SunsetPlayhouse rounds out its season with a fair amount of classy retro style in itsproduction of the 1955 Broadway musical DamnYankees. Robert Zimmerman plays baseball fanJoe Boyda man obsessed with seeing the Washington Senators beatthe Yankees to win the pennant that he’s willing to risk losing his soul to thedevil. William Jackson plays the devil here in a standout performance. Atowering gentleman with a pencil-thin physique,
The devilgives Boyd a chance to personally take the Senators to victory by transforminghim into a powerful young athlete named Joe Hardy. As one Joe becomes another,UW-Madison undergraduate David Finley takes over the male lead. Finley looks,acts and moves quite wholesomely through his performance as the star player whocomes out of nowhere to lead the team on the field. Finley seems to bechanneling energy directly from a mid-1950s sitcom for his performance here,which is flawless in many ways.
Joe has convincedthe devil to put an escape clause in his contract that allows him to back outof it, return to his normal life with his wife and keep his soul if he does soby a given deadline. In order to make certain that he can collect on hisinvestment, the devil enlists the help of demonic seductress Lola (SamanthaDeibler) to take Joe’s thoughts away from his wife. The big song-and-dancenumber here is the classic Broadway pseudo-tango “Whatever Lola Wants.”Though none of it is offensively bad, not all of the choreography in Sunset’sproduction is terribly complex or particularly well-executed. Deibler’sperformance of “Whatever Lola Wants” is a notable exception. She brilliantly,fluidly negotiates some very impressive moves that are perfectly in synch withher singing.
While notall of the production is as entertaining as “Whatever Lola Wants,” the musicalend of this musical is executed quite well. Even when things don’t seementirely graceful onstage, the vocals sound great. It’s not a perfectproduction, but director Bryce Lord has deftly assembled a show that more thancompensates for its flaws.
Sunset Playhouse’s production of Damn Yankees closes Aug. 3.
