Leave it to celebrity stylist and sassy TV star Carson Kressley to turn the devil into a likeable fellow. Dare we call him charming?

“Well, I think he is charming,” Kressley says via e-mail of his portrayal of Mr. Applegate in the Red Sox version of the musical “Damn Yankees,” which opens tonight at Ogunquit Playhouse.

“That may sound strange or even sacrilegious to call the devil himself charming, but I think that’s how he has to be to get the job done in the show. He has to be a bit of a snake charmer to get the soul of the show’s hero. So I’m really working on making him charming and somewhat sinister at the same time.”

The Ogunquit version of this half-century-old baseball musical moves from Washington, D.C., where it was originally set, to Boston’s Fenway Park, which marks its 100th anniversary this season.

Tony Award-winning playwright Joe DiPietro reworked the script of the Adler and Ross musical to accent the rivalry between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. In the original version, the musical pitted the Yankees against the Washington Senators.

Mr. Applegate is the devil masquerading as a slick salesman. He tells the hero and long-suffering Red Sox fan Joe Boyd that if he gives up his soul, he will come back as Joe Hardy, the long-ball hitter that the Sox need to beat the Yankees.

Kressley has some history with the Red Sox. After the Sox won the World Series in 2004, Kressley and his pals on the hit TV show “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” did a makeover of some of the team’s players.

“I didn’t even make it to first base,” he laments, but still enjoyed his association with the team. “I’m very well-acquainted with the team and more importantly how beloved they are by their fans. That’s a big part of the special Red Sox version of ‘Damn Yankees’ we are doing in Maine.”

Veteran Broadway choreographer Jeffry Denman directs the Ogunquit version of this show. Working with Kressley has been a joy, he said.

“Carson thinks he cannot sing, but Carson has an amazing voice that is untrained,” Denman said. “He sings the way he speaks, which is what you are supposed to do. He has a beautiful tenor voice. I am just trying to point him in the right direction.

“When you watch him, you realize he is coming from a place of joy. That is musical theater right there — just joy. He walks on stage with a certain amount of presence. He is disarmingly charming.”

This is Kressley’s second time at Ogunquit. He appeared in “The Drowsy Chaperone” in 2010, but not without arm-twisting.

He was skeptical when the theater’s executive director, Brad Kenney, pitched him the idea. “But honestly, I had such a great time doing that show and appreciated the quality of that show and the Ogunquit team’s production values, that this time it was an easy sell,” Kressley wrote.

“There are so many great things about working at the Ogunquit Playhouse. Of course, it is beautiful. I adore Maine and love the whole idea of being there in the summer: Eating lobster, going to the beach, wearing super-preppy clothes — I’ve been busy embroidering whales on everything I own.”

D.C. Anderson plays Joe Boyd. Anderson will appear on Broadway this fall in the musical “Rebecca,” and has a long string of credits in regional theater. Sam Prince, who has performed Off-Broadway and regionally, plays Joe Hardy. Jennifer Cody plays Gloria. She has appeared at Ogunquit in “All Shook Up” and “Cinderella,” and on Broadway and Off-Broadway.

For Denman, “Damn Yankees” presents a perfect opportunity. He is a huge baseball fan who fully understands the depth of the rivalry between the Red Sox and the Yankees. His allegiance is to the Yankees, but he has great respect for the Red Sox and their fans.

“I hope, I hope, I hope that audience members won’t hold that against me,” he said. “I was brought up a Yankees fan by my father. There is great loyalty there. But some of my best and dearest friends are Red Sox fans. I admire them because of the smart way they follow baseball. They know what they are talking about. They are not fair-weather fans. They are loyal.”

Denman thinks Red Sox fans will love this show. He has added a few bits of Sox and baseball trivia — little nods that die-hard fans will pick up on and maybe chuckle at. “I know my baseball history, and have to infuse that into the show as much as I can,” he said.

He also think fans will appreciate the crisp white home uniforms of the Red Sox.

“When you see them, you will go, ‘Oh, that’s awesome,’ he said. “I equate baseball uniforms to superhero uniforms. It’s like seeing Superman there, and that is how we are playing Joe Hardy. You see the ‘Red Sox’ script across the white, it’s just iconic.”

Staff Writer Bob Keyes can be contacted at 791-6457 or:

bkeyes@pressherald.com

Twitter: pphbkeyes

 

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