Review - Damn Yankees & Through The Eyes of Eak

With its funny, sexy and sentimental book by master craftsman George Abbott and a catchy and clever score by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, Damn Yankees is a textbook example of the kind of big and brassy musicals that made Broadway's Golden Age glitter. Paper Mill's terrific new production is packed with boisterous comic performances and, as the song says, miles and miles and miles of heart.

Douglass Wallop co-authored the book, which is based on his novel, The Year The Yankees Lost The Pennant. A jocular send-up of Faust, Damn Yankees concerns an aging, out-of-shape fan of the hapless Washington Senators named Joe, who strikes a deal with the devil that changes him into a young power-hitting shortstop in exchange for his soul. But unlike most who strike a bargain with Satan (here monikered Mr. Applegate), this fellow is smart enough to insist on an escape clause, so the show becomes a race to see if Joe can help the Senators beat the Yankees and win the pennant before the date arrives when his fate is permanently sealed. Naturally, the cloven-hoofed fiend tries to keep him lured to the dark side, using that old reliable bait, a sexy babe named Lola, but young Joe wants to remain faithful to the heartbroken wife his older self left behind.

Unlike the heavily revised 1994 Broadway revival, director Mark S. Hoebee's socko production uses the original text with just some minor cuts. (The kids and the bar setting are both deleted.) While many choreographers give in to the temptation to stage the show's dances in the style of Bob Fosse's originals, Denis Jones' new creations serve up a terrific combo of blue-collar athleticism and naughty spice.

Broadway favorite Howard McGillin stars as the devil himself, playing the red menace with the crafty hucksterism of a carnival outside talker. The role is a bit of a stretch for McGillin, an accomplished musical theatre actor/singer who is not usually cast in comic roles like Applegate. He does lose quite a few laughs using a delivery that makes most of his lines sound like sales pitches, but he's got a fun, energetic presence and his zesty performance of his second act vaudevillian bit, "Those Were The Good Old Days," is a charmer.

Christopher Charles Wood, who plays the young phenom Joe Hardy, has never played Broadway but he definitely seems ready for the big leagues with his handsome high baritone and sturdy good looks. Joe is the kind of role that spends most of his time playing straight for the zany characters around him until it's time to sing his ballads, but Wood remains appealing throughout, especially when playing the more sentimental scenes opposite Patti Cohenour, who gives a lovely, warm performance as Joe's abandoned wife.

Tall, lean Chryssie Whitehead certainly displays the singing and dancing chops necessary to play Lola, and while her performance of classics like "Whatever Lola Wants" and "A Little Brains, A Little Talent" are proficient, the comic verve that makes the character fun and the vulnerability that makes her sympathetic are missing.

But there's plenty of comic verve in Nancy Anderson's performance as the wise-cracking newspaper reporter trying to dig up the scoop on how a great player like Joe Hardy just appeared out of nowhere. The evening's raucous highlight comes when she leads the ballplayers in Jones' rowdy and acrobatic choreography in the show's most dazzling dance display.

Additional enjoyable supporting turns include Ray DeMattis as the crusty, but loveable manager, Susan Mosher as a loudmouth fan and Joseph Kolinski as the older version of Joe, a big lug with wistful dreams of what might have been.

Rob Bissinger's set is a colorful reminder of 1950's musical comedy style and provides for a split-second transformation of older Joe to his younger self. Bruce Monroe's orchestrations for a small orchestra effectively replicate the style of Don Walker's originals, hitting the sweet spot for beloved showtunes like "Heart," "Two Lost Souls" and the snazzy leadoff number, "Six Months Out Of Every Year."

Photos by Ken Jacques: Top: Howard McGillin; Bottom: Giovanni Bonaventura, Corey Hummerston and Mike Cannon.

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Twelve year old Camille Mancuso has already performed in over 70 North American cities in her young career, appearing in first national tours of Mary Poppins, Little House on the Prairie, White Christmas and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Lately though, she's been making a regular home of the New Amsterdam Theatre, where she's making her Broadway debut in Mary Poppins as Jane Banks.

But this triple-threat performer has a fourth threat up her sleeve. Camille has also recently published her first book; an engaging fantasy adventure titled Through The Eyes of Eak.

"The book started out as a writing assignment while I was on tour," she explains. Her task was to write a creative story based on a randomly selected computer image.

"The picture I found was of a giant girl kneeling in the water cupping her hands, which is the beginning setting of the story."

Her 50-page story is a charming tale of a girl in California who has a strange and unexpected contact with a girl from a parallel mythical world. Together, they attempt to unite their two worlds before being captured by an evil king. It's an adventure story with strong female characters.

Camille's first plan was to enter Eak in a Scholastic competition, but after discovering she was too young, she searched the Internet for another option and found KidPub, a company that encourages young authors.

Through The Eyes of Eak is already a best seller among her Mary Poppins cast mates, so naturally Camille is thinking about a follow-up.

"I don't know when my next story will come, but I have an interesting idea for a creepy mystery story, so I'll just have to see how that goes!"

