‘Yankees’ shows heart and soul

In directing a play or musical from another era, too much faithfulness can sometimes be as damaging as too little. By slavishly adhering to every punctuation mark in a script, you may end up locking your staging into a state of utter irrelevance.

In the bubbly Reprise! revival of “Damn Yankees,” which opened Wednesday at UCLA’s Freud Playhouse, Jason Alexander, in his first season as the company’s artistic director, takes substantial liberties. He updates the action from the 1950s to the 1980s, casts African American actors in principal roles and sprinkles in quite a few contemporary references, Britney Spears anachronistically among them.

He also changes the show’s losing baseball team from the Washington Senators to the L.A. Dodgers. This not only flies in the face of a few facts (the Dodgers had an enviable record in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s), but it also has two teams from different leagues (the Yankees and the Dodgers) nonsensically vying for the same pennant.

To some die-hard fans, it might look as if Alexander doesn’t know a thing about America’s former favorite pastime. (The country has since moved on to HBO on Demand.) But the truth is that he has sharp theatrical instincts when it comes to comedy and connecting with an audience.

For the most part, the license he takes in his adaptation and direction is in keeping with the jaunty spirit of the original. Between the injection of fresh jokes into George Abbott and Douglass Wallop’s book and the soulful face-lift that has been given to Richard Adler and Jerry Ross’ score, the production, while far from perfect, has a rejuvenating effect. And isn’t that the whole point of Reprise’s mission of reacquainting us with the secret wonders of fading musicals?

“Damn Yankees” was a hit when it premiered on Broadway in 1955 and was later made into a film with most of the Broadway ensemble intact. But it’s not a masterpiece (the book is patchy and the music is of variable quality), and any museum-like re-creation would probably seem hopelessly dated.

The show, which offers a retelling of the Faust legend, was historically notable for introducing Gwen Verdon’s long and limber magnificence to Bob Fosse’s choreographic razzmatazz -- a match that, if you’ll forgive the overworked pun, turned out to have serious legs.

The iconic image of Verdon in a stripper’s black tights against a devilishly red background -- the poster that assured sports-allergic theatergoers that there would be as much “Damn” as “Yankees” on hand -- is as memorable as the musical’s two breakout hits, “Whatever Lola Wants” and “Heart.”

Alexander’s production, awash in tender feeling as well as lustful mischief, emphasizes that this tale of a middle-aged baseball nut who sells his soul to the devil is really a love story. Joe Boyd (a sumptuously voiced Ken Page) may call his wife Meg (the warmhearted Armelia McQueen) “old girl” and have little time for her whenever his team is playing, but in temporarily deserting his marriage for the chance to play in the big leagues and help the Dodgers finally beat those infernal Yankees, he begins to realize that there’s nothing as tempting as his deep and enduring bond with the woman he loves.

Ty Taylor plays Joe Hardy, the athlete Joe Boyd transforms into courtesy of Applegate (a diabolically game Cleavant Derricks), a mid-level executive from Hell who’s not so good at negotiating airtight deals. Taylor has a terrific voice and an endearing presence, though it takes a leap of faith to imagine this slight young man tearing up the field and, in truth, he doesn’t always seem comfortable acting in a musical either.

Meg Gillentine, sporting various colored wigs, cuts an irresistible figure as Lola, the vamp Applegate sics on Joe to keep him from thinking about his wife. If she makes more of an impression with “A Little Brains, a Little Talent” than the more famous “Whatever Lola Wants,” it’s probably because Lee Martino’s choreography overdoes the smuttiness.

But what a treat that there is so much dance in a Reprise! offering, especially in a show where it plays such a crucial role.

Among the supporting cast, Lillias White offers a gorgeous R&B; version of “Heart”; Jackee Harry (yes, from the sitcoms “Sister, Sister” and “227”) dissolves the audience in laughter with her every sassy double take; and Lesli Margherita talks tough convincingly as a woman reporter charging into locker rooms.

Alexander’s first at bat may amount to a line-drive double rather than a home run, but it’s definitely an impressive start. “Damn Yankees” encourages us to root not just for the home team but also for Reprise! to become a breeding ground for homegrown productions. The Wadsworth, Brentwood, Ricardo Montalban and even Ahmanson theaters could all use a local supplier.

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charles.mcnulty@latimes.com

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‘Damn Yankees’

Where: Freud Playhouse, UCLA

When: 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays

Ends: Nov. 25

Price: $70 and $75

Contact: (310) 825-2101

Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes