Damn Yankees 1994

[Unknown User]

Damn Yankees 1994#0

Posted: 3/24/05 at 5:30pm

Did anyone see Damn Yankees in 1994? I just bought the cd recently cause I was just in the show (my profile pic is me as Smokey from the show) and I think BeBe Neutwerth was kinda annoying as Lola... but good... and the Gloria Thrope was good...
Updated On: 3/24/05 at 05:30 PM

[jonartdesigns]

re: Damn Yankees 1994#1

Posted: 3/24/05 at 5:35pm

i also have this recording and ejoy it dearly (especially since its got a good deal of scenes/dialogue on it) bit i sadly do feel bebe(who i adore) was not the best choice for lola. Gloria Thorpe btw was Vicki Lewis.

"Grease," the fourth revival of the season, is the worst show in the history of theater and represents an unparalleled assault on Western civilization and its values. - Michael Reidel

[Gothampc]

re: Damn Yankees 1994#2

Posted: 3/24/05 at 5:37pm

Gloria was played by the incredibly talented Vicki Lewis who should make her way back to Broadway immediately. (Saw her last night on Seinfeld as George's secretary that gets paid more than he does.)

If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.

[Unknown User]

re: Damn Yankees 1994#3

Posted: 3/24/05 at 6:11pm

What was the biggest difference between 1994 and 1958 besides actors and such

[Mr Roxy]

re: Damn Yankees 1994#4

Posted: 3/24/05 at 7:06pm

The way "Two Lost Souls" was staged

Poster Emeritus

[Unknown User]

re: Damn Yankees 1994#5

Posted: 3/24/05 at 7:07pm

Oh yeah... I noticed that cuz during our show it was Lola n Joe Hardy but in this it was Lola n Applegate...

[jonartdesigns]

re: Damn Yankees 1994#6

Posted: 3/24/05 at 7:09pm

in the revival they cut out the part that lola gets applegate drunk so he passes out, they replaced it with the 2 of them doing that number

"Grease," the fourth revival of the season, is the worst show in the history of theater and represents an unparalleled assault on Western civilization and its values. - Michael Reidel

[melissa errico fan]

re: Damn Yankees 1994#7

Posted: 3/24/05 at 7:25pm

I saw the production. Very tight. Bebe was great as Lola. Charlotte d'Amboise, aka Sweet Charity, replaced her and was also very good.

[Unknown User]

re: Damn Yankees 1994#8

Posted: 3/24/05 at 7:32pm

Also, Heart has Sohvick singing not Vernon and in The Game which isnt in the movie verison in our verison it had Rocky n Smokey sing it but on Bway it had many ppl sing it

[Tigger]

re: Damn Yankees 1994#9

Posted: 3/24/05 at 7:36pm

I saw this production first in San Diego and on Broadway with Bebe as Lola and Victor Garber as Applegate and then again later when Jerry Lewis (!) replaced Garber. Garber was brilliant and played him elegantly but invested the character neuroses a la Tony Randall which earned him a Tony nomination. Jerry Lewis was, well...Jerry Lewis.

Vicky Lewis was great her high point being fronting the "Shoeless Joe from Hannibal,Mo" number. Neuwirth was technically very good but somehow made Lola remote and chilly.

Tigger

"Extraordinary how potent cheap music is..." Noel Coward-Private Lives

[wildcat]

re: Damn Yankees 1994#10

Posted: 3/24/05 at 7:37pm

The 1994 version was apparently quite different script-wise in that there was a lot more commenting on the era in which the show was set...brand names and personalities from the '50s.
Also "Near To You" is a trio in the revival for Meg and both Joes.

[Unknown User]

re: Damn Yankees 1994#11

Posted: 3/24/05 at 7:38pm

I like Vicki singing "The Trial" but she made Gloria seem very self- centered and vain

[Unknown User]

re: Damn Yankees 1994#12

Posted: 3/24/05 at 7:44pm

Has anyone done Damn Yankees other than me?

[jonartdesigns]

re: Damn Yankees 1994#13

Posted: 3/24/05 at 7:52pm

i did a workshop of it, playing applegate and directing. Then i ran the production byt the powers that be at the local theater and got told that my sets were too elaborate, and there was no way in hell i'd be allowed to use that many pyrotechnic effects. So i ended up scrapping it wholly... for now

"Grease," the fourth revival of the season, is the worst show in the history of theater and represents an unparalleled assault on Western civilization and its values. - Michael Reidel

[The Distinctive Baritone]

re: Damn Yankees 1994#14

Posted: 3/24/05 at 11:03pm

I saw it with Jerry Lewis. I was only like, 13 or 14 at the time, but I remember liking it a lot. Another difference between the revival and the original production was the special effects--i.e. the way they made old Joe turn into young Joe and vice versa. In the original producition they just had the lights dim out, have the actors switch places, and turn the lights back on again. Must have been pretty lame...

[FosseBoi]

re: Damn Yankees 1994#15

Posted: 3/24/05 at 11:14pm

I've done it! It was fun, in most ways(it's a LONG story). I was a dancer.

