Neil Patrick Harris to Star in 'Damn Yankees' Revival on Broadway

Neil Patrick Harris will star in a Broadway revival of "Damn Yankees." The production is expected to begin previews next spring.

The revival arrives with an unusual institutional backer: Major League Baseball will participate in the show as a production partner. The arrangement pairs America's national pastime with one of the musical theater canon's most baseball-obsessed book musicals — a fact that makes the league's involvement more than a branding exercise.

"Damn Yankees," based on Douglass Wallop's novel "The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant," centers on a middle-aged Washington Senators fan who sells his soul to the devil for a chance to beat the Bronx Bombers. The show's most recent major New York outing remains a point of reference for this revival, which now brings a fresh cast into the ballpark.

Harris is not alone in the lineup. Julianne Hough and Austin Scott also appear in the production, according to the announcement. The three performers represent the revival's announced principal cast, with Harris — a Tony winner and veteran stage presence — in the leading role.

Harris's return to Broadway carries weight. He has previously demonstrated box-office drawing power on the Great White Way, and his attachment to a classic title signals the production's commercial ambitions for the spring season.

The choice of "Damn Yankees" for revival is notable in itself. The show, with its Faustian sports premise and its score's enduring popularity, has long been considered a revival candidate. Major League Baseball's role as a production partner gives the enterprise a crossover appeal that few musicals can claim: an actual sports league putting capital behind a show about its own mythology.

The announced creative framing — previews beginning next spring — positions the revival as part of the upcoming Broadway season, where it will compete for audiences and awards attention alongside new musicals and other revivals.

Casting details beyond the three announced principals have not yet been made public, and no theater has been named for the production.

For Broadway watchers, the announcement raises immediate questions the source does not yet answer: which theater will house the show, who will direct and choreograph, and how the production will handle the material's blend of sports spectacle and musical comedy. What is certain is the lineup at the top of the poster — Harris, Hough and Scott — and the involvement of Major League Baseball, a partner no previous Broadway revival of the show has had.

Previews are expected to begin next spring.