{"id":21292,"date":"2022-06-16T09:48:56","date_gmt":"2022-06-16T13:48:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=21292"},"modified":"2022-08-30T18:34:36","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T22:34:36","slug":"episode-598-bluejays-nope-the-damn-yankees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=21292","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 598 “BLUEJAYS? NOPE, THE DAMN YANKEES’"},"content":{"rendered":"
EPISODE 598    \u2018BLUEJAYS? NOPE, THE DAMN YANKEES\u201d<\/p>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
June 16, 2022<\/div>\n

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SOMETIMES IMPULSE PAYS OFF BIG TIME\u2026DAMN YANKEES<\/div>\n

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ON impulse, Marjorie and I booked two front row tickets to see <\/div>\n
The Damn Yankees at the Shaw Festival at $45 a seat.  Cheap.<\/div>\n
We did not know the story but relied on the Shaw Festival people<\/div>\n
to provide first rate entertainment.  We were not disappointed<\/div>\n
even though the twists and turns of the plot were a little mystifying.<\/div>\n
\u2026Like Mr. Applegate was supposed to be the Devil.  How <\/div>\n
could that be when he was so funny, so capable of amusing contortions,<\/div>\n
LIKE an affable, if dishonest, crook. I liked him. Who could like the devil?<\/div>\n

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Why did we like the production?.  Because we really needed<\/div>\n
a release from the dark days through which the our sister<\/div>\n
nation is living right now.  Trump has twisted Americs into a<\/div>\n
Gordian knot which is hard to unravel.  It has been years since<\/div>\n
we have crossed the border into the USA.  Blood, guns and<\/div>\n
lies keep piling on with no end in sight.<\/div>\n

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The play Damn Yankees restored the America of 1955.  A good<\/div>\n
year just a decade after the end of a World War.  Optimistic nation. The play Damn<\/div>\n
Yankees is a lot of fun\u2026full of songs and terrific dancing.<\/div>\n
The stage is converted into a mobile baseball stadium <\/div>\n
complete with a sweat swathed locker room. <\/div>\n

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Damn Yankees ended with a standing ovation from the audience<\/div>\n
made amusing when the devil, Applegate, tried to crawl under<\/div>\n
the curtain to corrupt the audience in a most amusing way.<\/div>\n

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Lots of sex\u2026both innocent and manipulating kind.  Captivating.<\/div>\n

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We came away from the theatre into the charm of one of<\/div>\n
Canada\u2019s great tourist centres\u2026Niagara on the Lake.<\/div>\n

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About as sweet as a slice of ice cooled watermelon on a summer day,<\/div>\n

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alan<\/div>\n

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STORY LINE FOR DAMN YANKEES (NOT THAT YOU NEED IT)<\/div>\n

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SYNOPSIS  (NOT THAT YOU NEED IT)<\/h2>\n

