Ogunquit Playhouse

NUTTY PROFESSOR IN OGUNQUIT PLAYHOUSE

Ogunquit has been our favorite place since 1986 when we moved to Lowell.

We spent short vacations, and long weekends luxuriously in Ogunquit and around the area in Maine. We even did day trips just to go and have their delicious and famous blueberry pie. Ogunquit Playhouse was a regular attraction for us. 

Around the late 90s thing changed with the arrival of our families from India which, not long after, coincided with our retirement. In the early 90s, we got involved in helping to settle our families, and then we started our long-awaited travels. Going to India for the 3 months of winter was always followed by one month of spring in Barbados. Since we had the time, we were on the move with world trips and cruises, and more.  Therefore, local trips to Ogunquit and Boston went on the back burner.

After a long truce due to pandemics, and other personal problems, we came alive again with a plan to go to Ogunquit playhouse in Maine when they announced the musical production of Nutty Professor. Because we don’t drive long distances due to the age-related restriction, one of our young friends offered to go with us, and viola we were booked to watch the show.

Finally, the musical. We were beyond excited! 

A musical, The Nutty Professor is based on a 1963 Jerry Lewis comedy with music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Rupert Holmes became a reality. The musical version was produced and directed by Jerry Lewis and first premiered in Nashville. But then it disappeared from the scene after the death of Hamlisch in 2012. Fortunately, for us, Ogunquit playhouse decided to produce and run it from July 1 to August 6. The first time in 10 years.

We found the show to be phenomenal. It tells the story of a socially awkward scientist, who is shy but intelligent, and plays a chemistry professor. Julius Kelp (Dan De Luca) is a disheveled and scrawny professor with rather ill-fitting glasses who teaches chemistry at Wellman’s college.  He is bullied by the students. And threatened and humiliated by the college president, Dr. Warfield (Jeff McCarthy), and his secretary, Miss Lemon (Klea Blackhurst). Miss Lemon is enamored by her boss and makes no secret of it. Very soon into the show, you discover that discrimination and insults are widespread at several levels.

When a sweet, beautiful, stunningly dressed Miss Stella Purdy (Elena Ricardo) arrives at the scene to teach literature, she soon discovers that the rosy world of academia was full of holes and she found herself teaching an array of unrelated courses instead of what she was hired to teach. She ends up covering for the male faculty to pursue their academic journey upward, while she looked up from the lowest rung of the ladder. 

When Kelp and Purdy met, there seemed to be a hint of romance in the air, which soon evaporated when purdy pointed out to him in a subtle way that he needs to improve his social skills. He tried various ways of transforming himself and failed. Then he turned to his elaborately designed laboratory with arrays of beakers and test tubes to develop a formula that would turn him into a suave, well-dressed, heartthrob. The magic worked and he became a campus celebrity known as Buddy Love, and Purdy is captivated by his secret persona while the real kelp lived behind this façade. Since Buddy Love had an overbearing ego and arrogance, she leaned favorably towards the sincere kelp she knew.

The problem with that was the formula wore off suddenly leaving him in sudden danger of returning to the nerdiness and becoming uncoordinated and clumsy right in the middle of a dance. He quickly sensed the upcoming change and scrambled to keep the disguise intact by skillfully bridging the gap by ingesting an extra portion of the formula.

All this was produced in 60s style with a backdrop of heart-touching dancing moves and alluring music. Dances were synchronized, and graceful.   The girls were beautiful, and their moves were just breathtaking. The costumes were designed for each dance appropriately ranging from cheerleading to psychedelic.

Dan De Luca does deserve the prime spot. He played both his roles, Kelp and 

Buddy Love, superbly. It makes one realize that one can be the master of his own destiny.

Ricardo (Purdy) had a love interest in both Kelp and Buddy Love but seemed to be more attracted by the simple ways of kelp.  She is beautiful and engaging with her performance, especially the number, “while I still have time”.

In the end, MacCarthy (Dr. Warfield) and Blackhurst (Miss Lemon) surprised everyone with a hilarious transformation by displaying their vocal and dancing talent. Blackhurst’s change from a gutless, timid follower to a liberated, confident woman was showstopping. Her woman’s liberation number, “Step out of your shell” sealed her performance.

In the end, Kelp decided to stay as his regular self and admits his misdeed, and Stella was happy to accept his simple self.

The message of Nutty Professor is simply self-acceptance. “You have got to like yourself. Just Think about all the time you’re going to have to spend with you.”

For me, this was once-in-a-lifetime entertainment. Everyone should have a chance to see this standout success.