Ten years ago on this blog, we were talking a lot about a stage musical version of the Jerry Lewis movie, The Nutty Professor, which Jerry himself was directing. He was also making bizarre announcements about how it would open on such-and-such a date at such-and-such a theater…and it would turn out that such-and-such a theater had not been booked or informed.
Finally, the musical — with music by Marvin Hamlisch and a book and lyrics by Rupert Holmes — had its world debut on July 24, 2012 at Nashville's Tennessee Performing Arts Center. Reviews were rather good and Jerry announced that nothing could stop it from moving on to Broadway where it would be a smash hit. But since it closed in Nashville, the show was not been seen — on Broadway or anywhere.
When Jerry died in 2017, it was widely assumed that was the end of the musical. Not so. The Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine has announced a production to start July 1. This is the same theater that in 2018 hosted a production of Grumpy Old Men: The Musical, a show with lyrics by my friend, the late Nick Meglin.
I'm thinking that as it gets around that The Nutty Professor is available for regional productions, it may become one of those shows that is often performed here and there, even if neither here nor there is Broadway. It would be nice to see it some day. And maybe…just maybe Jerry's musical will finally make it to The Great White Way.
Thanks to Galen Fott for telling me about this new chapter in the story of the show. And here are some scenes from the production in Nashville…