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A Musical
Director:
Fadi Akhtar
Performed December 8-18, 2005
Book by George Haimsohn &
Robin Miller,
Music by Jim Wise
Dames at Sea
Do battleships just "happen
by" New York City? You bet they do! Hometown
girl, seeking stardom,
comes to big city and hello, meets hometown boy, a
songwriting sailor. Together they plan to storm
Broadway and despite the femme fatale and a boatload of
complications, they do!
Full of
comedy, tap dancing and love songs, this spoof of 1930s and '40s movie
musicals tells the story of naïve, fresh-faced Ruby, who becomes the
last minute star of a new show just before the theatre is to be
demolished. With a little luck and love, the show must go on…on the deck
of a battleship. The appeal of this classic show: "A
war-time musical about war-time musicals, Dames at Sea was first
produced at the height of the Vietnam War, looking back at a time when
the country coped with the vicissitudes surrounding the Second World
War. Now we are once again a nation at war, and we look to our
theatrical antecedents for clues to help us deal with it. Sometimes we
need a little escapism
Thirty-six years ago "Dames at Sea" opened
Off-Broadway at the Bouwerie Lane Theatre in New York and catapulted
Bernadette Peters to stardom. At that time, this all-singing all-dancing
all-sassy pastiche of those beloved 1930s film musicals was notable for
its excellent blend of parody and reverence to the genre.
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