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Some plays break the fourth wall, that imaginary barrier that separates the actors from the audience. In Red Bull's intriguing production of Jean Genet's The Maids, director Jesse Berger places the solid obstacle right in front of us, enclosing his actors in a four-walled chamber room that patrons peek into from cut-out sections. It's an interesting move for a play where two of the characters are essentially putting on performances for each other.

The French playwright's 1947 drama of sadomasochistic role play was inspired by a real-life 1930s story of two sisters, working as domestics, who murdered their employer and his daughter. Genet's fiction involves sisters Solange (Ana Reeder) and Claire (Jeanine Serralles), who, whenever the lady of the house is away, go into their ritualistic act of playing out her murder. One takes on the role of the woman who they claim loves them as she loves her bidet as they let off steam and express their hidden emotions in violent and erotic fantasies.

Such private moments are granted as much privacy as the theatre can allow, with set designer Dane Laffrey letting the games ensue within an elegantly red and white furnished boudoir. Audience members seated at four sides voyeuristically watch through cut-out portions of the walls.

The physically angular and steely-cold Serralles makes a feast out the text's heightened language (translation by Bernard Frechtman), showing how Claire relishes the opportunity to escape the drudgery of her life by indulging in what she sees as the decadence of the madam's world. Reeder gives an energetic surface performance, but she misses the subtleties of her colleague.

J. Smith-Cameron makes a brief appearance as the demanding lady of the house, looking like a stunning Hollywood goddess in designer Sara Jean Tosetti's glimmering, form-fitting gown.

While the 90-minute adventure hums along swiftly, there is a noticeable lack of danger and thrills in the proceedings. Perhaps it's the separation of audience and actors that's the culprit. Some like to watch but sometimes it helps to feel more intimately involved.

Photo of Jeanine Serralles and Ana Reeder by Carol Rosegg.

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While I'm always up for a night out when it means enjoying the unpredictable cabaret antics of Michael Garin and Mardie Millit, I really didn't know what to predict when Garin asked me to check out a band the two of them perform with, The Habibi Kings.

Habibi, he tells me, translates in Arabic to "baby," as in "What's up, baby?" and the kings play a cross-section of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean genres and styles, recalling a golden age from the 1940s to the late 70s when Manhattan's lower 8th Avenue was lined Arab, Israeli, Greek, Turkish, Armenian and Iranian restaurants and music clubs.

"Our belief is that if musicians ruled the world, there would be no more war," says Garin. "Nothing else would get done either, of course. The whole world would sleep till noon, watch TV till 8pm and then go to work. All in all, not a bad schedule."

The Habibi Kings play a regular Wednesday night gig at Aza; a cozy, funky neighborhood joint on 3rd and 93rd with good food and free music nightly. (Michael and Mardie partake in their usual cabaret zaniness on Thursday nights.) In this ethnically diverse city it's no surprise they've attracted a regular crowd that enthusiastically shouts out their love for this kind of music.

Garin takes his usual spot at piano. Nick Mandoukos (who was out the night I dropped by) sings and plays electric oud, guitar and bouzouki. Samir Shukry, who plays electric violin and electric oud, took the bulk of the lead vocals that night and percussionist Hassan Bakar pounded on the dumbek. In between mingling and hobnobbing, Mardie, their Habibi Queen, partook in backup vocals.

Not being familiar at all with this kind of music, except as background for dinner conversations, I got hooked on their lively and charismatic style right away and had a great time hearing the blends of traditional rhythms with contemporary sounds. Those in the know would recognize selections made famous by Oum Kalthum, Abdel Halim Hafez, Amr Diab and Ishay Levi, and wouldn't be surprised to hear Samir himself singing "Rona," a big hit in Israel he wrote for his daughter.

My own ears perked up when the fellows snuck in a few licks out of Mozart, "The Twist," the theme from Love Story and some bits from The Godfather, and they were kind enough to toss this showtune lover some Sondheim, with Millit singing a lovely rendition of "Sorry-Grateful" in the Habibi Kings' style.

"Our goal is to toss anything and everything into the musical mix," says Garin. "And why? Because it's fun and it makes people happy."

Surveying the crowd at Aza, I saw a lot of happy faces.

Photo: Michael Garin and Samir Shukry.

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"She stopped the show, but then the show wasn't traveling very fast."

--Noel Coward

The grosses are out for the week ending 3/18/2012 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

Up for the week was: THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (17.3%), SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK (13.2%), HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING (13.1%), MARY POPPINS (13.1%), SISTER ACT (11.4%), CHICAGO (8.5%), MAMMA MIA! (8.1%), Gore Vidal'S THE BEST MAN (7.8%), SEMINAR (7.3%), War Horse (5.0%), THE LION KING (4.6%), GODSPELL (3.5%), MEMPHIS (2.8%), JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (2.6%), WICKED (1.6%), JERSEY BOYS (1.3%), ONCE (1.1%), PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT (0.5%), DEATH OF A SALESMAN (0.1%),

Down for the week was: PORGY AND BESS (-11.3%), VENUS IN FUR (-6.0%), OTHER DESERT CITIES (-5.5%), ANYTHING GOES (-4.4%), WIT (-1.1%), ROCK OF AGES (-0.1%),