Johnny Baseball Hits Grand Slam At American Repertory Theatre
Myth, History and Love At Fenway Park
By: Mark Favermann - Jun 02, 2010
Johnny Baseball
World Premiere
Story by Richard Dresser and Willie Reale
Music by Robert Reale
Lyrics by Willie Reale
Book by Richard Dresser
Directed by Diane Paulus
The Loeb Drama Center
American Repertory Theatre
Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA 02138
May 16, 2010 to June 27, 2010
Tickets at American Repertory Theatre or 617-547-8300
Sometimes expectations are high for a future production. Anything that has a popular theme, like baseball, is particularly anticipated. For weeks, the teases for Johnny Baseball have been provocative. Often there is post-production disappointment. Theatrical ne're-dowells liter popular stage history like so much trash in the stands after a crowded game. A lot of walks, a few doubles, but mostly strikeouts. Will Johnny Baseball make a squib hit or a home run? The players finally took the field--I mean stage. Batter up! And the game was played. The winners were the audience. Happily and wonderfully, Johnny Baseball is a true Big Leaguer.
Weaving back and forth between the 2004 "just once before I die" Championship series and the origins of the Curse of the Bambino, Johnny Baseball is an old fashioned story with a contemporary moral theme. Historical and fictional elements flesh out the narrative. Star-crossed wrong boy meets the wrong girl, a love that cannot be. The Babe himself, Babe Ruth, before being traded to the Yankees. The true Boston Red Sox fans' angst of 86 years of never winning the World Series and the generational connection of the history, lore and love of Baseball build the storyline.
The performances are stellar. The voices are terrific. This is great entertainment. It has the flair of a mid-20th Century musical comedy with the poignancy of a 21st Century tragedy. Is this a new direction for the A.R.T. or just a change-up pitch from Diane Paulus, A.R.T.'s most creative director? It does not matter. This is exciting entertainment.
The show has the old fashioned musical score of the nostalgia of the Fenway Park experience. Sometimes it's appropriately cheesy, a bit awkward, but other times it simply and beautifully soars out of the Park. This is a crackerjack and Fenway Frank with two cups at a time of Bud Light theatrical event. It is nostalgia wrapped in historical precedent with bad guys and good guys, the "purity" of sport mixed with the intolerance of racism.
The cast and casting are terrific. Going back and forth between Prohibition, the late '40s and 2004, several actors perform multiple roles with aplomb. Notable as Fan #1 and Babe Ruth is Burke Moses. His Babe has the likability, vulnerability, swagger and ego of the original. Colin Donell who plays Johnny O'Brien, aka Johnny Baseball, has a fabulous tenor voice. His love interest Daisy Wyatt, played by Stephanie Umoh, has the deep bluesy voice of the great Jazz chanteuses. It is a treat to listen to her. The Old Fan played by Charles Turner, and the young boy, Robby, played by Erik March are realistic and sympathetic. All of the other performers give vitality and veracity to the production.
The sets are as always at the A.R.T. seamless. However, some of the Fenway graphic details could have been better. But, these are minor. The music is memorable. The choreography, staging and costumes are beautiful. Even if they are not Red Sox fans, the show makes the audience smile and even cry.
Johnny Baseball is as American as, well, baseball, apple pie and Mom. It is as Bostonian as the long-suffering Red Sox fans. It is a nearly perfectly pitched game that is won by a theatrical walk-off home run. You better get tickets fast because like all Fenway Park games, this certainly should be a sellout at the A.R.T. This Johnny Baseball should go way, way back and over the stadium wall. I expect it will land somewhere on Broadway.