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Neil Patrick Harris to Star in 'Damn Yankees' Broadway Revival
Confirmed
In Short: Broadway star Neil Patrick Harris will lead the cast of the first 'Damn Yankees' revival in over 30 years, set to open in April 2027.
Broadway is set to welcome the first revival of 'Damn Yankees' in over three decades, with Tony and Emmy Award winner Neil Patrick Harris taking on the role of Applegate.
Joining Harris will be Emmy winner Julianne Hough as Lola and Austin Scott as Young Joe, marking a star-studded cast for the musical.
The revival, which will begin previews at the Marquis Theatre on March 24, 2027, and officially open on April 20, 2027, is set in the year 2000 and features a new adaptation by award-winning writers Will Power and Doug Wright.
Harris, known for his role in 'How I Met Your Mother,' earned a Tony Award for his performance in 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch' and has a long list of Broadway credits including 'Art,' 'Assassins,' 'Proof,' and 'Cabaret.
The musical, based on Douglass Wallop's novel 'The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant,' features music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, and a book by George Abbott and Wallop.
At a press conference at Yankee Stadium, Harris expressed his excitement for the revival, recalling his admiration for previous productions of 'Damn Yankees.
Hough, a 'Dancing with the Stars' co-host, shared her enthusiasm for bringing her dance skills to the stage, noting the influence of the original Lola, Gwen Verdon.
Scott highlighted the character of Joe Boyd, a passionate Baltimore Orioles fan who makes a deal with the devil to become Joe Hardy, the star his team needs to beat the Yankees.
Director Sergio Trujillo emphasized the importance of adapting the story to reflect a diverse and modern America, setting the action amid the Yankees' three consecutive World Series wins in the early 2000s.
What this adds
The revival will be the first major NYC revival of 'Damn Yankees' in the 21st century.
The original production of 'Damn Yankees' won seven Tony Awards in 1955, including Best Musical.
Background
Damn Yankees is a 1955 musical comedy with a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop, and music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story is a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., during a time when the New York Yankees dominated Major League Baseball.
What's confirmed
- Leading the cast will be Tony and Emmy Award winner Neil Patrick Harris as Applegate, Emmy winner Julianne Hough as Lola and Austin Scott as Young Joe.
- Based on the novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant by Douglass Wallopp, it features music and lyrics by two-time Tony Award winners Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, and book by seven-time Tony Award winner and Pulitzer Prize recipient George Abbott and Tony Award winner Wallop.
What's still developing
- There’s just one catch… Damn Yankees debuted on Broadway in 1955, winning seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical.
- The news was announced today, September 27, when the Yankees were scheduled to play the Orioles at Yankee Stadium (prior to an inclement-weather game cancellation).
- “I vividly remember the Victor Garber and Bebe Neuwirth revival of Daddy Yankees with Jarrod Emick, and I just listened to it constantly,” Harris said at a press conference at Yankee Stadium ahead of the announcement.
- “The leading ladies of Broadway […] that taught me what I loved through singing, acting, dancing — it was Gwen [Verdon, the original Lola], it was Ann [Reinking],” Hough said.
- “[Joe] carries three dreams. He has his own dream of being a being a baseball star, he has his father's dream from the Negro Leagues and everything that he was denied, and he's got the dream of his city, of Baltimore, of winning the pennant,” Scott said.
- “I've always wanted to revive Damn Yankees. It's been a passion project of mine, but in conversations with Doug Wright and Will Power, our writers, it became important for me to look at it through a new lens, a fresh lens,” Trujillo said at the press conference.
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- "In the year 2000, the Yankees had won three World Series back to back. Obviously our show is fictional, so we wanted to figure out the time when the show would make the most sense...in conversations with Doug Wright and Will Power, it became important for me to look at it through a new lens, a fresh lens. I wanted to tell this story through an America that is diverse, an America that reflects today," said Trujillo in the press conference.
- "We also needed to look at the teams, the Washington Senators which is the team that [in the original show] Joe Hardy played on. That team no longer exists. The Washington Nationals are obviously the Washington team, but they're not on the same league as the New York Yankees...we thought the Baltimore Orioles made the most sense, because we wanted to tell a David and Goliath story," explained Trujillo.
- At the press conference, Scott even noted that three-time American League MVP player Aaron Judge—who has served on the Yankees for over a decade, holding the record for the most home runs in a single season in the American League—offered much inspiration for his take on the character of Joe, and particularly the physicality of the role.
- She’ll take on the role of Lola, originated onstage in 1955 and in the 1958 film version by Gwen Verdon, who is widely regarded as one of Broadway’s finest dancers.