Neil Patrick Harris and Julianne Hough lead first ‘Damn Yankees’ Broadway revival in over 30 years

Broadway is heading back to the ballpark. Emmy winners Neil Patrick Harris and Julianne Hough will headline the new Broadway revival of the classic musical “Damn Yankees” — the first in more than three decades, as People reports. The news was fittingly announced on Sunday, September 27, live from Yankee Stadium.

Based on Douglass Wallop’s novel “The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant,” “Damn Yankees” gives baseball a spin on the classic Faustian bargain: a die-hard fan makes a pact with the Devil to return his beloved team to glory. The Devil turns him into a young baseball star, but when he starts doubting the deal, the Devil’s seductive assistant is sent to tempt him and keep him from returning to his old life. Harris, 53, will play the devilish Applegate, while Hough, 38, takes the role of the temptress Lola. They will be joined by stage veteran Austin Scott as Young Joe, the baseball phenom at the center of Applegate’s scheme.

The reimagined production begins previews at Broadway’s Marquis Theatre on March 24, 2027, with opening night set for April 20. Tony winner Sergio Trujillo (“Ain’t Too Proud,” “Real Women Have Curves: The Musical”) will direct and choreograph the show, describing it as a “revisal” that preserves the heart, humor and music audiences love.

The new adaptation, written by Will Power and Doug Wright from the original book by George Abbott and Wallop, moves the action to the early 2000s and swaps the original’s Washington Senators for the Baltimore Orioles. The beloved score by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross — with songs like “Heart,” “Whatever Lola Wants (Lola Gets)” and “Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo.” — remains the same, with additional lyrics by Tony winner Lynn Ahrens. The most unusual news is the partnership: Major League Baseball and its production label MLB Studios have joined as partners of the show — the first time MLB has partnered on a Broadway musical. Lead producer Haley Swindal is the great-niece of the late George Steinbrenner, the legendary New York Yankees owner who was himself a Broadway producer, with six productions including the 1970 Tony winner “Applause.”

“Damn Yankees” debuted on Broadway in 1955, with Ray Walston as Applegate, Gwen Verdon as Lola and Stephen Douglass as Joe Hardy; it was a huge hit with 1,019 performances and seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and was later turned into the 1958 film. The last Broadway revival opened in 1994 at the Marquis Theatre — fittingly, the same house where the new production will play — with Victor Garber, Bebe Neuwirth and Jarrod Emick, running for more than 500 performances. Tickets for the new production are already on sale.