My Comments on DAMN YANKEES (quite long)

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 7/14/08 at 1:26am

I wanted to love it, I REALLY wanted to love it...BADLY.
Unfortunately, I didn't.
I'll say I didn't expect DAMN YANKEES to be the next GYPSY, starting with the main fact that the beginning product was pretty mediocre to begin with. YANKEES simply has an incredibly thin plot and the book is sort of a stinker.
DAMN YANKEES to me is all about those fun, great songs (plenty of which do absolutely nothing for the plot/character development...i.e. "Heart," "Who's Got the Pain?", the twenty million "A Man Doesn't Know" reprises, "Those Were the Good Old Days"), and the stars singing, dancing, and acting them.
Sean Hayes is a great comedian, he knows what the audience wants and gives it to them. Does he play Mr. Applegate? No. He plays Sean Hayes playing Jack McFarland playing Mr. Applegate. I enjoyed it, laughed, and cheered, but after all that, I missed Victor Garber's delicious performance on the '94 cast recording. Hayes' Applegate is impish, fun, and never intimidating. His "Those Were the Good Old Days" is great, but I took it as a Sean Hayes act, not as a number from the show. It'd work great if he put on a cabaret concert. Yet, honestly, I found the piano business terribly annoying, unnecessary, and gimmick-y. Also, he doesn't act the song, there isn't real evil behind it, it's just Sean Hayes delivering the number. His voice was in great shape though, and perhaps if he were able to actually act, it'd be great to see him tackle a Broadway musical.
Jane Krakowski has made a career on stage out of playing the vamp. She does a decent job as Lola. She's stuck with a terrible wig and some awful costumes (you'd think the man who gave Anita Morris a legendary costume would be able to give Krakowski some decent stuff to wear). She's great fun at the beginning, her "A Little Brains, a Little Talent" is complex (she's funny, kinda awkward, excited, sexy). The choreography for that number is not all that great though. Her "Whatever Lola Wants" is a riot. No, she possesses NONE of the nuanced movements that are required to dance Fosse, but I think she takes advantage of that to make the number pretty funny as well as sexy, after all, she is sort of playing a caricature of a sultry Latina. Now, after that, once she turns "good" it's all downhill. I just found her line readings pretty superficial, and while I enjoyed her dancing in "Who's Got the Pain?" you could tell that the great John Selya was trying to limit himself so she could keep up with him. It just didn't come organic to her. She was A LOT better in "Two Lost Souls," she came to her own in the dancing department and truly delivered. Overall, I felt it was sort of an uneven performance.
Cheyenne Jackson does what he can with the most boring role. He has great chemistry with Krakowski and Graff though.
Megan Lawrence was a great disappointment. When I got out of the show I had to listen to the '94 version of "Shoeless Joe" with Vicki Lewis doing actual belting. Lawrence pretends to belt or does it poorly. The rest of the performance was just alright, nothing interesting.
Graff was fantastic. Veanne Cox steals the show as Sister. She had me on the floor in every scene, and Kathy Fitzgerald does a great job as her sidekick.
Overall I felt the cast was not to blame for their shortcomings. Where was the director in all this? John Rando seems to have let all the actors do their own thing, brought someone to re-create Fosse's choreography, and went back home. He should have directed Hayes to actually act, Krakowski to do a better transition from vamp to reformed slut, and Jackson to bring some excitement to his role.
The show won't transfer, or at least it REALLY shouldn't. At least as long as John Rando is at the helm.

[BwayLeadman]

Posted: 7/14/08 at 2:03am

I was at the show tonight and I too feel the same way.
Now that I think back, nothing from the show stands out to me.
I felt nothing for Hayes' "Applegate". It was like you said, him performing
Jane for me was ok.
I did not like megan lawrence as much and funny I too left the theater listening to the 94' recording.

[Kelly2]

Posted: 7/14/08 at 2:08am

I also saw it tonight, for the second time, and felt a little differently. Jane's performance is still my favorite part of the show. I love her transition from the over-the-top and even somewhat ridiculous Lola in Act 1 ("Whatever Lola Wants", "Who's Got the Pain?") to the sort of subdued and lonely woman in Act 1 ("Two Lost Souls"). Her dancing is so much better up close, and superficially, she's really, REALLY pretty, and has a great body. Cheyenne Jackson's acting got better from when I last saw him, though the scene before "Two Lost Souls" was still a bit of a mess for me. The rest of the cast is all around great, though Sean Hayes seems to be growing more and more over the tops, and falling more and more into the "I'm playing myself, so let me mug at the audience here! And...I'm doing it again! Aren't I funny?" and that bothered me a bit, but his "Good Old Days" was very funny, and I still think that his "Jack McFarland" schtick works fine for Applegate, though in the back of my head, I can't help but wonder what a portrayal with actual acting from Victor Garber must have been like, I very much wish I could've seen him. Megan Lawrence was also good, though I just wish her voice were more powerful? Randy Graff, again, is IMO the most underrated part of the production, she's absolutely wonderful, heartwarming, and 100% believable. And can we just talk about the ensemble and that dancing? For people given three weeks notice to learn Fosse choreography, they were just GIVING it. I have to say, I'm particularly impressed by Nathan Balser, who seems to really grasp the style of dance and movement in the show, and the wonderful, wonderful John Selya, who was just graceful, and perfect, and made a great partner for Jane Krakowski in "Who's Got the Pain?".

