Damn Yankees is one of the only successful musical comedies built around the American national pastime of baseball. The musical combines a baseball story with the age-old Faustian theme, with book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop and music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The original story was set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., during a time when the New York Yankees dominated Major League Baseball. In the early days of Broadway playwrights and producers repeatedly tried to create hit shows with a baseball theme, however, they all flopped at the box office. From those early days any show about baseball was considered to be jinxed and for the next sixty years or so, no show was produced with America’s favorite pastime in the story line. The Faust legend however, one of the most popular stories in world literature, about a man’s willingness to sell his soul to the devil in exchange for the realization of a dream has inspired playwrights, poets, filmmakers and novelists since the 16th century with great success. Author Douglass Wallop combined these two themes in his novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant in 1954. Decades before Field of Dreams and other baseball fables, the book was a best seller and is still considered to be one of the greatest baseball novels of all time.

Inspired by Wallop’s novel, Abbott, Adler and Ross teamed up with the author to turn his novel into a musical. The show opened on Broadway on May 5, 1955 and ran for a total of 1,019 performances, won eight Tony Awards including the award for Best Musical, permanently busting the old myth! The original production of Damn Yankees was produced by Harold (Hal) Prince, with George Abbott as director; the choreographer was Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon starred as Lola. This role made her a star.

In addition to its successful run on Broadway, it was immediately followed by a national tour and a film version from Warner Bros. in 1958. In 1994, the play was revived on Broadway in a production that featured comedy legend Jerry Lewis in a leading role.

Jerry Ross and Richard Adler first met in 1950 and as a duo they became protégés of the great composer/lyricist/publisher Frank Loesser. Their song "Rags to Riches" was recorded by Tony Bennett and reached number 1 on the charts in 1953. Adler and Ross began their career in the Broadway Theater with John Murray Anderson’s Almanac, a revue for which they provided most of the songs. Adler and Ross followed up with their two hits The Pajama Game and Damn Yankees, both of which won Tony Awards for Best Musical. The duo had authored the music and lyrics for three great Broadway successes in three years and had seen over a half-dozen of their songs reach the U.S. top ten, two of them peaking at #1. Unfortunately, their partnership came to an end when Jerry Ross suddenly died of chronic bronchiectasis, at the age of twenty-nine, a few months after Damn Yankees opened.

The Ogunquit Playhouse has put a new twist on the old tale – the baseball action moves from Washington D.C. to Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox and brings the rivalry between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox off the field and on to the stage! To fuel the decades old rivalry between the two veteran teams and to pay homage to Fenway’s 100th Anniversary, Tony Award winning playwright Joe DiPietro has updated the book for the Ogunquit production. Under special agreement with the George Abbott estate and Music Theater International, the Ogunquit Playhouse has made special arrangements to take a fresh look at Damn Yankees. This concept was originally explored by North Shore Music Theatre in 2006 with Joe DiPietro. For the 80th Anniversary, the Ogunquit Playhouse reunited DiPietro with the Boston Red Sox and Damn Yankees and this time he collaborated with famed song and dance man Jeffry Denman as Director/Choreographer and Ken Clifton as Music Director. This team has put together a brand new version of Damn Yankees featuring the Boston Red Sox created exclusively for the Ogunquit Playhouse.

Ogunquit Playhouse Presents the New Boston Red Sox Version of Damn Yankees!

For Immediate Release:

July 20, 2012

The devilishly sexy Damn Yankees (the new Boston Red Sox version!) is on stage at the Ogunquit Playhouse from July 25 – August 18. A bewitching seductress, America's favorite pastime and Satan himself mix it up in this popular Adler and Ross musical comedy starring Carson Kressley as Applegate (one stylishly sassy devil!).

The Ogunquit Playhouse has put a new twist on the familiar tale – the baseball action moves from Washington D.C. to Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox and brings the rivalry between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox off the field and on to the stage! To fuel the decades- old rivalry between the two veteran teams and to pay homage to Fenway’s 100th Anniversary, Tony Award winning playwright Joe DiPietro has updated the book for the Ogunquit production. Die hard Red Sox fan Joe Boyd offers his soul to this devil in return for “one long-ball hitter.” Applegate uses his power to turn Joe into a young, strong, handsome, long ball hitter with supernatural athletic abilities. As the team begins to win, Joe looks for a loophole to get out of the deal. The devilish dealmaker pulls out all the stops, most notably, the sizzling hot temptress Lola…. “Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets.”

