Review: DAMN YANKEES at Ocean State Theater Company Lose Some But Winsome

Ocean State Theater Company (OSTC) opens its summer season with the 1955 Tony Award winning musical, DAMN YANKEES. The show may be sixty years old, but as long as the Yankees play ball and there are fans that despise them, it will have a place in many a heart.

First of all, the plot. Middle-aged real estate agent Joe Boyd (John Costa) is a long-suffering fan of the pathetic Washington Senators baseball team. After yet another loss and after his wife has gone to bed, he sits up late, grumbling that if the Senators just had a "long ball hitter" they could beat the "damn Yankees." "I'd sell my soul for a long ball hitter," he laments. Suddenly, "Applegate" (Beau Allen) The Devil, appears and he offers Joe exactly that deal: if he gives up his soul, he will become "Joe Hardy,"(Matt Gibson) the young slugger the Senators need. He accepts, even though he must leave beloved wife, Meg (Sally Ann Swarm). However, his business sense makes him insist on an escape clause. The Senators' last game is on September 25, and if he plays in it, he is "in for the duration." If not, he has until 9:00 the night before to walk away from the deal and return to his normal life. It's "Faust" in pinstripes.

So what's to like about this play and this production? The first musical numbers are off the charts good. "Six Months Out of Every Year" is a cleverly crafted and wonderfully choreographed number-men watching television, jumping out of their chairs, while their wives lament their own fates. Joe Boyd's "Goodbye, Old Girl," a beautiful, middle-age love song, follows. DAMN YANKESS has a few of these, another strength. The iconic "Heart" follows, and no salesman, which I was for forty years, or underdog can hear that often enough. Next comes "Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo," done by the ballplayers and Gloria Thorpe (Kristen Arsenault). Arsenault can sing and dance and might have been a good choice for the female lead, Lola, but what do I know.

Maybe forty minutes into this production and two runs have scored and the bases are loaded! It's gonna be a romp! Unfortunately, things bog down here. Applegate's temptress, Lola (Lauren Gemelli) enters, and she does not quite hit the mark. She may be a good performer, but she has to be so hot that you cannot imagine anyone resisting her. Not quite. So her numbers, particularly "Who's Got the Pain," only slow things down. Same with Sister (Sarah Dunn) and Doris (Tamra Stevenson): their characters just slowed the first act down.

The second Act features Beau Allen's version of "The Good Old Days," in which The Devil tries to draw strength from past successes-the Stock Market Crash, the Hundred Years War, which was originally done by the great Ray Walston. Allen is not Ray Walston, but who is. He sings well enough and looks enough like Vincent Price to make it work. Matt Gibson as Joe Hardy has a fine tenor voice and is pretty mobile for a big man. The hero is good, but just like Milton's "Paradise Lost, The Devil gets all the best lines.

The good parts of DAMN YANKEES are really good, but the show is too long by half an hour. It was still fun. You don't have to love baseball and hate the Yankees, but it helps!

DAMN YANKEES runs until July 24 with evening performances Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 and Sunday matinees at 2:30. OSTC is located at 1245 Jefferson Blvd. in Warwick. Running time is two and one-half hours. Tickets are $37-59 and rush tickets are available one hour prior to a performance. Tickets are available by calling (401) 921 6800 or online at www.OceanStatetheater.org. The theater is completely handicapped accessible.

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