This is an overly simplistic take.
This is a commercial revival of a musical that was written to be commercial. If there are parts of the writing that might hinder its success with an audience of now, what kind of moron wouldn’t take those into account when producing?
In My Fair Lady the character of Higgins is an asshole. But he wasnt written to be anything less than an asshole, in the original production. You can leave him unchanged and the audience are still getting what the authors intended now, in the way they did then. The ending of this particular piece is obviously the moment that comes under scrutiny.
In order for an audience of today to have experience a piece, in the way the authors originally intended will often mean changes. The same as with Shakespeare. You can choose to present them as period pieces or you can ensure that the audience is able to connect with the work, with the same immediacy as original intended. Shakespeare is now so well known it can withstand both treatments.
But did the creators of Damn Yankees want us to question if the character singing these lyrics is a sexist pig, or was it simply deemed inoffensive at the time? The latter. Again, it’s a commercial production or a commercial show…a musical comedy. If the authors lived now and the show was being created for now would they include those lines? No, they would appeal to the sensibility of today and allow the piece to have a wide audience.
Changing too much of Applegate’s lyrics…that is unnecessary because the character is supposed to be the devil. A loveable, roguish, show-man of a devil but the devil himself regardless. Hopefully they will figure out what they are doing there and not alter too much.
But the whining of ‘they should leave it the same because it’s a period piece!’ shows a sophomoric understanding of commercial productions and authors intent.
