My second Adler and Ross show this Year is Damn Yankees. Since George Abbott produced and directed both the stage versions and screen versions, I have to assume that the film is fairly true to the original, although I've never seen it on stage. Ray Walston and Gwen Verdon reprise their stage roles for the film. Jean Stapleton, in a small role, was also in both. Ms. Verdon's husband, Bob Fosse, choreographed both versions and appears in the film.
Ray Walston won the Tony for this role, and I have to say Applegate seems like a fun role, but I don't see Walston really savoring it much. Perhaps the very two-dimensional staging and camera angles are partially to blame. This seems like a role where you should chew the scenery.
Gwen Verdon as Lola proves herself the perfect embodiment of Bob Fosse's choreography, especially in the "fan club" dance they perform together toward the end of the film. I wonder if there are other examples of the two of them dancing together.
Tab Hunter is sweet as Joe Hardy and seems appropriately stymied by the more polished performances of Walston and Verdon--perhaps part of the point of casting him.
After enjoying Adler and Ross's Pajama Game so much, I was a bit disappointed in the music in this show. "You Gotta Have Heart" and "Whatever Lola Wants Lola Gets" were the only songs I had heard before. The rest of it didn't really do it for me.
A new production of Damn Yankees opens for a short run at City Center today, coincidentally. It stars Jane Krakowski as Lola, Sean Hayes as Applegate and Cheyenne Jackson as Joe Hardy. Seems like a good cast. I won't be able to get to New York to see it, but if you do, give a report.
Damn Yankees
Music and Lyrics by Jerry Ross and Richard Adler
Book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop
1958 film directed by George Abbott and Stanley Donen
Cast: Gwen Verdon, Ray Walston, Tab Hunter, Jean Stapleton, Rae Allen, Robert Shafer, Shannon Bolin
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