road in Beverly, MA. Call (978) 232-7200 or visit www.nsmt.org for more information or tickets.