by Stephanie Manning
Any hardcore Cleveland Guardians fan might say they’d do anything to see their team win. But would they strike a deal with the devil for it?
The character of Joe Boyd makes just that kind of Faustian bargain for his beloved baseball team in Damn Yankees, the second of six shows to open at Ohio Light Opera this season. The 1955 musical, with music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross and a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop, began its run in the College of Wooster’s Freedlander Theater on June 18.
A premiere for the company, this golden age musical has plenty of heart, even if its second half doesn’t quite hit a home run. But with a strong cast and direction by Steven Daigle, it’s a production worth checking out, filled with colorful sets and infectious energy from the performers.
Especially for an opening performance, this Thursday afternoon outing came across quite smoothly. Conductor Wilson Southerland and the OLO Orchestra set the tone nicely with the jazz and swing-influenced overture and Act II entr’acte.
Our introduction to middle-aged Joe Boyd (Mark Hosseini) arrives via his wife, Meg (Rachel Weinfeld), who laments the amount of time her husband spends glued to the TV, watching the Washington Senators lose every baseball game. Costume designer Michelle Souza fittingly decked out Meg and other women in ’50s silhouettes and pastel colors, and Weinfeld convincingly portrays a woman hurt by her husband’s carelessness but hides it behind a smile.
Joe’s pleas for the Senators to beat the Yankees are answered when the mysterious Mr. Applegate arrives with a surge of electricity (a neat, oft-repeated effect courtesy of lighting designer Rachel Lauren). Jacob Allen, as an articulate and conniving Applegate, convinces Joe to make a deal: he’ll join the Senators as the young phenom Joe Hardy, but if he doesn’t secure the team the pennant in time, he’ll pay with his soul.
Connor Burns, who starred as Billy Bigelow in last year’s production of Carousel, returned to a lead role here as the young Joe Hardy. His rich baritone can fill a room, and it can also carry sweeter moments, like the duet “Near to You” with Meg. His arrival to the Washington Senators revitalizes the ragtag team, led by manager Van Buren (the charismatic Jack Murphy). Joe sends his baseballs sailing in a neat left-to-right sound effect by sound designer Christopher Plummer.
Even before their success, the Senators motivate themselves with the musical’s most recognizable number, “Heart,” a sweetly optimistic tune complete with fun choreography by Spencer Reese. They quickly follow that up with the infectious one-two punch of “Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo.,” in which the team and reporter Gloria Thorpe (Maggie Langhorne) leapt and sang from a boundless well of energy.
In the face of all this happiness, Applegate has an ace up his sleeve: the sultry Lola, who he tasks with seducing Joe and distracting him from his baseball duties. Director Steven Daigle purposefully looked for someone resembling famous Lola actress Gwen Verdon — and he certainly found that in Amia Korman, who channels Verdon both in personality and with two mid-song costume changes.
Although Lola’s seductive plan fails, the song “Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets” came across as quite the success, with Korman confidently achieving big, angular dance moves like high kicks and splits. Korman’s dance solo when Lola and Joe visit Havana in Act II felt equally convincing.
The rest of Act II has less to offer from the music and book — the earworms all live in Act I, and the plot becomes strangely rushed and complicated as it goes on. The exciting action of the final game, like all the baseball scenes, takes place via narration rather than onstage.
Still, there was plenty of fun to be had during this afternoon at the ballpark and the children’s chorus of Senators fans were charmingly adorable. If “all you really need is heart,” Ohio Light Opera’s got plenty.
Photos courtesy of Ben Small
Published on ClevelandClassical.com July 2, 2026
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