Damn Yankees

[mrdreamjeans]

Would you sell your soul to the devil to realize a dream? Personally, no ... though I'm all about dreams. It's a question central to the plot of the 1950s musical, "Damn Yankees" and offered me a rare opportunity to play a long-married baseball fanatic who makes a deal with the devil to realize his dream of being a young baseball star. The show is full of songs musical theatre fans will know such as "You Gotta Have Heart", "Good Ole Girl" and "Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets". Ultimately, my character Joe Boyd, reincarnated as young Joe Hardy, tricks the devil and is able to return to his loyal wife, Meg. In my trip down memory lane yesterday, I went through my photos of this 2003 production in Seattle. You'll see some of the same faces from the "Man of La Mancha" photos posted yesterday. I'd like to borrow guiser1's question of the day format for this post: Can a good person do bad things and still be a good person? Old Joe in "Damn Yankees" made a choice and grew to regret it. What's your opinion?


"Six Months Out of Every Year" - The opening number where the wives
lament the loss of their husbands due to baseball season. Love the bubble gum colors!
That's me as Joe Boyd in the forefront and Frances King as my wife Meg.


Will Joe Boyd sell his soul for a chance to be young again and a baseball star?
When pursuaded by Applegate (the devil) portrayed by Timothy Piggee.
The answer is yes.


"Goodbye Ole Girl" ... Old Joe doesn't know if
he'll ever see his wife again.


Young Joe Hardy as played by Dave Wilson. I humor myself to
think that transformation was believable. Sure, I looked like Dave at 26:)


Hitting it out of the Park ... The Washington Senators players and coach
react to Joe's powerful tryout


Applegate enlists Lola (Anna Lauris) to tempt young Joe. If Lola
doesn't cooperate, she has to return to being
the ugliest woman in the world. She sold her soul for beauty.


Baseball Beefcake ... The players celebrate a victory ...


Young Joe (with the heart and memory of Old Joe)
realizes he's got to get back to Meg.


Meg and "the Sisters" search for Old Joe ... "You Must
Remember" they tell the old postmaster (an hysterical
cameo by Chad Jennings).


Lola's big dance number in Act II. It's her final chance to entice Joe.


"The Happy Thought Is" .. Old Joe and Meg were reunited. I was wearing a wig,
clothes two sizes too big and an entire baseball uniform under this costume.
I understood this character who eventually led from the heart.

Comments

[tonethbone.livejournal.com]

Another great show...
I like "Shoeless Joe from Hannibal Mo."

The early fifties were truly a golden age in Broadway musicals. This show ran on Broadway at about the same time as King and I, Pajama Game, Can Can, Kismet, CAll Me Madam, Wonderful Town, and Guys and Dolls... (1950-1954)

I enjoyes the above pictures.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Of the seven shows you've named, it's been my privilege to have done four ... King & I, Kismet, Wonderful Town And Guys & Dolls. With the exception of The King and I, I had very nice roles in each of them .. In "The King and I", I was covered in black cloth, eyes and breathing holes only.The lead dancer walked on my back (I was a mountain) during "The Ballad of Uncle Thomas". I was also on for one minute at the end of Act 1 looking like a giant mustard seed as a priest. It was Christmas work and very welcome at the time:)

I sometimes wonder what my career would have been in the 1950s. So many of those shows were perfect for my mix of singing, dancing and acting ... especially since the choruses and roles were often specific to division ..provided for singing and dancing choruses.

Glad you liked the photos ... It's my way of keeping up my spirits while I sort out the problems happening right now that have been well documented.

HUGS!

[keltcrogue.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the pictures. I like your trip down memory lane.
But now I have "You Gotta Have Heart" stuck in my head.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I did it to myself too:) Only, I'm hearing over and over on a loop the top tenor harmony. I didn't even sing in the number in the show! LOL!

Glad you like the theatre photos!

HUGS!

[bruinwi.livejournal.com]

To answer your question:

Yes. Many good people have done bad things and are still considered "Good".

Ironically, many bad people have done good things, yet are still considered irredeemable.

