J. Bates wrote, "You mentioned seeing Jerry Lewis in Damn Yankees his first night. I remember you writing about this before but I can't find it on your blog."
Yeah, I think I did tell this story before on this site but I can't find where. What happened was that a friend of mine who was in another Broadway show at the time phoned me and said, "Hey, we just heard that Jerry Lewis is going into the production of Damn Yankees that's playing down the street." And she gave me the date of his first performance.
This was several months before that date but good tickets were on sale for that night…so on a whim and with no plans at all to be in New York then, I called up and bought two great seats. Later that day, I mentioned it to my friend Paul Dini and he said, "I want the other one!" I said, "It's yours," and then we did nothing for a month or two towards getting our butts back east to sit in those seats at the appropriate moment.
Then one day, I got a call from a fellow who was running a comic convention in New York. He wanted Sergio Aragonés and Yours Truly as guests and he was willing to pay airfare and lodging…and guess what! The dates coincided with Jer's debut in Damn Yankees. I accepted on behalf of Sergio and myself and then said to the con promoter, "Hey, how would you like Paul Dini as a guest? I might be able to talk him into it."
He said that would be great so I called Paul and told him, "Okay, I've arranged for us to get to New York to see Jerry and someone else is paying for the plane tickets and the hotel." Paul liked that a lot. Sergio also liked the arrangements and he wound up getting his own ticket to see Damn Yankees that same evening.
And if that all sounds like it's too convenient, consider this: Without me suggesting it, the convention promoter put all three of us up at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. Damn Yankees was playing at the Marquis Theater, which is located inside the friggin' Marriott Marquis! We didn't even have to go out in the snow to get to the play.
Sometimes, life is just so neat and tidy.
Anyway, we all went to see Jerry and here's what I wrote that evening…
It's 11:30 here in New York and I just had the kind of evening that theater-goers crave…that all-too-occasional high that pays us back for all the evenings we trudged to some play or musical and came out humming the cost of the tickets. I just saw the first public "preview" performance of Jerry Lewis as The Devil in the revived revival of Damn Yankees and the most cogent review I can give it is to say that a houseful of people at the Marquis Theater sat (and occasionally stood) and loved every moment that transpired on that stage.
I can see where a few folks might not: If the Lewis repertoire bores you and/or you have no respect for all the history that brought him to the stage of the Marquis tonight, you might not be as enchanted as the Jerry Lewis fans collected there tonight. At the umpteenth curtain call, one woman sang out from the balcony, "We love you, Jerry," thereby acting as spokesperson for All Present.
In the weeks to come, he will doubtlessly face houses that aren't as chock full of his fans as was tonight's. I doubt though that they will be disappointed: This was an excellent show before him and most of that remains intact. Director/Updater Jack O'Brian modernized everything about the fifties' Broadway classic (book by George Abbott and Douglas Wallop, songs by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross), almost all of it for the better.
Further modifications have been made to accommodate Mr. Lewis, mostly adding a few more touches of physical comedy…but there are also a few dialogue references. When Applegate (aka Satan) disguises himself as a Fire Marshall and tells Meg Boyd that she is not allowed to take in boarders, he momentarily turns into the Lewis of old saying, "What do you think you're doing, LAY-DEEEE?"
The first scene of Act Two involves a charity benefit and Applegate now announces that he hates people who do shows for charity. Lewis's solo — "Those Were the Good Old Days" — interpolates a snatch of Jerry's old cane routine. And throughout, Old Scratch lapses into not-unfamiliar Jerry Lewis takes and body language. A purist might argue that Jerry is tagging the Fourth Wall too many times…but then a purist shouldn't be walking in under a marquee that says, "Jerry Lewis — DAMN YANKEES."
Personally, I think someone deserves the Tony for financial brilliance: With Jerry having ascended to Legend status, It was a perfect time for him to make his Broadway debut. This show is broad enough to accommodate his style…and the role of Applegate is just large enough to befit a star without him having to carry the show. Charlotte d'Amboise is sparkling/sexy as Lola, Jarrod Emick is forceful and funny as Joe Hardy…and everyone else in the cast is uniformly excellent. They're supposed to start a multi-city tour later this year. I imagine it'll last as long as Lewis wants it to last. This is a perfect show to educate folks who don't understand how wonderful a live musical comedy can be.
Jerry got an ovation on his entrance — a welcome to Broadway — that probably surprised even him in its power and duration. From that moment on, he could do no wrong. If you go see this show, neither can you.
On reflection, I may be a bit less tolerant of Damn Yankees being turned into The Jerry Lewis Show. But I still think it was a great move on the part of the producers. They advertised Jerry Lewis. They packed the crowds in. They gave them Jerry Lewis. And since the Devil isn't in most of Damn Yankees, most of Damn Yankees remained relatively intact.
By the way: The night after Paul and I saw the show, we went out to dinner with a friend of mine, George Caragonne. George was a comic book writer who was then working for Penthouse. A few months later, George was fired from his position for alleged financial improprieties and he went up to the 45th floor of the Marriott Marquis, which has an internal atrium so from every floor, you can look down at the lobby below. When he got to the top, he put on a Walkman, started playing a tape of music from James Bond films..and jumped.
Sometimes, life is just so messy and horrible.