Time’s No Fan of ‘Yankees,’ but the Score Is in the Team’s Favor in Fullerton

Boston Red Sox fans know the words well. “Damn Yankees” is something they’ve undoubtedly muttered a lot over the years and especially now, with their beloved team fighting the dastardly New York Yankees for the American League Championship.

With the series as a backdrop, the timing for the Fullerton Civic Light Opera’s “Damn Yankees” is close to ideal. Baseball is in the air, and director Rob Barron’s appealing staging of Richard Adler and Jerry Ross’ featherweight musical fits right in.

It’s not the Red Sox moaning over Yankee dominance but the lowly Washington Senators, once a powerhouse (Hall of Famer Walter Johnson pitched for them) that had fallen to cellar dwellers by the time “Damn Yankees” was first produced in 1955.

At the show’s center is Joe Boyd (Pat Hanrahan), a super-fan who worships at the Senators’ temple daily, watching them flail away and lose just about every game. And when the Yankees come to town, the pain is intolerable.

But along comes the devil (David Allen Jones) offering one of those “I’d sell my soul” deals to ease the ache. He transforms Boyd, who’s middle-aged and can’t even touch his toes, into the youthful, long-ball-hitting Joe Hardy (John Holder). Once in the Senators’ lineup, the team goes on a tear, leading up (of course) to a showdown with those Yankees.

There are several pleasantly familiar songs in “Damn Yankees” (“Heart,” “Whatever Lola Wants,” “A Man Doesn’t Know”) but it’s really a rather rickety show, so old-fashioned and corny that it tries your patience more than a little. But Barron knows that keeping everything crisp and lively goes a long way in musical theater.

This “Damn Yankees,” despite awkward patches in the choreography and a second act that slowed on opening night Friday, takes advantage of much of what the score and book offer.

The most fun comes from Jones as Applegate, a glib Lucifer who loves to wear flame-red scarves and socks and perform little match tricks when wooing his clients. Jones doesn’t get to sing much (his only number is “Those Were the Good Old Days,” handled respectably) but he does grab the audience’s attention with his amusingly superior attitude.

As his main target, Holder provides the required naivete. He’s one of those gentle giants with a booming voice. His pipes are so powerful that it surprises you in the first act when he appears miraculously to finish off “Goodbye, Old Girl,” which Hanrahan, whose voice is far less operatic, has been singing.

For sex appeal (or whatever you want to call it) there’s Lola, Applegate’s right-hand girl. She’s been seducing men for over 170 years, acting as sort of a deal-closer for the devil. Maria Eberline is a hyper-active, almost breathless Lola, and she tends to go too far with the accents and other shenanigans. There are, however, some silly-funny moments in her rendition of “Whatever Lola Wants” when she desperately tries to push Joe off his pious path.

* “Damn Yankees,” Plummer Auditorium, 201 E. Chapman Ave., Fullerton. Thursday-Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2 and 7 p.m.; Oct. 31, 2 p.m. Ends Oct. 31. $14-$35. (714) 879-1732. Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes.

Pat Hanrahan:Joe Boyd

Lisa Robinson:Meg Boyd

David Allen Jones:Applegate

John Holder:Joe Hardy

Sjaan Zimmerman:Gloria Thorpe

Maria Eberline:Lola

A Fullerton Civic Light Opera production of Richard Adler and Jerry Ross’ musical. Directed by Rob Barron, who also did the choreography. Sets: Gil Morales. Lighting: Donna Ruzika. Sound: A.J. Douglas. Costumes: Sharell Martin. Musical director: Lee Kreter. Stage manager: Donna Parsons.