Lively team keeps Broadway-style musical moving
THEATER: Performance Riverside's play is filled with enthusiastic and believable performances.
06:13 PM PDT on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 By SHERLI LEONARD Special to The Press-Enterprise
A musical can't get much more Broadway than "Damn Yankees," now playing with Performance Riverside at Landis Performing Arts Center.
The show, which tells the Faustian story of old Joe Boyd planning to sell his soul to the devil so his beloved Washington Senators can win the Pennant from the Yankees, neatly fits the profile. There are super-sized dance numbers, at least two songs you take home in your head, captivating characters, some romance, some intrigue, some sex. (Actually, quite a bit of sex, albeit by innuendo.)
On opening night Friday, the fun of this production came from the ebullient performances of Jason Webb as Joe Hardy, John LaLonde as Coach Benny Van Buren, the spectacularly talented Jamie Senesac as the intrepid sports reporter determined to make a story, and Elizabeth Mendoza as Meg's big-hearted, big-mouthed neighbor, Doris.
They each infused their role with almost-over-the-top enthusiasm and total believability, and filled the stage with classy dancing and marvelous singing.
Juliet Fischer-Schulein as Lola, the devil's accomplice, gave out plenty of slinky moves but seemed to hold back the sensual, sultry aura that should have dissolved men into uselessness.
More like a young version of a likeable "old broad" than a designing, alluring home wrecker, Fischer-Schulein might have seduced a man in a shaky marriage, but not a squeaky clean guy like baseball phenom Joe Hardy, a young, virile (and devil-made) version of the old Joe.
The charm of "Damn Yankees" comes from its unusual twist on the love story: Instead of two people being attracted to each other, the story has two people being re-attracted to each other. The old Joe and his bride, Meg, get the opportunity to do what few of us can -- see our marriage objectively from the outside and fix its problems.
Webb consumed the stage from his first burst into the light with his amazing ability to sweep the audience into his role. With a Ken Jennings-type of boyish and happy appeal, he loaded Joe Hardy with transparent sincerity.
He was matched only by Claire Reinschmidt's pure-hearted and unaffected Meg, appropriately bedecked with white gloves, pearls and a little white hat.
Webb and Reinschmidt delivered a magical moment with "He's Near to You," working with the outstanding orchestra at ideal tempi to create a breathless sense of anticipation.
Always donning fire-red socks, Gary Reinschmidt as Mr. Applegate, the devil, took a scheming businessman-like approach, more beleaguered by the challenges of the do-gooders than evil and conniving. His perky and sassy song and dance to "Those Were the Good Old Days" and his goofy play-acting as the fireman inspecting Meg's house spiced up the production with peppery touches.
The joy of this production, however, exploded from the baseball team, absolute boys in men's clothing.
With unabashed passion, they created cacophony, and made me tap my toes with brassy singing and dancing that left no piece of the staged un-danced-upon.
Even at two-and-a-half hours long, "Damn Yankees" gave no time to be bored -- except, perhaps, by the flat sets -- moving at a brisk pace with snappy, well-timed dialogue.
