Cortland Repertory Theatre's "Damn Yankees!" was masterful in its opener Wednesday at the Little York Pavilion Theatre. 

I was dreading a musical about baseball, a sport that escapes me, and yet here was a piece about love and marital fidelity that never even portrayed an actual game. But all the elements of the game were there: its sound, its feel, the passion of the players and the fans.

Directed by Jim Bumgardener, the show will be a hit with music lovers, baseball aficionados and anyone who likes a good story.  About two and a half hours, the play runs through July 18 at the Edward Jones Playhouse in the Dwyer Memorial Park off Route 281. People can call 800-427-6160 for tickets.

Joe Boyd, played by Jef Canter, a middle aged Washington Senators fan, makes a deal with the devil, "Applegate" played by Dominick Varney, to become a 20-something year old baseball star and take his losing Washington Senators to the championship. He is transformed into Joe Hardy, played by the younger Peter Carrier, who proceeds to turn the team around with win after win. But Joe misses his wife and home and the devil is determined to get his soul into hell. The question is: will he lose his life for the game, or opt for his quiet life with his wife and job as a real estate agent? George Abbott and Douglass Wallop wrote the book for the show, based on Wallop's "Thy Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant."

It opens with '.'Six Months Out of Every Year," with a set of housewives, including Joe's own Meg, played by Erica Livingston, singing their lament at being bored while their husbands are glued to the TV sets watching the game. The men roll on chairs, the women funnel them beers, three or four duets are danced out in song. The women are ignored as the men yell, "Damn Yankees" as their beloved Senators screw up a hit. "Thrown out at home," one yells. "I know the feeling," the wife sings.

The choreography is one of the strong points here. Props to musical director David Hahn, dance captain Jared Titus and choreographer Daniel .B. Hess; as well as Bumgardener, as they work the piece on this little stage.  "Blooper Ballet" and "Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo." were also stand outs. The men who played the Senators were a pleasure to watch by the way.