Carson Kressley returns to the Ogunquit Playhouse after a 12 week run in an all new live production of “Dancing with the Stars: Live in Las Vegas,” to play Mr. Applegate in this Faustian baseball musical that won seven Tony Awards when it opened on Broadway 56 years ago. Hot off his run in “Dancing with the Stars,” Emmy-winning television star, celebrity stylist, author and fashion designer, Carson Kressley was last seen at the Ogunquit Playhouse in his critically acclaimed performance as Man in Chair during the 2010 run of The Drowsy Chaperone.

Broadway’s Erin Denman will steam up the stage as Lola. Ms. Denman last appeared on the Playhouse stage as Tess in Crazy For You in 2007 with Rue McClanahan. She has performed on Broadway in 42nd Street, in the National Tour and motion picture of The Producers and was most recently seen as Sally Cato in Mame at the Goodspeed Opera House. In the role of Joe Boyd is D.C. Anderson, who begins a run this fall in the new Broadway musical Rebecca, has worked at regional theatres throughout the U. S. in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Pippin, Martin Guerre and The Phantom of the Opera.Sam Prince will play Joe Hardy. He has performed Off-Broadway in Girl Crazy at City Center Encores! and in regional theatres throughout the U.S., including the Old Globe, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma and the Minneapolis Children's Theatre. Jennifer Cody returns to the Ogunquit stage in the role of Gloria.She was last seen at the Playhouse as “Ed”/Natalie in All Shook Up and Joy in Cinderella. Jennifer’s many Broadway and Off-Broadway roles include: Shrek the Musical, Pajama Game, Urinetown the Musical, No No Nanette, Best Little Whorehouse…, Seussical, Grease, Beauty and the Beast and Cats. She is best known for voicing Charlotte La Bouff in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog, which she won the Annie Award (Voice over Oscar) for Outstanding Performance in a Motion Picture.

Broadway song and dance man Jeffry Denman returns to the Ogunquit Playhouse as Director and Choreographer. Denamn was in Ogunquit last season as choreographer for The Music Man, which was honored with the Moss Hart Award by the New England Theatre Conference in 2011. In 2007 he performed on the Ogunquit stage as Bobby Child in Crazy for You and in 2010 he played Sir Robin in Spamalot. Jeffry’s Off-Broadway credits include YANK! for which he was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award and a Joe A. Callaway Award Finalist as Best Choreographer; Naked Boys Singing! and Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice (NYMF - Outstanding Choreography Honorable Mention). Jeffry has been the Director/Choreographer of over a dozen installments of the hugely successful Broadway by the Yearconcerts at the Town Hall in New York City, also A Tribute to Lerner & Loewe, All Singin’ - All Dancin,’ and Broadway Unplugged. As a performer, Jeffry has appeared on Broadway in the original productions of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, The Producers and the final cast of Cats.

Musical Direction will be under Ken Clifton, who is no stranger to the Ogunquit Playhouse. He has been the music director for many Ogunquit Playhouse productions including this season’s Always Patsy Cline and South Pacific, 2011’s critically acclaimed production of Miss Saigon and the award winning, The Music Man and in 2010 for Sunset Blvd. and Chicago. Ken is the resident music director for the Riverside Theatre in Vero Beach, Florida and in addition works as a vocal coach and composer/lyricist.

Individual ticket prices start at $39 per show. Purchase tickets and gift certificates online at www.ogunquitplayhouse.org, or through the Box Office at 207-646-5511

The season continues with the Broadway smash hit from multiple Grammy Award-winning songwriter Dolly Parton, 9 To 5: The Musical, August 22 through September 15. This outrageously funny and heartfelt musical is based on the immensely popular movie and features the blockbuster title song plus a jubilant score that mixes Broadway and pop with Dolly's irresistible style. Buddy, The Buddy Holly Story rocks the 80th Anniversary season to a close from September 19 – October 21. Follow the incredible journey of Buddy's meteoric rise to fame with such rousing fifties favorites as "Peggy Sue," "Oh Boy," "Maybe Baby," and "That'll Be the Day!"

This Tony Award winning musical comedy has moved to the Boston Red Sox Fenway Park. In the new Ogunquit production, die hard Red Sox fan Joe Boyd offers his soul to the devil, aka Mr. Applegate played by Carson Kressley, in return for “one long-ball hitter.” Applegate uses his power to turn Joe into a young, strong, handsome, ballplayer with supernatural athletic abilities. As the team begins to win, Joe looks for a loophole to get out of the deal. Then enters sizzling hot temptress Lola…. “Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets.”Who will win? Come find out!