The Encore's 'Damn Yankees' has heart

The Encore's 'Damn Yankees' has heart

REVIEW

'Damn Yankees'

The Encore Musical Theatre Company, 3126 Broad St., Dexter. Thursday-Sunday through Oct. 24. $28. 734-268-6200Mp:// theencoretheatre.org

In an era of angst-filled, opera-like musicals, it's a treat to occasionally revisit a once-popular, Tony Award-winning classic that hearkens back to simpler times - an era when "love conquers all" is enough of a moral to satisfy theatergoers who then return home feeling thoroughly entertained. And that's pretty much the case with "Damn Yankees," the devilishly delightful musical now on stage at The Encore Musical Theatre in Dexter.

Based on the novel "The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant" and first staged on Broadway in 1955, "Damn Yankees" is most remembered today for its songs ("Heart," "Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo." and "Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets") than anything else - and very few theaters in the area have staged it in recent years. But there's a reason for that: While the tunes by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross will stick with you for hours or days after you see the show, the script by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop - although sweet and uplifting - is fairly pedestrian. And the ending is telegraphed very early in the first act.

The challenge for any director, then, is to populate the production with performers who not only can sing and dance well, but who can take their often sketchy roles and fill them with life, energy and personality. And that's precisely what director Dan Cooney has accomplished with his production.

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