Some fans will give anything for their team to win – even their souls. For ordinary Joe Boyd, scheming with the devil seems like the perfect way to fulfill his baseball fantasies and help his team in “Damn Yankees,” the 60th annual Dolphin Show sponsored by Arts Alliance and produced entirely by students under the direction of Speech senior Jessica Redish.
The Dolphin Show is the largest student production at Northwestern, with a budget usually of about $65,000. But because the show went over budget last year, the producers had to approach ASG for a $30,000 loan to be repaid after ticket sales.
“We’ve been doing very serious shows in the past few years,” Redish said. “I knew that Dolphin Show was in some money trouble and I wanted to pick a show that was very popular.”
About 30 students have been planning stage designs and publicity events with producers Medill senior Geeta Kharkar and Weinberg senior Megan Felsburg since last spring. The 29-member cast started rehearsals about five weeks ago.
“It’s a phenomenal process to see what all of us can do for an extracurricular activity,” said Music senior Kevin Vortmann, who plays the lead, Joe Hardy.
“Damn Yankees” was adapted by George Abbott and Douglas Wallop from Wallop’s novel, “The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant,” with lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The show made its Broadway debut in 1955.
The musical follows the life of Joe Boyd, a middle-aged baseball fan in the 1950s who wants more than anything for his Washington Senators to beat the Yankees. After being approached by the devil, a.k.a. Mr. Applegate, Joe agrees to sell his soul to become Joe Hardy, a 22-year-old, athletic long-ball hitter whom the Senators desperately need on their team in order to win. But once his initial fame wears off, Joe finds that he is lonely and wants to go home to his wife, Meg, played by Music senior Emily Price.
“We watch Joe decide whether living the dream of baseball or being at home with his wife is more important,” Redish said. “He sort of takes her for granted at the beginning, and he figures out later that ‘A man doesn’t know what he has until he loses it.'”
Fortunately, Joe uses his smarts as a real estate agent to create an escape clause that allows him the chance to return to his old life before the season ends. But Mr. Applegate sends his sexy assistant, Lola (Speech junior Lauren Robinson), to convince Joe to keep playing. Mr. Applegate plans to cripple Joe in the final game, sabotaging the Senators.
“It’s a mass-torture deal,” said Speech senior Andrew Hotz, who plays Mr. Applegate. “All the Washington Senators fans have their hopes up, and I’m just going to crush them.”
In addition to directing, Redish choreographed the show’s five major dance numbers. She said the moves for the famous but pointless mambo number “Who’s got the Pain” are based on original choreography by Bob Fosse from the 1958 movie.
“I had learned some of this choreography in a class here at NU last quarter and I couldn’t get it out of my body,” she said.
In contrast to the stationary sets used in the past four Dolphin Shows, the set for “Damn Yankees” is entirely movable and includes units for Joe’s house, grandstands and dugouts.
The choice to go more minimalist with the set also helped save money for next year’s Dolphin Show, Redish said. Stage manager and Speech sophomore Jen Edwards worked with scenic artist and Weinberg senior Elizabeth Gordon to fill the stage by bringing in replications of historic billboards and posters. Costume designer and Speech sophomore Maggie Griffith completed the atmosphere of ’50s charm with period dresses and baseball uniforms.
Despite having a smaller budget and less time to rehearse than previous years, Redish said everything fell into place.
“It came really fast, but we’re ready,” Redish said. “We’re going to give the audiences ‘Damn Yankees’ at its best.” nyou
