Review of Damn Yankees

Damn Yankees is being presented by City Center as part of the Encores! “Summer Stars” series, initiated last year with a production of Gypsy (directed by the aforementioned Laurents and starring Patti LuPone) that transferred to Broadway. In terms of its design elements, particularly John Lee Beatty's scenery, the sophomore effort has more of a feel of a full production than the first. Several colorful drops help capture the authentic feel of a '50s musical, as do William Ivey Long's spot-on costumes. (Love those fire-engine-red socks on Applegate!)

As was the case with Gypsy, the 25-piece Damn Yankees orchestra takes full focus for the show's overture and entr'acte, otherwise remaining hidden or obscured upstage behind drops or scrims. Expertly led by Rob Berman, the musicians have a high time with the infectious melodies and rhythms of the Adler-Ross score, but one can't help feeling that the orchestra would more effectively be placed in the pit for these full-production City Center shows.

On the other hand: The producers of recent revivals of classic musicals seem to feel that it's justifiable to spend big bucks on large orchestras as long as the audience gets to see as well as hear where the money went. If that's the way it is — and if other high-end production values have to be eschewed in order to allow people to hear these scores the way they were meant to be heard, until someone figures out a way to give us both without charging $200 a ticket — then so be it.

For its most recent Broadway revival, Damn Yankees was damagingly rewritten and rearranged, so it's great to have the original version back on stage. That revival also suffered from Bebe Neuwirth's lack of warmth in the role of Lola, but there's no such problem here, given Krakowski's wonderfully engaging performance. If you can manage it, get to City Center by July 27 and catch this blast from the past.