Today's Video Link

This is a short TV commercial for the 1994 Broadway revival/revisal of Damn Yankees, which I saw and liked a lot, and which I guess didn't do as much business as its backers had hoped, even after they brought in Jerry Lewis to play Applegate. (This commercial is from before then. That's Victor Garber you'll see playing that role in the ad.)

I saw the pre-Lewis version three times and then was there for Jerry's opening night…plus, I have since seen two non-Broadway productions that incorporated many of the changes made for the '94 mounting. Part of me wishes they'd leave old shows in their original state and part of me has to admit that, in this case and a few others, they probably improved things at least for a modern audience. I did not catch the recent L.A. version directed by Jason Alexander which took things further, using a mostly-black cast and turning the Washington Senators into the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Which reminds me. Not all that long ago, there was an announcement that a new filmed version of Damn Yankees was soon to go before the cameras with Billy Crystal portraying The Devil. You may recall me suggesting that Christopher Walken would have been a more interesting choice. Well, whatever happened to that? Anyone?