Bookshelf Review: Bull Durham: The Musical

Bull Durham: The Musical, Paper Mill Playhouse, Millburn , NJ

Full disclosure: Despite my admiration for the works of Rogers and Hart/Hammerstein and other geniuses of the genre, I am not a huge fan of musicals. I think the idea of people just bursting into song in the middle of activity is a bit silly. So sue me for being a philistine.

This is especially true for musicals about sports. I have only seen the movie version of Damn Yankees. Released in 1958 featuring Tab Hunter, Gwen Virdon, and Ray Walston, While I was intrigued with the Faustian theme, the “action” did nothing to convince me that the actors could actually play ball.

So I didn’t have high hopes for Bull Durham: The Musical at New Jersey’s famous Paper Mill Playhouse.

The stage version is quite faithful to the film. Naturally, the limited space of a stage can’t compete with the wide-open possibilities of film, so some of the movie’s scenes were combined while others were changed altogether for reasons unknown. For example, Jimmy, the bible-toting infielder who marries Millie, was transformed into an ineffectual pitcher who was a victim of “the hardest part of a manager’s job” and released, only to return thanks to a job opportunity given to him by Millie’s father. Max Patkin’s role as team clown was meshed with the PA announcer. The scene where Nuke tracks down Crash in a pool hall to tell him he made The Show was absent altogether.

In an interview for a feature about the play for SABR’s Elysian Fields chapter newsletter, I had asked Ron Shelton — who wrote the book for the play in addition to the movie — about transforming the story. He mentioned the language had been toned down (but just a touch; there was also no bathtub scene). I was interested in seeing how the play would handle Crash’s ejection from a game for “using a certain word” that umpires would not tolerate. Sure enough, “cocktopuss” has made its way into the English language.

Nik Walker, who played Crash Davis, seemed a bit puffy compared with Kevin Costner, while Will Savarese conveyed the goofiness of Eppy Calvin “Nuke” LaLoosh well. Carmen Cusack was a perfect doppleganger for Susan Sarandon as Annie Savoy.

The songs were not especially memorable. In fact, one seemed to be a pretty straightforward ripoff of “Blurred Lines.” And where there were basically just two female roles in the movie, there were several ladies in BD:TM. At times it was difficult to hear the singing over the orchestra.

I was impressed by the chorus who managed to toss bats back and forth without a miscue, but some were still unconvincing as professional athletes. The sets were imaginative, nicely conveying the ballpark, the locker room, Annie’s home and a bar where most other non-field activities took place. A tiny remote-controlled bus running across the stage was a cute touch, conveying the team’s travels although a “full size” depiction of the Bulls’ transportation left out the “Try a Little Tenderness” and Crash-Nuke fight scenes. Also a bit of a mess was made of the iconic “Candlesticks make a nice gift” conversation on the mound.

Am I being picayune? Perhaps. I overheard some people in the audience saying they had never seen the movie so they had no basis of comparison. But for someone like me, I think BD: TM was bound to be a little disappointing.

Bull Durham: The Musical runs through November 2. For more information, visit PaperMill.org. A word of warning: arrive very early because parking is terrible. I would have thought a Thursday matinee wouldn’t have been such a busy time but I was wrong and could not get into any of the lots.