'Damn Yankees' opens tonight'
<p>Brendan Brady, center, plays the role of Joe Hardy alongside Dave Kappus and Briane Green in the Lake City Playhouse production of ÒDamn Yankees.Ó</p>
Anyone who understands the meaning behind the name of Lake City Playhouse's latest production is a sports fan who probably understands the motivation of the show's main character.
"Damn Yankees" is a Tony Award-winning musical comedy that premiered on Broadway in 1955, one of the New York Yankees' heydays in Major League Baseball.
The play is the Faustian tale of Joe Boyd, a baseball fan literally willing to do anything for a "long ball hitter" for his favorite team, the Washington Senators.
With that, Boyd is sure the Senators could beat the "damn Yankees."
Joe sells his soul to Mr. Applegate who grants him his wish, turning Joe into a 22-year-old baseball phenom. There is one caveat: Joe can walk away from the deal, if he decides he wants to keep his old life and his wife, but he must do it by 9 p.m. on the night before the final game of the World Series. If he doesn't, the devil gets his soul for eternity.
The Lake City Playhouse production opens tonight and runs through Oct. 5.
Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; and 2 p.m. Sundays.
Tickets cost $13.75 to $19.75 and can be purchased online, lakecityplayhouse.org, or by phone, 667-1323.