The High Price of a Baseball Winning Streak
It could have been 1955 again. At the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, it was the opening night of a new production of “Damn Yankees,” and the orchestra began the overture. Those familiar songs — “Heart” (“miles and miles and miles of heart”), “Whatever Lola Wants,” “Goodbye, Old Girl” — were instant reminders of why this Faustian baseball musical won seven Tony Awards 56 years ago. This is a first-rate, frequently thrilling revival, even if it does have one disappointing flaw. But that comes later.
The curtain goes up on two characters who would surely describe themselves as an old married couple. Joe Boyd (Joseph Kolinski), whose waistline and blood pressure have seen better days, is engrossed in a televised baseball game, in which his team, the Washington Senators, is losing to the New York Yankees. His wife, Meg (Patti Cohenour), begins singing “Six Months Out of Every Year,” a baseball widow’s lament.
