The Ogunquit Playhouse hosted its first gala-like Midsummer Celebration last Sunday following a matinee performance of Stephen Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music,” a witty and sometimes romantic farce that runs through Aug. 17.

“The quality of the productions, with these professional casts and all the sets and costumes unique to each show – we’re just so fortunate to have this in southern Maine,” said host committee member John Hatcher of Portland.

The show, starring Kathleen Turner as the matriarch, was dedicated to the matriarch of the Ogunquit Playhouse board: Ann Ramsay-Jenkins. Co-founder of the College Success Foundation and a longtime patron of the arts nationally, Ramsay-Jenkins now lives year-round in York Harbor and also serves on the boards of the Ogunquit Museum of American Art and the Maine Media Workshops in Rockport. She grew up in Portland and remembers falling in love with Ogunquit Playhouse from her first visit in 1955.

“What makes the theater so magical?” she said. “For me, it’s the moment when I take my seat and I experience the anticipation and excitement that is uniquely theater. When the lights dim and the music begins and the curtain rises, that’s when the magic starts.”

This time, when the curtain closed, the enchantment continued with a charmingly old-fashioned lawn party. Beyond the red carpet and a yellow 1921 Mercer Raceabout – the car that was in the original film “Singing in the Rain” – guests toasted to a 92nd summer of made-in-Maine professional music theater. Five musicals running for five weeks each, year after year, is a big production.

“We’re one of one of the largest self-producing nonprofit theaters in America and the largest performing arts organization in the state of Maine,” said Executive Artistic Director Bradford Kenney.

“These shows are not touring shows. The sets and costumes are all created right here on the seacoast of Maine, and this cast selected from across the country, from Broadway and Hollywood.”

The Midsummer Celebration raised $80,000 for the Ogunquit Playhouse Foundation and formally launched the Ogunquit Playhouse New Works Fund, which raised $50,000 in a matter of days. Since 2016, Ogunquit Playhouse has fostered over 15 new works and pre-Broadway productions, including “Heartbreak Hotel,”  “Mystic Pizza,” “Mr. Holland’s Opus” and “The Nutty Professor.”

“Our audiences get to be the first anywhere in the world to see these new shows,” Kenney said.

This season’s world premiere production is “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” based on the TriStar Pictures Film (Sept. 26-Oct. 27). But first there are two more weeks to see “A Little Night Music,” set in Victoria-era Sweden, followed by “Little Shop of Horrors” starring RuPaul’s Drag Race legend Latrice Royale (Aug. 22-Sept. 21).

“We’re always entertained when we come here,” said board member Susan Consigli of Ogunquit.

Amy Paradysz is a freelance writer and photographer based in Scarborough. She can be reached at amyparadysz@gmail.com.