“Broad City”Abbi Jacobson, co-creator “Mozart in the Jungle”Will Graham is executive producer “A League of Their Own”The new Amazon Prime Video series will get a modern revamp that emphasizes LGBT stories and the struggles of Black female baseball players during World War II. The show, which debuted this weekend, follows the basic outline of Penny Marshall’s 1992 movie of the same name: A catcher with a husband away at war quickly becomes a team leader, played in the update by Jacobson. Nick Offerman has stepped into the equivalent shoes of Tom Hanks as a disgraced-star-player-turned-manager. Here’s how the show stacks up against the 30-year-old movie, which introduced Rosie O’Donnell to pal Madonna and was itself an adaptation of a late-1980s documentary of the same name.
Abbi Jacobson is catcher Carson Shaw. She plays the reluctant leader who discovers unexpected feelings for her husband while she is overseas.
Geena is as active behind the plate and on the field as Dottie Hinton, who looks out after Kit while waiting for her soldier husband.
Chanté Adams sensitively portrays the angst of Max Chapman, a talented Black pitcher barred from playing due to her race and gender; she also has a secret romantic life.
Tom Hanks was a star in Marshall-directed movies. “Big,” is the boozy manager who exasperatedly utters the film’s most famous line: “There’s no crying in baseball.”
D’Arcy Carden’s Greta is a flirty presence adept at protecting herself from censure as a queer woman.
Lori Petty’s Kit wears her heart on her sleeve, frustrated at the attention her big sister Dottie receives.
Melanie Field, second from left, portrays Jo De Luca, Greta’s boisterous pal from Queens, who draws teammate whispers about her sexuality.
Madonna, at the height her stardom, is now playing a supporting part as Mae “All the Way”Mordabito was a taxi dancer prior to joining the Rockford Peaches.
Gbemisola Ikumelo is Max’s excitable married pal and wannabe comic book writer, Clance.
Mae’s pal Doris in the movie, Rosie O’Donnell, pops up in the Amazon series as a gay bar owner.
Nick Offerman doesn’t stick around long as manager Dove Porter, a former pitcher with a healthy ego.
Jon Lovitz makes an amusing entrance early on as a scout for the burgeoning all women’s league.
Molly Ephraim portrays the role of Maybelle, a fun-loving blonde bottle who is unaware of the sexual undercurrents in the team.
Marshall’s daughter Tracy Reiner, older brother Garry (a director in his own right) and “Laverne & Shirley”David Lander, co-star in the film, plays small roles.