Rose Center Theater offers a spirited if unremarkable rendition of the 1955 Broadway musical, a summertime perennial.
It isn’ t too hard for Orange County theater audiences to identify with “Damn Yankees, ” the popular 1955 Broadway musical about the world of pro baseball.
The perennial also-ran Washington Senators are our Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and slugger Joe Hardy is Mike Trout.
Angels fans can relate to the frustrations of Senators fans, and All Star Hardy is like a’ 50s version of Trout.
The similarities are on hand for all to see at Rose Center Theater in Westminster, where director Tim Nelson and an expanded company present a spirited if unremarkable staging of a show most theater fans consider an essential ingredient of their summertime theater-going activities.
Of course, Trout didn’ t sell his soul in a Faust-like deal the way long-suffering Senators fan Joe Boyd (Nelson) does with Mr. Applegate (Chris Caputo) .
Decades earlier, Joe was “quite something” of a ballplayer. Now, the devilish Applegate gives him a chance to realize a “secret desire.”
Turned back into a 25-year-old, he joins the Senators as “Joe Hardy” (Jerred Yeash) and gives them a real chance of finally besting the “damn” New York Yankees and getting to the World Series.
Nelson includes numbers like Act 2’s “Near to You, ” often omitted to reduce the show’s running time, and as musical director, his arrangements capture the verve and sparkle of Richard Adler and Jerry Ross’ classic score.
Yeash shows Joe as a fresh-faced kid naïvely trusting of the sarcastic Applegate, and he delivers Joe’s youthful homesickness for his life as Joe Boyd and the simple yet fulfilling life he had with wife Meg (Alexis Karol) .
Some of Caputo’s overplaying is fun, but his slick, Mr. Smooth-salesman Applegate could use a lot more bad-boy sizzle and more relish at being the baddest dude ever. His “Those Were the Good Old Days” is among the show’s better solos, though it comes up far short of being the showstopper it could (and should) be.
Autumn Kirkpatrick’s over-the-top seductiveness and impossibly long legs create a humorously sexy Lola, a funny-hot temptress in the key song-and-dance numbers “A Little Brains, a Little Talent” and “Whatever Lola Wants.” Kirkpatrick’s Latina version of Lola, “Señorita Lolita Banana, ” is truly funny, like a bad reject from “West Side Story.”
Karol’s Meg is superficially perky. She drops the ball in showing that Meg has lost something too dear and valuable for words. Better is Jamie Roberts, a kick as Meg’s baseball-savvy sister.
While Amanda Hinchee’s lady reporter Gloria could use more zing and pizzazz, Robin Harrison’s gravel-voiced Senators coach is aptly blue-collar, and the 11 Senators ballplayers are lovable stumblebums.
The song “Heart” showcases the team’s rowdy, playful humor, the Act 2 number “Who’s Got the Pain” is frivolously kicky, and in numbers like “Shoeless Joe From Hannibal, Mo., ” Diane Makas and Jennifer Simpson-Matthews’ choreography fills the Rose stage, their athletic steps putting the cast through its paces.
In fact, most of the large-scale numbers work better than the solos and duets. One exception is Yeash and Kirkpatrick’s sizzling work in the steamy “Two Lost Souls, ” which gets solid ensemble work in depicting famous couples from history. It’s also nice to see “Near to You, ” as young Joe indirectly, through song, lets Meg know that her Joe hasn’ t strayed far.
Caputo’s stadium set is a sparkling clean gem with trim grass and patriotic bunting, with period ads for Chevrolet, Lucky Strike and Wheaties adding authenticity. Carole Zelinger’s baseball uniforms and gear look like the real McCoy, and her red-and-black ensembles for Lola and Applegate showcase their otherworldly origins.
George Abbott and Douglass Wallop’s book shines as brightly as ever. Contemporary political references, and Applegate’s use of Siri on his iPad, are fun if anachronistic additions to a story, script and score that evoke a much simpler era in recent American history.
When: Through July 30.7: 30 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays
Where: Rose Center Theater, 14140 All American Way, Westminster
Tickets: $17-$25
Length: 2 hours, 45 minutes
Suitability: All ages
Info: 714-793-1150, ext. 1, RoseCenterTheater.com
