Ogunquit Playhouse summer lineup 2024: 'Waitress,' return of Sally Struthers and more

OGUNQUIT, Maine — The Ogunquit Playhouse is one month away from raising the curtains for its 2024 season, which will include five musicals, one of which will be making its world premiere.

Managing Director Deborah Warren described the range of the upcoming line-up as “thoughtful.” The shows are “Waitress”, “Crazy for You”, “A Little Night Music”, “Little Shop of Horrors”, and “My Best Friend’s Wedding.”

“They speak to our times right now,” she said. “We want to see things that are incredibly produced – wonderful musicals that spark joy, great storytelling, classic shows that you just fall in love with ... People want to feel great in the theater.”

Ogunquit Playhouse opens season with 'Waitress'

“Waitress,” adapted from the film of the same name, will begin serving audiences on May 9, with a last show set for June 8. The story, with songs by Sara Bareilles, focuses on a waitress at a small-town diner who sees her way through matters of the heart through baking pies.

“It’s a wonderful story about healing yourself through baking pie,” Warren said. “There’s a wonderful song called ‘Butter, Flour, Sugar,’ and it’s about how baking is a sort of catharsis.”

Warren said the Playhouse is still casting the production, which will blend hilarity and poignancy and will feature a strong central character and some “wonderful supporting” roles. While the story is centered on women, its appeal is contemporary, with something for everyone to enjoy, Warren added.

“We’re really super lucky to have gotten the ability to produce this here,” Warren said.

In anticipation of its first show of the season, the Playhouse is holding the Great Ogunquit Pie Bake-off, for which a tasting and judging party will be held at the theater on Saturday, May 4, from 3 to 5 p.m.

According to Hannah Gagnon, the marketing manager for the Playhouse, the competition is an opportunity for local amateur bakers to emulate the lead character in “Waitress” and showcase their talents and win great prizes.

“The winners will be chosen by the public and an esteemed panel of judges based on taste, presentation, and creativity,” Gagnon stated in a press release.

To learn about categories and qualifications and to enter, visit online at https://forms.gle/me1NZJL16VRn25Zr5. Applications will be accepted until midnight on April 15.  Finalists will be notified by April 23. All finalists must commit to the judging event by May 4.

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Sally Struthers is back with 'Crazy for You'

“Crazy for You,” billed as a “tap-dancing Gershwin extravaganza,” will start gracing the stage on June 13 and will feature the return of actress Sally Struthers, the beloved Playhouse veteran last seen playing two roles in the theater’s production of “Tootsie” last fall. Set in the 1930s, the musical is a tribute to the timeless songs of George and Ira Gershwin.

“It’s absolutely hilarious, with some of the most iconic Gershwin songs,” Warren said. “It’s that kind of quintessential love story of a couple that comes together through odds.”

Warren said anyone who enjoyed the Playhouse’s presentation of “Singing in the Rain” last year is going to love this one.

“It has a freshness to it, but also that same sort of beautiful nostalgia that you’re just going to love,” she said.

And, of course, there’s Sally Struthers.

“This is her twenty-third performance here,” Warren said. “She’s a comedic chameleon.”

“Crazy for You” will run through July 13.

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'A Little Night Music' is the 'show to see' of the summer

Next up will be “A Little Night Music,” which Warren described as a “hilarious, beautiful, gorgeous, absolutely exquisite” tribute to the late composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim. The music, Warren added, features one of the “most beautiful scores that he ever wrote.”

The July 18-August 17 run for “A Little Night Music” is perfect, as the story takes place during a midsummer party, where everyone is swapping partners, having affairs, and rekindling lost love.

“It will absolutely delight people,” Warren said.

Sondheim fans no doubt have heard about this musical, and Warren calls the upcoming production “the show to see.” But even those who may not be aware of this show will have heard of one of its signature songs, “Send in the Clowns.”

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Ogunquit Playhouse offers fresh twist to 'Little Shop of Horrors'

With “Little Shop of Horrors,” which will debut Aug. 22, the Playhouse will pivot from sweet nostalgia to the macabre, all the while continuing its season-long theme of matters of the heart.

The story, set in the skid-row region of New York City, boasts a love triangle involving a nebbish who works at a floral shop, the sweet woman named Audrey whom he loves, and a bloodthirsty Venus flytrap that comes between them.

Those who have seen the 1960 cult classic or the 1986 movie musical can expect that the Ogunquit Playhouse has its own fresh twists to apply to the tale, according to Warren.

“We’re going to do some really interesting things with the show,” she said. “The plant is going to be felt throughout the audience in some capacity. It may be a little scary, to keep you on the edge.”

“Little Shop of Horrors” will chomp its way through the rest of the summer, with a final show set for Sept. 21.

World premiere of 'My Best Friend’s Wedding'

Ogunquit Playhouse will present its final show of the season, which will be a world premiere to boot. “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” a stage adaptation of the 1997 hit romantic comedy starring Julia Roberts, will be on stage from Sept. 26 through Oct. 27.

The story is about a woman who tries to sabotage the upcoming wedding of her best friend so that she can marry him herself. That’s her plan, anyway.

“This is the first time anybody is going to be able to see it, which is a thrill and a coup for the Ogunquit Playhouse,” Warren said.

What else is new this summer at the Playhouse

The Ogunquit Playhouse will have two offerings for children this summer, “Seussical,” which will have shows at 10 a.m. on July 6, 7, and 9, and Disney’s “Camp Rock: The Musical,” which will hit the stage at 10 a.m. on Aug. 10, 11, and 13.

This season also will bring some new features to the Playhouse. Matinees will be held on Friday, for example.

The Playhouse will also have specific showtimes with closed captions on a screen and with American Sign Language interpreters. The service will be a collaboration between the Playhouse and the Pine Tree Society, courtesy of a grant from the Roger R. and Theresa S. Thompson Endowment Fund.

“We’re incredibly fortunate to be working with them,” Warren said.

The Playhouse had its first ASL-interpreted production with “The Da Vinci Code” last summer. For Joshua Seal, then the director of interpreting services for the Pine Tree Society, the continuation of ASL programming at the Playhouse is now part of his legacy. Tragically, Seal was among those killed when a gunman opened fire at a bowling alley in Lewiston in October.

“Josh had the desire to make the arts accessible to the deaf community,” said Noel Sullivan, the president and CEO of the Pine Tree Society. “Before he was tragically killed in the October mass shooting in Lewiston, plans were already in the works to provide ASL-interpreted performances for this season. That makes these ASL performances even more meaningful to us all.”

To keep an eye out for ASL-interpreted performances, visit online at ogunquitplayhouse.org, call (207) 646-5511, or stop by the Playhouse’s main office at 10 Main Street in Ogunquit.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Ogunquit Playhouse summer lineup: 'Waitress,' 'Crazy for You,' more