DAMES AT SEA is a tap-happy celebration of the golden era of movie musicals with a heart as big as the ocean! Directed and choreographed by the three-time Tony Award-nominated choreographer Randy Skinner (42nd Street, Irving Berlin's White Christmas), this gem of a show has been reimagined for the bright lights of Broadway and taken to glamorous and spectacular new heights! Featuring rollicking tap dancing, love at first sight, joyful music and a boatload of laughs, this glittering musical extravaganza has everything you need for an unforgettable night at the theatre.
How cruel, to make comparisons with a legendary star! How unkind! How unfair! Well, tough luck, because here it comes: the new leading lady of 'Dames at Sea' is no Bernadette Peters. There's nothing wrong with this revival that Peters, who played the role of Ruby in the original 1968 production, couldn't fix. But musical theater stars of her caliber don't grow on trees, and although newcomer Eloise Kropp is a power tapper par excellence, she hasn't the saucy charm of a Broadway Baby like Ruby -- or the magnetic appeal of a star like Peters.
So the current big-time revival does what its late creators -- composer Jim Wise, author/lyricists George Haimsohn and Robin Miller -- apparently wanted their modest takeoff to accomplish. The production, directed and choreographed by Randy Skinner, has a hard-tapping, hardworking cast of six and enough varieties of I-love-to-dance smiles to become their own emoticons. What the musical does not have -- in addition to a breakout ingénue to elevate the unrelentingly, cheerfully lame nonsense -- is charm. This is, to put it gently, a one-joke show. And we get the joke -- we get it, we get it -- over and over the tap-happy two hours.
| 1968 | Off-Broadway |
Original Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
| 1969 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
| 1969 | West End |
London Production West End |
| 1970 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway Revival Off-Broadway |
| 1970 | Regional (US) |
Regional Revival Regional (US) |
| 1973 | Milburn, NJ (Regional) |
Paper Mill Production Milburn, NJ (Regional) |
| 1985 | Regional (US) |
Regional Revival Regional (US) |
| 1985 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway Revival Off-Broadway |
| 1996 | West End |
London Revival West End |
| 2004 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway Revival Off-Broadway |
| 2015 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Choreography | Randy Skinner |
| 2016 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical | Dames at Sea |
| 2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Choreography | Randy Skinner |
| 2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Musical (Broadway or off-Broadway) | Dames at Sea |
| 2016 | Tony Awards | Best Choreography | Randy Skinner |
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