‘Damn Yankees’ Is A Delightful Kickoff  For Musicals At Richter’s 22nd Season

                By Julie Stern

DANBURY — First off, you have to understand that this review is being written by a Mets fan: after 20 years of watching my team founder in the lower ranks of their division, the idea that some people would have sold their soul in order to produce the dynamic duo of Wright and Reyes makes perfect baseball (if not theological) sense. And, it makes the Musicals at Richter opener seem truly appropriate.

Damn Yankees, based on Douglas Wallop’s 1950s book The Year the Yankees Lost The Pennant is a Faustian tale of Joe Boyd, a middle-aged diehard supporter of the perennial last place Washington Senators. In a moment of frustration as he watches his team lose another game, he declares, “I’d sell my soul for a distance hitter.”

Immediately on his doorstep appears the enigmatic “Mr Applegate” wearing red socks and possessing the gift of lighting his cigarette without needing matches. He offers Joe a tantalizing opportunity. In exchange for …the usual… he will turn Joe into a baseball star who will lead the Senators to the World Series, and put himself into the Hall of Fame.

Cunning realtor that he is, Joe accepts the deal but insists on an escape clause. He retains the right to back out the last minute — the night before the game that clinches the pennant. That decided on, Applegate transforms the stooped, gray-haired Joe Boyd into “Joe Hardy,” a shy but sturdy young beefcake (played by Tab Hunter in the old movie).

From that point on the play follows the meteoric rise of the Senators and their new rookie sensation, who is batting .561 (about the same as Jose Reyes over his last 13 games) while a determined Applegate fights to overcome Joe’s innate decency and fidelity to his wife, Meg. To this end he employs the seductive temptress Lola (“Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets…”) to woo him onto the path of sin. After all, there is no place in Hell for good guys.

You don’t have to like baseball to love this show. It is such a delightful concoction of songs, dances, and comic ensemble numbers. Directed and staged by Brad Blake, it moves along delightfully, anchored by a supremely talented trio of lead performers and led by a pair of dance captains who clearly know what they are doing.

Matt Schmiedel looks like a young Matthew Broderick in the part of Joe, but with a great singing voice as well. Shannon MacKeil is delicious as the pouting Lola, and Stephen DiRocco is superbly smarmy as the devilish Mr Applegate.

Jody Bayer also has a lovely voice in the Betty Crockerish role of Joe’s faithful wife. Nancy Edwards and Dolly Conner are good comic figures as her bridge club pals.

And the ten winsomely inept Washington Senators are both hilarious and energetic, in the locker room, on the ball field, or doing the mambo in celebration of their new success.

The show is packed with great songs — “Goodbye Old Girl” “You Gotta Have Heart” “Shoeless Joe from Hannibal Mo, “Who’s Got the Pain (when they do the mambo),” “Two Lost Souls,” and of course “Lola,” just to name a few.

The only bad thing has been the weather, which cancelled most of last weekend’s performances. At this point the company may be fantasizing Satanic bargains themselves, but if it is not doing more than a very light drizzle, it is definitely worth going to Richter Park, this weekend or next, to catch a wonderfully entertaining American musical classic.

(Performances continue through July 8 and take place on the grounds of Richter Arts Center, 100 Aunt Hack Road(next to Richter Park Golf Course. Shows are Friday through Sunday evenings at 8:30. Grounds open at 7:15 for picnicking. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for seniors, and $12 for students and children. For further information or to order tickets, visit www.musicalsatrichter.org or call 748-6873.)