Serra High Presents 'Damn Yankees'

What could be better than baseball and music? Damn Yankees, presented by Tri-School Productions students from Mercy, Notre Dame and Serra, will be performed this weekend in the Gellert Auditorium at Serra.

The story is set in the 1950s Washington D.C. during a time when the New York Yankees dominated Major League Baseball. The musical is based on Wallop's novel, The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant.

The show features Nick Newman (Serra) as Joe Hardy, VJ Goetz (NDB) as Lola, Amanda Odasz (Mercy) as Meg Boyd and Joey Ruggiero (Serra) as Mr. Applegate.

"The production staff, headed by Music Director Jay Jordan and Director/Choreographer Gennine Harrington, have chosen a musical in the Broadway tradition to prepare our performers for the rigors of the stage after high school graduation," noted Production Manager Tom Sullivan '81. "This is a romantic comedy - a tale of redemption, love and loyalty. It is based on the legend of Dr. Faustus, which has been repeated a number of times from Christopher Marlow’s Elizabethan era Dr. Faustus to the film Bedazzled, starring Brendan Frazier and Elizabeth Hurley.

"After doing some really complicated, modern shows the past few years, it’s been great doing a more traditional jazz show," said Music Director Jay Jordan. "We have more students in the orchestra pit than we’ve had in quite a few years, so that part has been fun as well."

The first scene opens in 1956, with Meg Boyd and other "baseball widows" around the nation's capital lament about losing their husbands, who can be found doing nothing but watching TV or going to Griffith Stadium to cheer their beloved Washington Senators to victory over the New York Yankees Six Months Out of Every Year.

Disheartened by another loss for the Senators, Meg's husband, Joe, mutters that he would sell his soul to the devil for "one long ball hitter" on the Senators. As soon as he says those words, he is greeted by the devil in the form of the charismatic conman Mr. Applegate. Applegate says he can make not only Joe's wish come true but he can also fulfill Joe's lifelong dream of being a professional ball player.

"Tri-School Productions held its annual preview night last night to a large house," Sullivan said on Friday morning. "Tickets are going fast. The production features a dancing ensemble as strong as we have had in the last several years."

Damn Yankees will be presented this weekend in the Gellert Auditorium at Serra High School, located at 451 W. 20th Ave. in San Mateo. Show times are at 7:30 p.m. on March 30 and 31. Tickets - which may be purhased online or at the door - are $13 for students and seniors and $18 for adults.