TLC Musical, New Adaptations of DAMN YANKEES and PAL JOEY Will Play Arena Stage- Page 3

[noradesmond]

Posted: 8/2/25 at 5:27pm

I saw it in the round in Houston in the late 60s. Rita Moreno was Lola, Gary Collins was Joe Hardy and Jonathan Harris was Mr Applegate. They changed it to Damn Cardinals with some minor lyric changes. I was just a kid and didn’t know much about theater yet but loved it. 

[Kad]

Posted: 8/3/25 at 10:51am

Updating this to the 00s feels like a really risky choice. I just don't know how you bring a score like this into that era, musically. 

[Crusty Bagel]

Posted: 8/3/25 at 11:06am

I guess Robyn Hurder is sad she didn’t get cast.  She always said Lola was a dream role for her. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 8/3/25 at 1:07pm

Kad said: "Updating this to the 00s feels like a really risky choice. I just don't know how you bring a score like this into that era, musically."

Especially since this revival's music team is known for a "classic" Broadway sound. David Chase ("score supervisor"), Greg Anthony Rassen (music supervisor and arranger), Doug Besterman (orchestrator), and Adam Rothenberg (music director).

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 8/3/25 at 10:22pm

Oof…didn’t realize that book change. This one seems DOA already. 

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 8/3/25 at 10:35pm

Crusty Bagel said: "I guess Robyn Hurder is sad she didn’t get cast. She always said Lola was a dream role for her."

You know what the optics would be on THAT one! 

[Crusty Bagel]

Posted: 8/3/25 at 10:42pm

Yea can’t have too many white people these days.  Enough with the woke casting.  But if this production is a disaster, it might be better for Robyn in the end. I’d love to see Josh Bergasse do a classic production of Damn Yankees with Robyn.  I’m not convinced with the Rob McClure casting in this role either.  And I say that as a fan of his 

[darquegk]

Posted: 8/3/25 at 10:46pm

Even with the initial joke/implication that the "exotic" Lola is really just a white New York Jewish-American everywoman, there's not much of a way to cast that role as it's currently written without either losing the optics or losing the joke.

There's a fair amount of mostly-forgotten east side meets west side humor in the show as it is; even the language joke of "Who's got the pain when they do the mambo" blends a common New York Jewish-ism "to have the pain" with the notion of the very foreign, very gentile and very non-uptight Latin dance craze. 

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 8/3/25 at 11:01pm

Crusty Bagel said: "Yea can’t have too many white people these days. Enough with the woke casting. But if this production is a disaster, it might be better forRobyn in the end. I’d love to see Josh Bergasse do a classic production of Damn Yankees with Robyn. I’m not convinced with the Rob McClure casting in this role either. And I say that as a fan of his"

And the only time this many book writers made anything work was the Lincoln Center Anything Goes, which was a once in a lifetime success story. All other times, the “too many cooks” rule can be retrospectively applied. 

Agreed about Rob, he’s pretty wrong for it, plus he’s absolutely destroyed his voice over the last few years. Who wants an Applegate who makes your cringe when you should be leaning in closer, seduced? The role needs a Chris Sieber. I’m sure they offered it to him but he’s wise enough to stay away from disasters. Doug Sills is another one. 

Updated On: 8/3/25 at 11:01 PM

[TheGingerBreadMan]

Posted: 8/11/25 at 5:44pm

Pal Joey is being renamed.

Due to extensive rewrites of the book and heavy changes made to the score, the Rodgers and Hart estates are not allowing the Arena Stage production to use the title "Pal Joey" as this updated version is too different from how it was written and intended to be performed. It has been renamed "Chez Joey". This change will be announced next week.

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 8/11/25 at 6:54pm

Good for the estate insisting on that. I guess they’ve seen what’s happened to revisals over the years and feel a certain sanctity over the original piece. 

I guess Damn Yankees will keep the name despite its changes. 

[scripps]

Posted: 8/11/25 at 7:04pm

I'm as big of a Yankees fan as they come (although their present incarnation is testing my patience) and the "core four" was a big part of my formative years but enough. Besides, Take Me Out already exists. 

[somecheapfrenchthing]

Posted: 8/11/25 at 7:11pm

Immensely bummed about this Lola casting. I also had my fingers crossed for a Robyn Hurder Lola. We caught the Papermill production with Howard McGillin as Applegate and Nancy Anderson as Gloria back in 2012, which was overall a great production except that Chryssie Whitehead was miscast as Lola (an excellent dancer but just didn't quite have the acting chops). We were really hoping for the Arena production to be firing on all cylinders. I'm really hoping Ana Villafañe proves me wrong here, but I just don't see it. 

[inception]

Posted: 8/12/25 at 9:39am

Took a quick glance at the TodayTix app yesterday, and there are discounts there for approximately the first half of Damn Yankees performance dates.

Updated On: 8/12/25 at 09:39 AM

[GottaGetAGimmick420]

Posted: 8/12/25 at 11:16am

Damn, and meanwhile I'm just happy to be getting a new Damn Yankees like a kid on Christmas...

[KevinKlawitter]

Posted: 8/19/25 at 4:15pm

TheGingerBreadMan said: "Pal Joey is being renamed.

Due to extensive rewrites of the book and heavy changes made to the score, the Rodgers and Hart estates are not allowing the Arena Stage production to usethe title "Pal Joey" as this updated version is too different from how it was written and intended to be performed. It has been renamed "Chez Joey". This change will be announced next week."

New title of CHEZ JOEY confirmed; rhe show will have a completely new book from Richard LaGravenese.

[Kad]

Posted: 8/19/25 at 4:28pm

Chez Joey does not strike me as a... good title. 

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/19/25 at 5:53pm

I’m glad they gave it a new title instead of pretending they’re performing Pal Joey.

[everythingtaboo]

Posted: 8/19/25 at 10:09pm

I'm remaining hopeful for Yankees. There's some primo creatives on the team, and in terms of the cast, Rob and Alysha are always great, Jordan was great in Sunset, and I saw a lot of potential in Ana when we played Roxie on Broadway. (Plus, I love any ensemble that includes Giuseppie Bausilio.)

Why Quentin Earl Darrington keeps getting cast as elders, I'll never understand. But I love him on any stage.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/19/25 at 10:27pm

I never thought I’d see the day that in the year 2025 producers would be afraid to do musicals written in 1940 and 1955 as they were originally intended.

Updated On: 8/21/25 at 10:27 PM