First-Ever Broadway Revival of Dames at Sea Announces Dates and Theater

The long-gestating first-ever Broadway revival of the musical Dames at Sea will set sail at Broadway's Helen Hayes Theatre beginning Thursday, September 24, with opening night set for Thursday, October 22.

Three-time Tony Award nominee Randy Skinner (42nd Street) directs and choreographs the musical, which features music by Jim Wise and a book and lyrics by George Haimsohn and Robin Miller. A parody of the 1930s Busby Berkeley-style movie musicals, Dames at Sea follows Ruby, fresh off the bus in Manhattan, as she gets her first New York musical role — only to find out, along with the rest of the cast, that the theater is about to be demolished on opening night.

The original production of Dames at Sea opened off-off-Broadway in 1966 at the Caffe Cino, before moving to off-Broadway's Bouwerie Lane Theatre in 1968. It transferred to the Theater de Lys (now the Lucille Lortel) in 1969, before launching a run in London's West End. The New York productions launched the career of young Bernadette Peters, who received a Drama Desk Award nomination of her performance as Ruby.

Skinner's Broadway mounting will feature musical supervision, vocal, and dance arrangements by Rob Berman, scenic design by Anna Louizos, costume design by David C. Woolard, lighting design by Ken Billington, and sound design by Scott Lehrer.

Casting for the production will be announced in the coming months. A 2013 workshop starred Laura Osnes as Ruby, alongside Rachel York, Mara Davi, John Bolton, Cary Tedder, and Danny Gardner.

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