In the spring Broadway will see a new production of Damn Yankees, the first one in over 30 years, and not only that but the book will be revised to move the 1950s musical into the beginning of the 21st century. I guess that’s to make it more relevant? Whatever. As long as they don’t turn it into a rap musical. 

Austin Scott will play Young Joe Hardy, Julianne Hough will perform the role of Lola, and Neil Patrick Harris will star as Applegate.

I remember seeing a Harrisburg Community Theatre production back in the late 1970s, and although I enjoyed it, they performed it as a contemporary musical rather than setting it back in the mid-1950s when the show was written, and I found that a bit jarring. I thought it should have been staged as a mid-1950s piece, unless they adjusted the book accordingly, as there was no longer a team called the Washington Senators.

If you’re going to change the time period, then you need to update the book, and that’s what they seem to be doing with this revisal. The Washington Senators will now be the Baltimore Orioles.

If the revisal is done well, and if they don’t tinker too much with the music (updated orchestrations should be OK), this might be worth seeing. I can definitely picture Harris as Applegate and if he brings along his bag of magician’s tricks to the part, that might make it even more fun.

With the Met Opera finally doing Silent Night in the spring as well, maybe even I might be tempted to take a brief trip to the Big Apple. Stranger things have been known to happen.