Give Now  »

Damn Yankees

baseball players

Director Georg Pinney throws out the first pitch of the Indiana Festival Theatre's 2012 season with a production of the musical Damn Yankees.

The main character, Joe Boyd is a Washington Senators' fan at a time when the standard joke was that the teams was "first in war, first in peace and last in the American league." He's so desperate to see them win the pennant that he's willing to sell his soul to become the player that they need to do it. Veteran actor Don Farrell is in town to play Mr. Applegate, the devil who hears Joe's wish. "It's my first time with this show and I'm very fortunate to be working with all these wonderful students and the staff and the design team here at IU," says Farrell.

Farrell's Mr Applegate has some help with Joe. "Yes, I've got Charnette Batey playing the wonderful Lola of the song ‘What Lola wants, Lola gets,'" says Farrell. "Lola is actually one hundred and seventy-two years old and she sold her soul for that charm that Charnette does such a good job of presenting."

As a boy Farrell was a fan and actually understands Joe Boyd's passion and frustration. "I grew up being an Atlanta Braves fan back in the day when Ted Turner opened up Fulton County Stadium for free. General seating was all free. The team was so bad, at the time. So, I was a true fan years and years ago before they improved enough to actually go to the World Series."

He admits to being a pretty serious fan, but when asked if he'd have been willing to give his soul for a pennant back then, Farrell thinks and says, "I don't think I would have gone that far."

Support For Indiana Public Media Comes From