Last year, Divya Innocent played Sarah Brown, whose sole purpose was saving souls in “Guys & Dolls.” This year, her character comes from the netherworld – the temptress Lola in “Damn Yankees” – who is anything but innocent.

“Damn Yankees” plays at 8 tonight and tomorrow night at Nanuet High School.

To find Lola, Innocent says she applied techniques she’s learned in acting and dance classes through the years.

“Picture a person who’s played the part – or someone who reminds you of this character -and study their mannerisms and how they talk and adapt that to make it your own,” she says.

Who’s the person in Innocent’s mind?

“Gwen Verdon, definitely,” she says. “All the way.”

Verdon was the first to play the part, putting the oomph in those great Bob Fosse dance numbers on Broadway in 1955 and in the 1958 film.

“She had it all: Energy, sassy, lively, attractive,” Innocent says. “She’s physically attractive, but it’s more the way she moves and talks. She’s sophisticated.”

In the song, “Whatever Lola Wants” – one of Innocent’s favorites -when she is trying to seduce baseball phenom Joe Hardy in the Senators locker room, Lola pulls out all the stops, singing:

“I always get what I aim for.

And your heart and soul

Is what I came for.

Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets.

No use to fight,

Don’t you know you can’t win?

You’re no exception to the rule.

I’m irresistible, you fool.

Give in, give in, give in.”

Innocent says that scene was tough at first, because Frank Cronin, who plays Joe, is a good friend and the two couldn’t stop laughing at Lola’s antics – “the facial expressions that I give him and the movements” – while Cronin has to sit there and take it “while I stalk him-ish.”

“Lola has many sides to her,” Innocent says. “Later on, you see the soft side of her and you realize she’s actually a good person. She’s not doing it because she wants to attract all these guys. She’s doing it because she has no other choice.”

It’s a fine line Lola toes, she says.

“A lot of times when you see ‘Damn Yankees’ done, you see her being overly aggressive and overly sexy, but there’s a really tender side to her. But she’s powerful, too. You can’t forget that. She’s not a softie.”

A lot happens to Lola. Her confidence is shaken when Joe snubs her.

“That’s rough, making that change,” says Innocent. “Going from this hard character to a really vulnerable character in the matter of two scenes. She’s never been turned down before. It’s new for her.”

Her partner in crime, Lola’s boss, is Applegate, the devil, played by senior Jon Weinman. Innocent says her co-star, who played Nathan Detroit last year, is in a league all his own in this baseball musical.

“He has so much conviction in what he’s saying that you just get into the moment because you’re right there,” she says. “He has so much experience and a great presence on stage.”

Weinman, 18, a senior, says his sarcastic character can be summed up in one line.

“I love the scene where he gets exasperated with the nosy newspaper reporter Gloria Thorpe and he tells her ‘Go home. Get married. Have children.’

“I love that line because it brings in elements of the absurd and the clever,” Weinman says. “Everything I like about the part is in that line.”

If Applegate starts out as a smooth-talking salesman – convincing old Joe, a frustrated Washington Senators fan, to sell him his soul in exchange for a way to beat the Yankees – he soon begins to unravel, Weinman says.

“It’s done really well in the script. It brings in the absurd comedy with the seriousness of what’s going on,” he says. “Everything comes undone, to the point at the end when he’s so frustrated he’s jumping up and down screaming like a raving lunatic.”

“It’s the best part I’ve played,” he says.

His favorite song to sing is “Those Were the Good Old Days,” in which Applegate relives his past sinister glories.

“It’s a big showstopping number with all the girls dancing around me,” he says. “It’s a great feeling.”

He says Innocent, is fun to work with, particularly in the song “A Little Brains, A Little Talent,” “because she’s a great dancer and in that number, my job is easy: she does all the work and I just have to listen and react and feed off her energy.

“She’s a great dancer and a great performer,” he says.

Photo by Vincent DiSalvio/The Journal News: Divya Innocent, 16, left, as Lola and Jon Weinman, 18, as Applegate, rehearse a scene from “Damn Yankees,” which plays today and tomorrow at Nanuet High School.
“DAMN YANKEES”
Where: Nanuet High School, 103 Church St., Nanuet.
When: 8 p.m. today and tomorrow.
Tickets: $10.
Call: 845-627-9850.
With: Anthony Aguiar, Robert Ahle, Talia Berk, Katie Brothers, Bridget Cafaro, April Camacho, Marissa Chee, Sam Colarelli, Frank Cronin, Michael D’Agostino, Michael Dale, Alex Dang, Dan Donnelly, Courtney Ehrenhofler, Christine Favia, Dylan Flynn, Danielle Fraher, Eden Gilet, Laura Garlick, Vasia Giannakakos, Demi Giannico, Stephanie Giannico, Kat Gonzalez, Geena Gregory, Kenny Guerriero, Alison Harrington, Valeri Hernandez, Laural Hicks, Valissa Hicks, Danielle Hinckley, Allison Hoisl, Orlando Hurtado, Divya Innocent, Rahul Khandke, Stephanie Kim, Andrew Klock, Jesse Knapp, Edward Kohler, Kaitlyn Kozinski, Sarah Lambro, Maggie Leung, Shaun Levy, Amanda Lowney, Morgan Mason, Colleen McLaughlin, Misha Mehta, Claudia Miller, Charlie Miller, Kaitlyn Morr, Nick Murray, Jennifer Nghe, Brianna Nicosia, Maura Nolan, Kyle Noonon, Annabella Panaro, Chris Pandolfo, Stephanie Pedro, Toni Pernice, David Pernick, Amanda Pickford, Louis Pisha, Brian Purvis, Connor Reilly, Luke Reilly, Eric Roemish, James “J. D.” Roth, Ariel Sabaj, Eve Saiz-Quinn, Max Saltzman, Sal Schiavone, Dana Silberzahn, Jimmy Simon, Tori Slater, Danielle Steel, Lauren Swerdloff, Kristopher Siriban, Christina Small, John Sweet, Anh Trinh, VictoriaVardilli, Christina Verwoert, Elio Vezza, Jon Weinman, Rich Wilhelm, Ben Wu.