Sometime in the Future: Washington, D.C. Act I Meg and Joe Boyd are middle aged, and happily married. Meg knows that Joe is a good and faithful husband but that he isn\u2019t always hers. For \u201cSix Months out of Every Year\u201d he, like millions of other men, belongs to baseball. He is a fan of the perennially losing Washington Senators and he hates the fact that those \u201cDamn Yankees\u201d are going to win the American League pennant again this year. He would do anything not to let that happen again. He would even sell his soul to the devil! Out of nowhere a suave man, Mr. Applegate, appears and makes Joe an offer. If Joe will give him his soul, Mr. Applegate (a.k.a. The Devil) will make Joe the great long hitter that the Senators so desperately need. Joe is, of course, concerned for Meg, but as he\u2019s always wanted to be a ballplayer he gives in to the temptation. However, being the real estate salesman that he is, he negotiates an escape clause \u2013 if he decides that he doesn\u2019t want to give his soul to the Devil by September 24, he can still have it back. Mr. Applegate reluctantly agrees. Joe writes Meg a farewell note \u2013 \u201cGoodbye, Old Girl.\u201d He is transformed into a younger, more vibrant Joe \u2013 Joe Hardy. Joe and Applegate leave to make Joe\u2019s dream come true. Outside the ball field, four Washington players sing their philosophy of baseball and life. They may not have the skill to beat the Yankees but they have something else \u2013 \u201cHeart.\u201d Mr. Applegate enters with Joe and convinces Van Buren, the coach, to give Joe a tryout. Joe, shoeless because the previous Joe\u2019s feet were much smaller, borrows a pair of shoes from another ballplayer. All of this is witnessed by a pushy reporter and Senators\u2019 fan, Gloria Thorpe, who at Applegate\u2019s invitation watches Joe\u2019s skillful playing. His tryout is spectacular and Gloria offers to help catapult Joe Hardy to superstar status by naming him \u201cShoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo.\u201d Joe becomes irritated by all the press attention, particularly from Gloria. All he wants to do is play baseball and help the Senators win. More than all of that, he realizes how much he misses Meg. Applegate, sensing that Joe may change his mind about his soul, calls in his secret weapon: Lola, formerly the ugliest woman in Providence, Rhode Island. Lola can do anything \u2013 all it takes is \u201cA Little Brains, A Little Talent.\u201d Meanwhile, Joe misses Meg so much that he goes back home and convinces her to rent him a room \u2013 \u201cA Man Doesn\u2019t Know.\u201d Meg\u2019s bridge partners recognize the great Joe Hardy and are quite impressed. Out of nowhere Applegate appears to inform Meg that there is a new zoning law prohibiting the rental of rooms in private homes. Joe takes Applegate outside to send him away. Applegate quickly informs him that Lola is here and is dying to meet him. He explains that he isn\u2019t interested. Thanks to Joe, the Senators are on a winning streak, and after a great game Applegate brings Lola in to meet him. He wants to get home but Lola has other things in mind \u2013 after all, \u201cWhatever Lola Wants\u201d . . . Joe succeeds in convincing Lola that where he should be is home with Meg. Applegate appears and chastises Lola for her failure to seduce him. The Chevy Chase Fan Club rehearses a song for a dinner saluting Joe Hardy \u2013 \u201cHeart\u201d \u2013 reprise. Prior to the dinner, a repentant Lola tells Joe that she\u2019s on his side. Gloria, on the other hand, has just returned from Hannibal, Mo., and no one there has ever heard of Joe Hardy. Applegate tells Gloria emphatically that Joe Hardy is not Shifty McCoy, the bribe-taking ballplayer in the Mexican league. Meanwhile, the salute to Joe is about to begin, and Lola and one of the players, Sohovik, do their number \u2013 \u201cWho\u2019s Got the Pain?\u201d Soon Joe is informed that the newspapers are about to hit the streets saying that he took a bribe. The crowd is in an uproar. Joe tries to calm them down. Van Buren informs him that the baseball commissioner has set a hearing for the next day, September 24, and if he can\u2019t prove who he really is, he\u2019ll be cut from the team. Act II In the locker room, the players worry about winning a game without Joe\u2019s help. They must not be distracted by anything like women or Joe\u2019s hearing, or women, or booze, or women \u2013 they have to think about \u201cThe Game.\u201d Without Joe, the Senators lose the game. Joe is worried that he won\u2019t be able to clear his name and that Meg might lose respect for him. He calls her and they meet. Without revealing himself, he asks her if she thinks he\u2019s Shifty McCoy. She says no. She knows she\u2019s a good judge of character. That\u2019s why she knows the other Joe, her Joe will return to her. Joe assures her that he (the other Joe) is \u201cNear to You.\u201d At his swanky apartment, Applegate tells Lola of his plans to have the Senators lose so that Joe has to stay and play beyond the date that had been set. For her part Lola feels bad for Joe. Joe arrives to tell Applegate of his decision: he wants out. Today is the 24th. Applegate says it isn\u2019t as simple as that, these transformations can only take place at the witching hour \u2013 midnight! Applegate tells Joe that if at five minutes to midnight he still wants out, so be it. Joe asks what he is supposed to do if the hearing is still going on. Applegate tells him to just ask to step into the next room and once through that door Joe Hardy will disappear forever. Joe agrees. Lola repeats the litanies that Applegate has taught her: \u201cNever feel sorry for anybody, never feel sorry for anybody.\u201d Distressed by Lola\u2019s attitude and Joe\u2019s decision, Applegate reminisces about a time when evil things were a lot easier \u2013 \u201cThose Were the Good Old Days.\u201d At the hearing Joe is vindicated, thanks to an impassioned speech by Meg and her bridge friends. However, his vindication comes just as the clock strikes midnight. It\u2019s too late for Joe to become his former self. Lola, for spite, has slipped four sleeping pills into an ecstatic Applegate\u2019s demon rum, so he won\u2019t wake up until after the game tomorrow. Joe\u2019s soul is lost, but at least the Senators will win the American League pennant. To celebrate this little bit of happiness, Joe and Lola go out on the town \u2013 \u201cTwo Lost Souls.\u201d The next day Applegate awakens to find the game already in progress. He berates Lola for her \u201cgood\u201d deed and then asks her what the score is, \u201c4 to 3, Washington,\u201d is her reply. Applegate assures her that Washington will lose the game even if he has to transform Joe in front of everyone. However, before that, he transforms Lola back to her former ugly self. At the game, Applegate and the ugly Lola watch as the Senators are about to clinch the pennant. Not being able to allow himself to be outwitted by Joe, Applegate transforms him as a ball is hit in his direction. The transformation takes place and the old Joe stumbles, but, at the last moment, he regains his balance and strength and catches the ball. The Senators win the game. Back at home the old Joe is welcomed by a relieved and happy Meg and despite the protestations of Applegate, Meg and Joe find the comfort they cherish in each other \u2013 \u201cA Man Doesn\u2019t Know.\u201d<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE 598    \u2018BLUEJAYS? NOPE, THE DAMN YANKEES\u201d alan skeoch June 16, 2022 SOMETIMES IMPULSE PAYS OFF BIG TIME\u2026DAMN YANKEES ON impulse, Marjorie and I booked two front row tickets to see  The Damn Yankees at the Shaw Festival at $45 a seat.  Cheap. We did not know the story but relied on the Shaw […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21292\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}