MLB Steps Up to the Plate as Broadway Musicals Fight for Survival

Major League Baseball is partnering on a Broadway musical for the first time, joining the revival of "Damn Yankees" through its Emmy Award-winning production label, MLB Studios. Neil Patrick Harris, Julianne Hough, and the show's cast and creative team announced the partnership on Sunday from the press room of Yankee Stadium.

"It's a little surreal for all of us to be here," Rick Miramontez, the publicist behind the event, said shortly before the press conference began.

The venue was no accident. It's never been harder to launch a Broadway musical, and the industry could use all the help it can get. An intense rainstorm dented the day's fanfare — star Austin Scott had been scheduled to throw out the first pitch — but the broader strategy was clear: reach baseball fans who rarely buy theater tickets.

"It's an exciting opportunity to get asses in seats," Harris said. "It's really the opportunity to give people who don't normally go see theater a reason to go. If this will allow arenas full of people…to know that seeing Broadway is something that is accessible to them and ideally awesome, then that would be a great thing."

The timing is stark. Broadway musicals typically carry production budgets of $15 million to $20 million, and they must play to full houses to recoup their investments. The past year has offered little encouragement. The acclaimed revival "Cats: The Jellicle Ball" ended its run early after ticket sales softened. New musicals "The Queen of Versailles" and "Beaches" bombed. "Two Strangers Carry a Cake Across New York" announced it would close in November despite rave reviews. Long-running hits like "Hamilton" and "The Lion King" still dominate, but no new juggernaut has emerged to challenge them since COVID upended the business.

Harris and Hough bring their own fan bases from "How I Met Your Mother" and "Dancing With the Stars," though even star power faces daunting economics.

Baseball, for its part, has already tested the crossover with promising results. "Buena Vista Social Club" recently sold out shows after former New York Mets player José "Candelita" Iglesias joined as narrator for a limited run. Next month, that production will enlist former Yankee Bernie Williams and his guitar to join the show's band.

The specifics of MLB's involvement in "Damn Yankees" were not immediately clear, but the league will help promote the show to its fans.

The revival itself is getting a facelift. The setting moves from the 1950s to 2000, when the Orioles tried to unseat a Yankees team enjoying a stretch of dominance that included four straight World Series titles. The creative team says it is committed to getting the sport right. Miramontez said a technical adviser has been hired, and Scott has been studying game footage to prepare for the role of Joe Boyd, the thwarted fan who sells his soul to carry the "Birds" to glory.

"I am kind of coming into this world, learning the baseball world, the culture, and the language of the sport," Scott said, adding, "I've already been watching a lot of highlight reels and a lot of footage, especially of Aaron Judge."

On Sunday, Harris, Hough, and Scott met Judge and the rest of the team in person after braving the downpour to shoot promotional images on the field. Harris recounted the entire plot of "Damn Yankees" to members of the clubhouse to explain why they had come to the Bronx.

"I just didn't know if they knew the context of meeting us, like why we were here," a sheepish Harris admitted.

Whether a league with arenas' worth of fans can convert them into Broadway ticket buyers is the bet the production is now placing — and one the rest of the Great White Way will be watching closely.