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'Damn Yankees' opens to packed house in Salem
By Eric McCrea
Salem
“Damn Yankees” opened to a packed house at Salem Community Theatre on Friday. The classic baseball-themed Broadway musical scaled a few hurdles to make it to Salem, but it arrived on schedule.
The story begins with Senators fan Joe Boyd, played by Dave Wolford, willing to do anything for his team to have a winning season. Enter the devilish Mr. Applegate (Tom O’Donnell) who is more than willing to give Joe exactly what he wants, in exchange for his soul. After being transformed into the strapping young athlete Joe Hardy (Roger Gaskins), he joins the Senators, and their winning streak begins. Things get a little tricky when reporter Gloria (Jackie Stevens) tries to find out the story behind this unexpected all-star.
O’Donnell is a natural in this role. His voice is like gravel, but man, can he sell it. His persona is larger than life, and he’s impossible to ignore.
Joanna Andrei shines as Lola, Mr. Applegate’s temptress assistant. Easily the strongest dancer in the show, her singing also is spot-on. She steals the show.
In the role of Rocky, the ad hoc captain of the Senators, Donny Wolford is delightful. As a whole, the Senators are impressive in their group numbers, and Wolford was a perfect choice to lead them.
Julie Benner, as the baseball widow Meg Boyd, is charming and sweet. Her devotion to her mysteriously missing husband proves to be key to the plot, and she delivers a heartfelt performance.
Also worthy of note were Dave Wolford and Jackie Stevens in their supportive roles.
Director Mark Frost included an array of talented youths, which rounded out the cast and added some cute factor.
However, the show was not entirely perfect. Gaskins, who deserves a lot of credit for playing injured, was a bit stiff on stage, which detracted from the boy-next-door heart-of-gold quality in his character.
Ruth Newman, as Sister, was all over the map. She has a strong stage presence, but in this case, that only compounded the issue.
There were a variety of technical issues as well. Aside from a few opening night glitches, microphone issues marred many of the scenes. Though the sound was fine during the musical numbers, the speaking scenes were hurt by volume discrepancies and excessive noises being picked up and amplified.
The use of a projector was overall pretty good, but the couple of missteps there were quite glaring.
The choreography by Carrie Mazzucco was basic and lacked that “Fosse” aspect one would expect with this musical.
The set, designed by Frost, was simple but well done and creative. Most impressive was the ballpark view of the sky.
The costumes, though not overly elaborate, were a level above the standard fare.
After all the hardships that this cast and crew faced, they should be proud for delivering a finished product without delays.
“Damn Yankees” runs Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and today and next Sunday at 2 p.m. For reservations, call 330-332-9688.