Dames at Sea

Dames at Sea
Original Cast recording
Music	Jim Wise
Lyrics	George Haimsohn Robin Miller
Book	George Haimsohn Robin Miller
Productions	1966 Off-Off-Broadway 1968 Off-Broadway 1969 West End 1973 New Jersey 1985 Off-Broadway 1989 West End revival 2004 off-Broadway Revival 2015 Broadway
Awards	1968 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics

Dames at Sea is a musical with book and lyrics by George Haimsohn and Robin Miller and music by Jim Wise.

The musical is a parody of large, flashy 1930s Busby Berkeley-style movie musicals in which a chorus girl, newly arrived off the bus from the Midwest to NYC, steps into a role on Broadway and becomes a star. It originally played Off-Off-Broadway in 1966 at the Caffe Cino, starring newcomer Bernadette Peters and then played Off-Broadway beginning in 1968 for a successful run. The show has enjoyed a London run, a television adaptation and a number of revivals, before its Broadway premiere in October 2015.

The musical was originally a short sketch, based loosely on the Gold Diggers movies, written by George Haimsohn, Jim Wise, and Robin Miller. The character of "Ruby" was suggested by the Ruby Keeler-type from those early movies. It was lengthened to a 50-minute production, and director Robert Dahdah prepared it for its first staging. After the original actress who was to play "Ruby" withdrew during rehearsals, choreographer Don Price recommended newcomer Bernadette Peters for the role. The show opened in May 1966 as Dames at Sea, or Golddiggers Afloat at the Caffe Cino, a small coffee house/performance space in New York City's Greenwich Village, where it continued for 148 performances. The original Caffe Cino cast featured Peters as Ruby, Joe McGuire as Frank, David Christmas as Dick, Jill Roberts as Joan, Norma Bigtree as Mona and Gary Filsinger as the Director and Captain. Peters was replaced by her sister, Donna Forbes (now DeSeta) during the run.

Retitled simply Dames at Sea, the musical re-opened at the Bouwerie Lane Theatre on December 20, 1968, and transferred to the larger Theater de Lys on April 22, 1969, and closed on May 10, 1970 after a total of 575 performances. Directed and choreographed by Neal Kenyon, the show again featured Peters in the role of Ruby and David Christmas as Dick. The cast also featured Steve Elmore as the Captain, Tamara Long as Mona Kent, Joseph R. Sicari as Lucky, and Sally Stark as Joan. After Peters left the show, the role of "Ruby" was played by Loni Ackerman, Bonnie Franklin, Janie Sell, Barbara Sharma, and Pia Zadora.