I guess the answer lies in the balance between the good and bad we do.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Regret, seeking forgiveness, circumstances all come into play. It's quite possible an impossible question to answer. After all, each of defines "good" and "bad" differently. My line is drawn if I witness the inflictiion of intentional pain or meanspirited behavior with no justification or cause. As in Damn Yankees, I believe that good people can be enticed to do evil. We all have weakness ....

Thanks, my friend ...

[cincy-dave.livejournal.com]

Great pics. It looks like your sets were loosely based of that latest Broadway revival.

The colors are fantastic!


So if you wore a baseball uniform, I'm guessing you also did chorus work in the show?

A bit of stage magic through carefully planned costuming and an explosion

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

No, just Joe Boyd. I had to be in a baseball uniform when Young Joe goes back for a catch and turns into Old Joe (who makes the catch, thus thwarting the Devil) ... I then had to run from upstage left to downstage left, pulling off clothes, make a running cross from left to stage right, fall in the middle of the cross while half-dressed being sure to drop a shoe, then change back into the orginal clothes from the opening of the show in less than a minute. I had to come back on and ask for Meg to take me back and sing a High A for the final note of the show ... the most frantic two-minute sequence I've ever done:)

The colors were bold and cheery ... so much of the opposite of La Mancha the following year. Another great four months in Seattle!

[macduff131.livejournal.com]

such an adorable baby-face! ;-)

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

OY! I am so seldom clean-shaven because of that baby face ... I feel so exposed without facial hair.

Thanks:)

[bearfuz.livejournal.com]

Wow! I am *so* glad you shared those pictures! You do look adorable with the "baby face." Pudgy, too, thanks to the oversized clothes. ;-)

I did Damn Yankees in 1986 in Utah. I have very fond memories of that. Of course, it was the old version -- was yours that, or had they licensed the updated version from the 1990s that starred Bebe Neuwirth and (eventually) Jerry Lewis?

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

For some reason, I believe Steve Tomkins, the director, used a combination of both versions. Performing in this particular production was my only experience with "Damn Yankees". Again, a show I'd do in a heartbeat. Twelve minutes onstage to open the show with a couple of great scenes, two musical numbers - one big solo and then two hours in the dressing room until a climatic two minutes at the very end of the show.

Thanks for the compliments:) ... Interestingly, I lost 32lbs during the run of La Mancha and though much of that weight has been regained in the past 18 months, the shape of my face has changed ... At 50, finally not a baby face:)

I think I'm going to do one more photo post tomorrow ... though much shorter ...

HUGS to John and you. Hope he's doing better and that aggressive rehab has been started!

ps ....

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I just went back and googled one of our reviews. We used the original 1955 book for our production!

[bearfuz.livejournal.com]

In the revival version, Old Joe actually had to appear briefly (as if in young Joe's head, perhaps) during "Near to You," which resulted in the duet becoming a trio. I thought that was a very interesting thing, and I remember thinking, "Ah, that guy's got more to do now." Heh heh.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I would have enjoyed more to do ... A trio of that beautiful song would have been nice, especially since, at the time, they were trying to get more of my voice in the show.

[graphicubsf.livejournal.com]

Next to Man of La Mancha, this is my 2nd favorite musical, how weird. And yes there is whatever lola wants in "sin" but there is also the wonderful song "near to you", which is closer to home plate.

Enjoy...I would love to see you in this show.

A guilty pleasure for me, was actually performing one of the songs before an annual meeting (baseball themed...so I had the baseball outfit on), it was, the song, unplanned. I was emcee and the video pre-show was not working so I got the "stretch" sign. I sang "Heart", on the subject of teamwork, they ate it up like gelato on a hot island but they were also tired of waiting around.

Cheers
T

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Great that you could come to the rescue by singing "Heart"! I would have enjoyed listening to you (if I got beyond how handsome you would look in the uniform:)

I was very fortunate to perform in both shows, split by a production of "The Wizard of Oz" ... a chorus gig where I spent 90% of the show offstage on mic, but great fun nevertheless ...

The theatres in Seattle have been very good to me and I hope to work in that great city again .. and soon:)

[kent4str.livejournal.com]

Those were the good old days...