"I've always secretly longed for an actress to get to the top of the cherry picker and projectile vomit all over the guards below."- Wonderwaiter in the "Defy Gravity?" thread. ~~~~~~~~My dream? Sutton Foster as Cassie in A Chorus Line

[Jon]

re: Damn Yankees 1994#16

Posted: 3/24/05 at 11:17pm

I liked most of the changes in the revival EXCEPT that they didn't have Applegate turn Lola vack into an ugly old hag at the end.

[brdlwyr]

re: Damn Yankees 1994#17

Posted: 3/24/05 at 11:19pm

I played Joe in high school (1984) lots of fun. Oh my, that was 21 years ago!!!!!

[Justice]

re: Damn Yankees 1994#18

Posted: 3/25/05 at 12:03am

I saw Damn Yankees three times, and LOVED it. But, i did not see Bebe, I saw Charlotte D"Amboise, who was not impressive. I did not see Vicki, but I did see Liz Larsen, and I LOVED her. But, Jared Emmick was the breakthrough actor of that show. It made me a fan.
I also didn't see Victor, I saw Jerry Lewis...met him, too, as I have his autograph and Jared's on my playbill. Will be worth a lot of money one day...

"Do you know what pledge time is, Andrew"? said the PBS Executive. "Yes", Lloyd Webber replied. "My 50th birthday special must be one program that gets done a lot." "No", mused the man from PBS heedlessy. "Not so much. Our Stephen Sondheim Carnegie Hall concert. That's a big one." Spoons, forks and knives seemed suddenly to suspend their motion in horror, all around the table.

[Bwaybaby109]

re: Damn Yankees 1994#19

Posted: 3/25/05 at 12:07am

I fall in love with Jarrod's voice everytime I hear that soundtrack...what a voice! ::sigh::

"Have a child for warmth and a baker for bread and a prince for... whatever!"

[inlovewithjerryherman]

re: Damn Yankees 1994#20

Posted: 3/25/05 at 12:13am

GAH
LOVE DAMN YANKEES

Ummm I think bebe was a great lola, but i don't like a lot of the changes that were made for the revival. Someone said that her Lola seemed distant, but it wasn't necessarily her fault, as Two Lost Souls (the original version) has a lot to do with making Lola seem lovable and warm, i think. Such a stupid decision to change that. But that's my only problem with the revival.

[frontrowcentre2]

re: Damn Yankees 1994#21

Posted: 3/25/05 at 1:02am

Yes..a LOT of changes between the 1955 and 1994, many for better including

1. A new Overture (better)

2. Voiceover narration leading into "6 Months out of every year" which was re-routined to start with teh song and place the verse in the middle (better)

3. Added the blooper ballet (better)

4. Re-routined "Heart" into a bigger number including shower scenes (better)

5. Added a montage showing joe's growing fame in commercials (better)

6. Gave Lola a more dramtic entrance (better)

7. Built up the scenes between Joe and Meg so that each helps the other understand how they were taking each other for granted
(better)

8. Moved the intermission earlier and gave a great gag ending for Lola (not so good... theer was no follow up after the intermission. Also the original ended dramatically with Joe being accused of being Shifty McCoy. In the revival Applegate announces the plan but nothing happens on it until Act II)

9. Moved the talent show sequence to the start of Act Two (weak) and changed how "Who's Got the pain" was used. (Bad - the number was needless specialty material and the original plays much better without it.)

10. Move "The Game" to the second slot in Act II giving the 2nd act essentially two opening numbers.

11. Re-routined "Near to You" to bring older Joe back and give it more dramatic effect (better)

12. Changed the Trial into a montage narrated by Gloria. Played faster and funner. (Better)

13. Changed the script so "Two Lost Souls" was sung by Applegate and Lola. (Bad - Applegate didn't lose his soul. In the original script Lola and Joe both did, so the number made sense with them.)

14. Changed the final ball-game so Joe (older) hits a pop fly (in the original he catches one) (needless change but neither better nor worse)

Now if you listen to the 1994 OCR (on Mercury) you hear a lot of dialogue not from the show but created for the recording.

Here's a curiosity: In the Song lne-up for the original Broadway production are two songs listed that were cut within days of the opening, not included on RCA Victor OCR, and never heard again: "Not Meg" sung by Ray Walston and The Gossips, and "The American League" sung by the Downtown fan club. In addition the reprise of "heart" sung by Jean Stapleton was originally done AFTER "The Game" in Act II but moved to act as the Act One Finale.

Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!

I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com

[melissa errico fan]

re: Damn Yankees 1994#22

Posted: 3/25/05 at 7:30am

It's definitely far from perfect casting, but I would love to see Melissa as Lola.

[magruder]

re: Damn Yankees 1994#23

Posted: 3/25/05 at 9:19am

I know I'll go to hell for this, but I prefer the revival script and orchestrations to the original. I don't know if it's because the material has just become dated, but the original version just seems to play without laughs - even Applegate falls flat.

"Gif me the cobra jool!"

[joeybiltmore1]

re: Damn Yankees 1994#24

Posted: 3/25/05 at 9:56am

I'll join you in hell, Magruder: I agree with you. The revival plays very, very well, and it's a shame that the revised script and orchestartions are not available for licensing.