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Friday, May 1, 2009 10:42 AM CDT
Charleston High's 'Damn Yankees' is championship caliber
By BILL LAIR, Managing Editor
blair@jg-tc.com
“Damn Yankees” had a run of 1,019 shows on Broadway.
Unfortunately, Charleston High School’s production of the 1950s musical has just two more performances.
It would be easier to list what did not go well in Wednesday’s opening night show than to mention all that was good.
So the next paragraph lists the negatives:
That’s all I can think of — zero.
From the opening scene through the final reprise of “You Gotta Have Heart,” the student performers put on an all-star display of acting, singing and dancing.
The show is dated but still fun.
Joe Boyd is an aging fan of the Washington Senators baseball team in the mid-1950s. The Senators are perennial second-division American League finishers while the New York Yankees were the traditional champs.
To understand Boyd’s frustration, consider that from 1949 to 1964 the Yankees were American Leage champs 14 of 16 years.
“Damn Yankees” indeed.
Boyd sells his soul to Mr. Applegate (the devil) and becomes a 22-year-old hitting superstar leading the Senators toward the title. He can escape his eternal fate by going back to his wife on the night before the final game of the season.
Jon Stallons (Boyd) and Racheal Robinson (his wife, Meg Boyd on Wednesday/Friday) lay the groundwork with the dynamic “Six Months out of Every Year” opening number. Both are fine vocalists.
Taylor Adams shines as the charming but slithery Mr. Applegate.
Applegate complains of being overworked with so many politicians and state governors to entice.
“The world is full of crazy things and gets crazier every year,” he tells Joe.
But with a wave of his arms and a flash of light, Applegate transforms aging Joe Boyd into baseball star Joe Hardy, played to his “aw-shucks” finest by Kevin Giffin.
Giffin and Adams both are seasoned members of the school’s successful speech and drama team, and they successfully transfer that experience to the musical stage.
But the entire cast looks comfortable and enthusiastic in this show.
Elena Davis portrays the captivating and alluring Lola on Wednesday/Friday. She was all over the stage (and Joe Hardy) in “Whatever Lola Wants” but Joe was able to resist.
Zoe Corso plays Lola on Thursday/Saturday.
Colin Roberts, Matt Simpson, T. Alex Smith and Calvin Bertrand rouse the audience with “Heart” and Katie Benson and Lauren Buttram provide plenty of comic relief as Meg’s good friends.
The show offers an added gem when Nick Fosse, a distant relative of famed Broadway choreographer Bob Fosse, joins the dancers for a spicy number.
It’s another great show put together by director Therese Kincade, with the assistance of Debby Rappe as music director. EIU sophomore Nick Niemerg is choreographer and Laney Grimes is pit director. Tim Mason handles lighting, while sound is coordinated by Steve Stewart.
Set design and construction is by Bob Kincade, with the assistance of Mike Schultz, Terry Davis, Kevin Davis, Mark and Danny Hudson, Paul Stephens and assorted cast and crew.
Your last two opportunities to see this championship-caliber show are at 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday at Swickard Auditorium. Limited tickets are available at the door.
Bill Lair is managing editor of the Journal Gazette/Times-Courier. Contact Lair at blair@jg-tc.com or 238-6865.
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