When Encore Theatre co-founder and “Damn Yankees” director Dan Cooney approached actor Steve DeBruyne about the possibility of playing both Young Joe and Old Joe — roles that are normally played by two different actors — in the Faustian musical, he did so in the spirit of, well, the show’s most famous character.

“Like the Devil, I gave (DeBruyne) an escape clause,” said Cooney. “I said, ‘Why don’t you play with it, and by week two (of rehearsals), you can either say, “I’m enjoying it” or “I’m out.”’”

Cooney realizes that he’s taking a risk with this unconventional casting choice, of course, and some staging issues are still being puzzled out. But Cooney, after not finding an actor who was the right fit for Old Joe, was excited by the challenge.

“Every time I see (‘Yankees’), I anticipate that magical transformation, that illusion,” he said of Joe. “ … But more than just hearing tinkling on the piano, where one actor enters and another one exits, I wanted something with more theatricality.”

“Yankees” — which premiered in 1955, with a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop, and music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross — tells the story of Joe Boyd, a beleaguered fan of a professional baseball team called the Washington Senators. When the Devil appears and offers Joe the chance to become the young slugger the Senators need to succeed, Joe accepts, with one condition: if he decides, at 9 p.m. on the night of the Senators’ last game, to come back his former life with his wife, he can do so. But the Devil, of course, has his own plans for Joe.

For Cooney, one of the show’s stumbling blocks involves getting a cast of musical theater performers to look, move, and sound like baseball players.

“We’re getting there,” said Cooney. “I grew up playing baseball, and grew up playing hockey — I was a jock well before I fell in love with theater. I grew up in Westland, where all that was really available to kids was sports. … But I was terrible.”

DeBruyne, by Cooney’s report, grew up firmly entrenched in the world of theater, so while learning to portray a professional athlete, “He’s having a great time feeling out this whole new world,” said Cooney.

Meanwhile, casting local actor Tobin Hissong as the devil, or “Mr. Applegate,” was a cinch. “That was a no-brainer for me,” said Cooney. “I was staying at the Actors’ House, right next door to him, and we had this chat in the backyard. He said, ‘Just so you know, I have this time open,’ and I said, ‘You want to be the devil?’ and he said, ‘Love to.’ It was that quick.”

Cooney sees Hissong as someone who fits into the world of "Yankees"' bygone era easily, and the actor might be asked to perform some hocus pocus in the line of duty — but that’s still up in the air.

“Our first concept was to go with an illusionist and use lots of magic, to make the devil theatrically thrilling in that way, but the script just didn’t support that,” said Cooney, who’s nonetheless experimenting with some elements of magic during rehearsals. “ … I’m tired of having theater experiences where I’m bored. Now that we have our feet on ground, we want to play around with these concepts and see how we do.”

More generally, Cooney and choreographer Barbara Cullen are “streamlining the story and keeping as much of the musical as we really feel we need,” Cooney explained, including paring down the show's dancing. “We’re more about enthusiasm and commitment to the movements. Barbara’s treating it more like a play, and our hope is this will help the show really pop.”

Filling out the lead roles is Mary Jo Cuppone, who plays the Devil’s femme fatale henchwoman, Lola.

“Nobody would look at (Cuppone) and think Lola, but I looked at her and thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if a Marilyn Monroe-type was the devil’s tool, and we used that sexiness to have fun with it?’” Cooney said. “ … I’m so bored with the Fosse dancer Lola, who can touch her ear with her heel. … That’s not sexy to me, and it’s so overdone. What’s sexy to me is a voluptuous woman.”

Clearly, Cooney aims to breathe new life into this classic, Tony Award-winning musical; but he’s perhaps most excited by the prospect of DeBruyne’s performative, on-stage transformation as Joe, noting that nowadays, if a script calls for a 54-year-old man, producers simply find and hire a 54-year-old man.

“It’s dying art form,” Cooney said of “transformative” acting. “I’m working with Steve through the successes and challenges of this whole process, and I love that. Whatever the outcome, it’s worth the risk.”

Jenn McKee is the entertainment digital journalist for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at jennmckee@annarbor.com or 734-623-2546, and follow her on Twitter @jennmckee.