'Damn Yankees'
Previews Tuesday: George Abbott's and Douglass Wallop's 1955 musical comedy has never really fallen out of favor, but this old-fashioned retelling of the Faustian legend in a baseball milieu used to be done a lot more often. That it is being revived in the Twin Cities is apt, since one of the teams in the show, the Washington Senators, became the Minnesota Twins in 1961. The action revolves around baseball zealot Joe Boyd, a frustrated middle-aged sports fan who sells his soul to the devil to become a star with the Senators. He wants to win a pennant against everyone's favorite baseball villains and also get his soul back. The show has songs that have become American standards, including "Heart" and "Whatever Lola Wants." James Rocco directs a cast that mixes Broadway and regional performers such as Lawrence Clayton ("Bells Are Ringing," "Once Upon a Mattress"), Thay Floyd ("A Christmas Story"), Tari Kelly ("Anything Goes") and Monte Wheeler, who plays Mr. Applegate, the devil himself. (7:30 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 2 & 7:30 p.m. Sat.-next Sun. Ends June 28. Ordway Center, 5th and Washington Sts., St. Paul. $33-$120. 651-224-4222, www.ordway.org.)
Rohan Preston
