Region: All
MSRP: $21.99
The Production: 3.5/5
A jaunty baseball musical comedy with nifty tunes and the slimmest of plots, Busby Berkeleyâs
Take Me Out to the Ball Game is remembered now as the genesis of the great directing team of Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly. They didnât direct the film proper, but besides penning the story, the pair choreographed the show and directed all of the musical numbers with such surety that their eventual success as film directors seemed inevitable. Their next project: the masterful
On the Town which they both choreographed and directed in its entirety.
Talented turn of the century baseball players Eddie OâBrien (Gene Kelly) and Denny Ryan (Frank Sinatra) spend their off-season playing vaudeville to packed houses. Having won the previous seasonâs World Series for their Wolves team, they expect to repeat in the newest season, but the team is dashed by the news that it has a new owner K.C. Higgins (Esther Williams). Sheâs
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Specifically, an old man tired of watching his beloved Washington Senators lose makes a deal with Mr. Applegate, aka the devil (Ray Walston), to become a 22-year-old superstar named Joe Hardy (Tab Hunter) and take the team to the World Series.
Now add a steady stream of unforgettable songs by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, including “Heart,” “Six Months Out of Every Year” and a sizzling performance of “Whatever Lola Wants” by Mr. Applegate’s demonic temptress Lola, played to perfection by multiple Tony Award-winning actress Gwen Verdon, and we have a big winner.
Also, top off the fun with choreography by legend Bob Fosse highlighted by the numbers “Shoeless Joe from Hannibal Mo,” “Two Lost Souls” and “Who’s Got the Pain,” the latter teaming up Fosse with Verdon in a dynamite dancing duet.