Yes, directors have set Shakespeare plays in different lands and have moved musicals to new eras.

But this? This is genius.

The classic musical "Damn Yankees" has been rejiggered so that the team struggling to beat those title Yankees aren't the now-defunct Washington Senators but are the Yankees' modern-day archnemesis: the Boston Red Sox.

This adaptation of the George Abbott-Douglass Wallop original is by Joe DiPietro, who won a Tony Award for his work on the musical "Memphis."

And it opens Friday at the Goodspeed Opera House.

DiPietro has worked with Goodspeed before. He wrote the books for "All Shook Up" and "Babes in Arms." He did the honors, too, for "They All Laughed," which premiered at Goodspeed in 2001 and was called "Nice Work If You Can Get It" when it played on Broadway in 2012.

As for "Damn Yankees," every kid who ever starred in a high-school production of it knows the story: a middle-aged baseball fan makes a deal with the devil to turn into a young sports phenom who can help his favorite team win the pennant.

The songs by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross are led by "Heart" and "Whatever Lola Wants."

Directing Goodspeed's "Damn Yankees," by the way, is Daniel Goldman, who also helmed the theater's crowd-pleasing "Hello, Dolly!" last year.

- KRISTINA DORSEY

"Damn Yankees," Goodspeed Opera House, 6 Main St., East Haddam; opens Fri. and runs through June 21; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Wed., 7:30 p.m. Thurs., 8 p.m. Fri., 3 and 8 p.m. Sat., and 2 p.m. Sun., with performances at 2 p.m. on select Thursdays and at 6:30 p.m. on select Sundays; tickets start at $27, prices subject to change based on availability; (860) 873-8668, goodspeed.org.