Review: DAMN YANKEES—One More Productions @ GEM Theatre
- TheShowReport
- Mar 15
- 5 min read
Updated: Mar 20
"I'd like to thank the good Lord for making me a Yankee."
— Joe DiMaggio
MARCH 14, 2025—GARDEN GROVE, CA
Attention Baseball fans! Do you yearn for the era when every major baseball player from clubs like the Washington Senators and the New York Yankees was in full color as a bonus card in your penny bubblegum wrapper? Do you wish the world still gnashed its teeth as the New York pinstriped paragons of arrogance strolled to yet another championship? Do you pine for those glorious yesteryears when giants like Babe Ruth and Goose Goslin were household names?
Well…a sliver of solace can be harvested here in Orange County, where the musical “Damn Yankees” has been revived for a brief spring run, courtesy of One More Productions at the historic GEM Theatre in Garden Grove. Just in time for Anaheim’s spring training to begin in three days. This Broadway confection from 1955 tells the fanciful story of a despairing fan of a losing ball club who sells his soul to the very Devil to help his team snatch the pennant from the big, bad, baseball-ruling Bronx Bombers.
If you love America's greatest pastime sport and lived in a city where your team hasn't won a championship in decades, then you can understand the ire and hatred the Senators had toward the Yankees. During the 50’s, the Yankees won six World Series in ten years—four before the musical was written.
As directed by Damien Lorton, “Yankees” is a vibrant delight somehow contained on the conservative stage of the GEM, taking us back to a simpler era when folks merely sold their soul to Satan to be baseball stars, instead of loading up on steroids and hormones.
Ranking among the first tier of classics from Broadway’s prime years, “Damn Yankees” was a popular hit then, and an even hotter hit now. It sports a handful of still-lovable songs by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, and was even the second show choreographed by Bob Fosse, whose dances have been retained here for the most part, thanks to gifted choreographer Angela Mattern’s (“Pippin,” “Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”) fluid storytelling and showbiz artistry.
The stars who headline this staging — Trevin Stephenson as the conniving Devil, Briana Bauer as Lola (his sex-kitten helpmate), feisty young reporter Kellie Petrosian as Gloria Thorpe, William Jordan as the older Joe who signs his soul away, and Aaron Gibbs as the slugger, Joe Hardy, who pines for the wife he left behind — seemed to all be expertly aligned.
“Damn Yankees,” the book, was written by the legendary George Abbott (during the golden baby-boomer era of the 1950s) who also directed the original production, and Douglass Wallop, the author of “The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant,” the novel on which it is based, a variation on the ever-durable Faust story.
As Mr. Applegate, the Madison Avenue Beelzebub who entices the middle-aged Joe Boyd into the dark side by trading his soul for a chance to play in the big leagues, Mr. Stephenson seems to know his way around a pitchfork. The cloven-hoofed imp steals onstage with some frequency to fling an expertly aimed zinger. And when it’s time for his second-act solo, “Those Were the Good Old Days” (a comical ode to the age when deviltry ran rampant round the globe), Mr. Stephenson is a malign delight. He’s the kind of devil you might want to have a beer with.
Ms. Bauer, luscious as a decadent ganache in a fluffy Molly Ringwald wig and slinky dress, is bittersweet, titillating, funny and somewhat ruthless as bad girl, Lola — formerly “the ugliest woman in Providence, Rhode Island.” Initially contrived as a "home wrecker" for the Devil, Ms. Bauer’s Lola ultimately develops genuine feelings for Joe, the man she's tasked with seducing. Ms. Bauer executes the signature numbers, the striptease “Whatever Lola Wants,” and the hipster mambo “Who’s Got the Pain?” with skill and determination, those wiggling hips and rolling shoulders transmitting sizzling jolts of electricity in her victim. She’s even better in the free-form “Two Lost Souls” — steamy enough to boil the water in the dugout cooler. Sexy in a 1955 sort of way.
The entire cast is solid and the staging looks, sounds and feels thoroughly professional. Vocal honors go out to Aaron Gibbs for the evening as well; the show’s score contains a couple of lovely ballads, sung by Mr. Gibbs’ Joe Hardy, who has no sooner become a slugging sensation than he begins to regret in melody leaving the good wife and the comfy armchair behind. Mr. Gibbs has a nice comic moment when Joe sinks blissfully back into that armchair, but his laid-back performance enchants primarily when his lustrous voice soars into one of the tender phrases from “A Man Doesn’t Know” or “Near to You.”
Both numbers are duets with Rosie Quintana (repeated with the older Joe), whose performance as Meg, the abandoned wife, is among the production’s supplementary assets. Her wry delivery and understated warmth (especially the scene in which Meg laments the half-yearly emotional absence of her baseball-crazed husband) are a pleasing combination.
Kady Lawson and Sasha Baker deliver the broader laughs as her likewise baseball-obsessed bridge pals, and the other supporting roles are likewise filled efficiently. Kellie Petrosian, as the snappish sportswriter Gloria Thorpe, effervescently leads the ballplayers in the buoyant jig “Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo.” And Lew Stowers and his trio of players — Ezion Garcia, Sean Hawkins, and Micah Nicholson — harmonize sweetly on “Heart.”
ONE MORE PRODUCTIONS @ THE GEM THEATRE PRESENTS, DAMN YANKEES. Directed by DAMIEN LORTON; Choreographed by ANGELA MATTERN; Words and Music by RICHARD ADLER and JERRY ROSS; Book by GEORGE ABBOTT and DOUGLASS WALLOP; Based on Mr. Wallop’s Novel, “The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant;” Conducted by Nick Bravo; Sets by WALLY HUNTOON; Lighting Designed by JEREMY HUFF and JACOB NGUYEN.
WITH: TREVIN STEPHENSON (Applegate), BRIANA BAUER (Lola), AARON GIBBS (Joe Hardy), ROSIE QUINTANA (Meg Boyd), LEW STOWERS (Benny Van Buren), KADY LAWSON (Sister), WILLIAM JORDAN (Joe Boyd), KELLIE PETROSIAN (Gloria Thorpe), MICAH NICHOLSON (Sohovik), EZION GARCIA (Smokey), SEAN HAWKINS (Rocky), SASHA BAKER (Doris), SCOTT VAN TUYL (Mr. Welch) and HECTOR DANIEL DIAZ (Baseball Player), JACOB RUSHING (Baseball Player), BRUNO SATALINO (U/S Joe Hardy), KATELYN OSBORN (Ensemble), ANIKA GOEL (Ensemble), AMBER ANTOINETTE (Ensemble), MARJORIE STEMMLER (Ensemble).
DAMN YANKEES runs March 6th through April 13th at The GEM Theatre, 12852 Main Street, Garden Grove CA. Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes.For Tickets, visit: www.thegemoc.com or call 714-741-9550.
Chris Daniels
Arts & Entertainment Reviewer
The Show Report
Photo Credits: ©2025 Ron Lyon Photo
Comentários