Tony Tuesday: DAMN YANKEES
After the success of The Pajama Game in 1953, composer and lyricist Richard Adler and Jerry Ross teamed up again on Damn Yankees, a musical modern retelling of the Faust legend with a story centring around baseball, specifically those “Damn” New York Yankees.
In baseball-loving America, the show was the ideal concept to reach popular audiences in the 1950s. It is an adaptation of the novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant, published in 1953 and written by Douglass Wallop who worked on the musical’s book alongside George Abbott.
Damn Yankees opened at the 46th Street Theatre in 1955 and ran for 1019 performances. Within the lead cast was Ray Walston, Gwen Verdon, Shannon Bolin and Stephen Douglass and the creative team, alongside Adler and Ross, included Bob Fosse as choreographer.
In 1956, a film version of the musical was released. All of the Broadway principal cast reprised their roles in the film, other than Stephen Douglass who was replaced by Tab Hunter. The film initially reached number 2 in the US box office until the New York Yankees game against the Milwaukee Braves in the World Series when it progressed to number one.
The original Broadway production was especially significant for Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon as it was in working together on Damn Yankees that they met for the first time before ultimately marrying one another. The role of Lola was initially offered to Mitzi Gaynor and Zizi Jeanmaire, both of whom declined it, and so a chance was taken on Verdon despite her limited singing experience, and the rest was history.
Damn Yankees won seven Tony Awards from its nine nominations in 1956, including Best Musical, Best Choreography, and the now defunct awards for Best Conductor and Musical Director and Best Stage Technician. At the 1994 Tony Awards, Jarrod Emick took home the Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his performance as Joe Hardy in the Broadway revival.
This Broadway hit has been presented on the West End twice, both at similar timings to the original Broadway run and revival, firstly at the London Coliseum in 1957 and then in 1994 at the Adelphi. The original West End production ran for just nine weeks and a planned transfer to The Savoy was cancelled. Olympic figure skater Belita played Lola in this cast and worked with Bob Fosse to adapt the choreography to her skills. In the 1994 revival, many of the Broadway revival cast transferred over, including Jerry Lewis and April Nixon.
The latest presentation of Damn Yankees was in 2017 by Roundabout Theatre Company, staged off-Broadway in a limited run. The cast featured huge stars of stage and screen, including Stephen Bogardus, Matthew Morrison, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Victoria Clark, Danny Bernstein, Adrienne Warren and Whoopi Goldberg as Applegate, a role that previously had only been performed by men.
Since Damn Yankees was first brought the the stage, society has come a long way in terms of female empowerment and sexuality. Therefore the representation and sexualisation in Damn Yankees as it stands may mean a future production could look quite different to appeal to a more modern audience.
FACTS:
Music: Richard Adler
Lyrics: Jerry Ross
Book: George Abbott and Douglass Wallop
Original Broadway Theatre: 46th Street Theatre, transferring to the Adelphi Theatre in 1957
Original Production Run: 5 May 1955 - 12 October 1957
TONYS:
Original Broadway production (1956):
NOMINATED: Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical - Stephen Douglass, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical - Rae Allen,
WON: Best Musical, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical - Ray Walston, Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical - Gwen Verdon, Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical - Russ Brown, Best Conductor and Musical Director - Hal Hastings, Best Choreography - Bob Fosse, Best Stage Technician - Harry Green
Broadway revival (1994):
NOMINATED: Best Revival of a Musical, Best Choreography - Rob Marshall
WON: Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical - Jarrod Emick