Damn Yankees (1955 Original Broadway Cast) [Cast Recording]

Richard Adler (Composer), Robert Shafer (Performer), Joan Keenan (Performer), Gwen Verdon (Performer), Janet Hayes (Performer), Jean Stapleton (Performer), Stephen Douglass (Performer), Rae Allen (Performer), Cherry Davis (Performer), Richard Bishop (Performer), Shannon Bolin (Performer), Frank Bouley (Performer), Russ Brown (Performer), Fred Bryan (Performer), Ronn Cummins (Performer), Nathaniel Frey (Performer), Jeanne Grant (Performer), Del Horstmann (Performer), Janie Janvier (Performer), Jimmie Komack (Performer), Jerry Ross (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Robert Shafer, Joan Keenan, Gwen Verdon, Janet Hayes, Jean Stapleton, et al.
• Composer: Richard Adler
• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Cast Recording
• Label: RCA Victor Broadway
• ASIN: B000002W65
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #48,370 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #48 in Music > Broadway & Vocalists > Musicals > Classic Musicals

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, who were protegés of Frank Loesser, composed and wrote lyrics for only two hit shows of their own--The Pajama Game was the other. (Ross died in 1955, shortly after the opening of Damn Yankees.) But what great shows they were, in sensibility and subject matter entrenched in their Eisenhower era, yet eminently revivable today--and as much more than period pieces. Damn Yankees, which was based on Douglas Wallop's novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant, neatly combined the national obsession with baseball and its dominant team with the Faust legend. The Devil himself (Ray Walston) offers a middle-aged fan of the Washington Senators the chance to turn into a Mickey Mantle-esque ballplayer (Stephen Douglass) to help his hapless team against those Bronx Bombers. The fan accepts, but with an escape clause in the interest of story-line complications. What makes the plot problematic is not its proven fantasy level; it's that the leading lady, Lola, the Devil's temptress assistant, doesn't appear until way into the first act, and then she is required to dominate the show with just two solos and a couple of duets. Only a star with the guts and stage-holding ability of Gwen Verdon could have managed this in the first place, even though her solos are the estimable "A Little Brains--A Little Talent" and the near-standard "Whatever Lola Wants." Bebe Neuwirth, as Lola, was never able to seize the stage--or the recording--of the 1994 revival, and ultimately that show became about Jerry Lewis as the Devil, for God's sake. Verdon's and Walston's amazing original performances are preserved in the movie version (Tab Hunter took over the ballplayer's role), but this recording is the one to have. The show's breakout hit song, sung by ballplayers and fans, was and is "(You Gotta Have) Heart." Damn Yankees and all its songs have just that. --Robert Windeler

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Six Months Out of Every Year.......", October 17, 2003

By 

Byron Kolln (the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Damn Yankees (1955 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

So begins one of Broadway's most delightful (and successful) musical offerings of the early 50's, DAMN YANKEES, based on the popular novel 'The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant' by Douglass Wallop.

With its immortal, zippy score by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, the musical starred the legendary triple-threat Gwen Verdon (in her first leading role following her debut in CAN-CAN) and also featured Ray Walston as the snide 'Devil in Disguise' Mr Applegate.

The cast includes Stephen Douglass (THE GOLDEN APPLE) as well as Rae Allen, who sings the show-stopping "Shoeless Joe From Hannibal, Mo.". Gwen Verdon, in the role of scene-stealing seductress Lola, gets several choice numbers including her now-legendary "Whatever Lola Wants", as well as "A Little Brains, A Little Talent", "Who's Got the Pain?" and "Two Lost Souls". Shannon Bolin (PROMENADE) sings the plaintive cry for attention, "Six Months Out of Every Year".

Although immortalised on screen as well as being revived for Broadway in the 90's, nothing can ever top the original 1955 cast album of DAMN YANKEES in terms of perfection and excitement. Highly-recommended.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gwen Verdon and Ray Walston at their Broadway Best, February 12, 2001

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Damn Yankees (1955 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

Douglas Wallop's novel "The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant" was turned into the successful musical "Damn Yankees" by the creative team that had produced "The Pajama Game." Featuring music & lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, both hits were directed by George Abbot and Choreographed by Bob Fosse. For good measure, one of the producers was Harold Prince. All of the above won Tony Awards in 1956 when "Damn Yankees" was named Best Musical, along with Gwen Verdon as Lola for Best Actress, Ray Walston as Mr. Applegate for Best Actor and Russ Brown as Van Buren the Manager for Featured Actor. For Verdon this was her first featured role on Broadway (and second of four Tony Awards), while the devilish Applegate was Walston's signature role for most of his career until he returned to the public's consciousness as Judge Henry Bone on television's "Picket Fences" (The less said about "My Favorite Martian" the better).

"Damn Yankees" combines the Faust myth with the reality of baseball in the 1950s, which meant the New York Yankees where always winning the pennant (they had just won five World Series in a row) while the standard joke about the Washington Senators was that "Washington was first in war, first in peace and last in the American League." Disheartened Senators fan Joe Boyd makes a deal with Mr. Applegate: in exchange for his soul he is transformed into 22 year old Joe Hardy, who will lead his team to the pennant. However, since he is a real estate salesman, Joe works an escape clause in the contract: before September 24th he can change his mind and get his soul back (a whole new meaning to the Trading Deadline I suppose). Applegate sends the lovely Lola to seduce Joe to seal the bargain, and when her attempt fails Applegate has to take more desperate measures to make sure he keeps Joe's soul. The conclusion offers a fair amount of twists and turns before we get to the requisite happy ending.

My major "complaint" about this album is that you if you are not seeing Gwen Verdon strut her stuff when she does her signature song "Whatever Lola Wants," you are simply being shortchanged. Same thing with "A Little Brains--a Little Talent." The woman came alive on stage. Thankfully her performance in this legendary role is captured on film. The score has its fair share of fun tunes, from the well-known "Heart" to "Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo." and "Six Months Out of Every Year." Of the more sentimental tunes, only "Two Lost Souls" stands out. I am always surprised Walston does not have more numbers than "Those Were the Gold Old Days." Applegate is just too good of a character to have only one song. "Damn Yankees" is a fun musical but not a great one, where the performances of the two stars get everything they can from the material and more. Final Notes: Jean Stapleton has a role as one of the Baseball Fans and the film version of "Damn Yankees" is somewhat unique because with the exception of Tab Hunter replacing Stephen Douglass as Joe Hardy the Broadway cast shows made it to Hollywood.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Triple play, August 15, 2004

By 

Mark Andrew Lawrence "Theatre Reviewer" (Toronto) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Damn Yankees (1955 Original Broadway Cast) (Audio CD)

DAMN YANKEES! is a fun show. Not one of the very best ever written - the plot IS full of holes - but still a great deal of fun on stage.

The Adler-Ross score holds up well, though the ballads get a bit dreary. "Heart" and "Whatever Lola Wants" were the big hits but Ray Walston's "Good Old days" and the duet "Two Lost Souls" are enjoyable.

RCA Victor did the cast album, taping the whole score (except the song "Not Meg" which was cut after opening night never to be heard again) and including some dialogue. The album is slightly marred by the flat boxy sound that pervades most of the label's early cast albums. Still it preserves the performances of Gwen Verdon and Ray Walston.

They also appeared in the 1958 film version with Tab Hunter replacing Stephen Douglas as the star ball-player. The soundtrack album (also on RCA) makes changes to the lyrics and drops three songs, adding a new ballad "There's Something about an empty Chair" that is even more dreary than the song it replaces.

The 1994 Broadway revival (on Mercury) offers a more thorough recording, but the performances on this original cast disc can't be beat.