Maybe I'm easily pleased, simple-minded, or maybe it's just all the cute guys and great dancing being very easy for my ADD-affected self to pay attention to, but I really loved this production.

[allofmylife]

Posted: 7/14/08 at 4:25am

sux

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 7/14/08 at 4:08pm

Kelly, I respect your opinion, but what about Megan Lawrence's performance did you find good? To me she gives the worst performance in the cast. She almost manages to single-handedly turn "Shoeless Joe" into a lackluster number, thank God for the Fosse choreography.
Like I said, I don't really buy the transition that Jane tries to do from "Whatever Lola Wants" to the scene before "Who's Got the Pain?" Maybe it's the actual book, but I just don't think Jane feels comfortable playing those moments. She can be so vulnerable, as she proved in NINE (her "Simple" is marvelous), so again, it is probably a direction issue.
Cheyenne's acting in the show is alright, nothing to write home about.

[Kelly2]

Posted: 7/14/08 at 4:23pm

"Kelly, I respect your opinion, but what about Megan Lawrence's performance did you find good? To me she gives the worst performance in the cast. She almost manages to single-handedly turn "Shoeless Joe" into a lackluster number, thank God for the Fosse choreography."

I thought she was one of the people in the show who understood how to play to the very last row of the theatre. I found her line readings and acting to be appropriate. My biggest problem was that her voice was not grating enough for Gloria, and she didn't have the right vocal power to be singing "Shoeless Joe". I didn't think some people (especially Cheyenne) were really giving big enough performances to fill the entire venue.

I personally fault the book for some of the weaker moments in not only Jane, but Cheyenne's performances, but in my opinion, Jane gave a performance that I remembered and enjoyed that was better than the weak book, and Cheyenne, for me, fell prey to the sometimes shoddy material.

[jewishboy]

Posted: 7/14/08 at 7:30pm

Nice to hear your thoughts! I agree with most of your comments, but I just have more of an overall joy for the musical. I don't mind the book most of the staging, except like you I think that Joe is a very odd/boring role. I'm surprised you didn't think Krakowski's transitions in the show worked. I thought she was great in all the book scenes and I found the vulnerability in her interpretation. Although it was a great showy aspect, I too found the piano to take away from the song. It would be interesting to see how Mr. Hayes could perform the song without it. Sorry you were disappointed!

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 7/17/08 at 1:34am

Jewishboy, don't get me wrong, I did have fun during the show, I just thought I'd come out loving it and instead I came out realizing how flawed some of the moments were (the only two times I was just utterly disappointed seeing the show were during Megan Lawrence's singing in "Shoeless Joe" and while Hayes played the piano in his solo).
You know I adore Krakowski, I just couldn't buy her transition from vamp to repented soul, though I did love her pre-"Two Lost Souls" scene as well as the dance.
And I agree, I would love to see Hayes do the number without the freaking piano. As a matter of fact, I loved the violin bit, and the piano-less encore.

[jazzicat]

Posted: 7/24/08 at 10:18pm

Had a great time at the show, but mainly it was because of who I was with and the fact that we were all huge fans of Sean Hayes Cheyenne and Jane K. Awesome night.

This might be dumb, but I am too tired to google. Does sean hayes always say "Yes, I am really playing" when he plays the piano. I mean it should have been obvious he was playing, but it was clear a lot of people didn't getit. I am really loud and I was sitting front and center and I turned to my friend and said "is he really playing" a second before he said that. I assume that was the point. But he "broke the wall" a few times last night, so I wasn't sure.

Also sat close to Allison Janney and I wanted to tell her how excited I am for 9 to 5, but didn't want to be stalkerish. So I will say it here on the record- I am soooo excited for 9 to 5. It was a cool "sighting." I'm sure I could have said something.. but as I said.

I don't know.. the material is dated but I love city center and the cheoreography was impressive. I went in not loving the score- but as a fan-- and had a fun night. My biggest criticism was of Jane's costumes.. she is in amazing shape, but they just weren't as flattering as they could have been.