Dames at Sea

by Marc Miller
When Dames at Sea was announced for the Broadway stage, the main worry was: Would
bigger be better? The formerly off-Broadway musical by George Haimsohn and Robin Miller
(book and lyrics) and Jim Wise (music), a 1968 hit that first got Bernadette Peters noticed,
satirizes the large Warner Brothers Busby Berkeley musicals of the 1930s with economy, to
the point where the smallness is the joke. A cast of six, acting as its own backup chorus,
stages gigantic production numbers with minimal resources, and runs through the
familiar 42nd Street-derived story of a chorus girl becoming a star with tactful
overstatement. A larger stage, larger production, larger (but still small) orchestrawould
all that kill the joke?
Well, fear not. The Helen Hayes has one of the smallest stages on Broadway, and the
theaters rather shabby interior provides an ideal hardscrabble setting for the spoofery.
Directed and choreographed by Randy Skinner, who inhabits a universe where no sentiment
cant be embellished with a time step, this Dames at Sea has merriment, heart, and plenty
of sparkle. Its evident from the first note of the overture, which here accompanies a
projected title sequence, complete with Warners-First National Deco graphics and full castand-crew credits. (What happens when theres an understudy?)
The running time is about that of 42nd Street or Gold Diggers of 1933, and no clich is left
unturned. Ruby (Eloise Kropp) arrives off the bus from Centerville, Utah with a suitcase
containing only a pair of tap shoes. She shows up at a rehearsal of the about-toopen Dames at Sea just as a chorus girl has eloped with an Astor, luckily allowing her to
audition for hard-luck director Hennessy (John Bolton), whos battling with temperamental
leading lady Mona Kent (Lesli Margherita), and whose theater has just been sold out from
under him to make room for a roller rink.

EloEloise Kropp as Ruby, Cary Tedder Production images by Jeremy Daniel

Rubys lost suitcase is recovered by sailor-songwriter Dick (Cary Tedder), whose buddy
Lucky (Danny Gardner) is an old squeeze of Rubys fellow chorus girl Joan (Mara Davi).
Dick is from Centerville, tooRuby used to serve him Eskimo Pies, can you believe it?and
their love-and-song-at-first-sight is threatened by Mona, who wants Dick, and his songs, for
herself This stuff may appear to write itself, but Haimsohn and Miller constructed it
extremely artfully, modeling it on the Berkeley extravaganzas, but poking gentle fun at the
optimism, coincidences, and then-fashionable patriotism that powered them, while
telescoping the action so that Ruby literally becomes a star overnight. Its not all laugh-outloud funny, but youll probably find yourself smiling pretty much all the time.
Dames at Sea isnt a carbon copy of the Berkeleys, though. One important difference: All
the numbers in the films are diegetic, meaning they exist as performance numbers, not
plot-forwarding or character-revealing songs as developed later by Rodgers and
Hammerstein and others. (Think of Dick Powell warbling When You Were a Smile on Your
Mothers Lips and a Twinkle in Your Daddys Eye to Ruby Keeler in 1934s Dames, and top
that for useless trivia if you can.) Dames at Sea uses the more modern model, with about
equal doses of diegetic and non-diegetic numbers, and the latter offer nice glimpses into
the characters less-than-brilliant minds. Rubys The Sailor of My Dreams is a sung letter
to President Roosevelt, and her Raining in My Heart is a plaintive cri de coeur whenMona
has once again stolen Dick, while the rest of the cast helpfully twirl umbrellas and interject
la la las. Its all unfailingly tuneful, and Rob Bermans eight-piece orchestra, playing
Jonathan Tunicks expert orchestrations, sounds terrific and, appropriately, larger than it is.

John Bolton and Lesli Margherita

Skinner sends his sextet tapping all over Anna Louizoss just-right sets, a dingy backstage
for Act 1, and Dick and Luckys battleship for Act 2, where the pair have persuaded their
commanding officer (Bolton again), an old flame of Monas, to stage the suddenly
homeless Dames at Sea. The original production, Im told, wasnt nearly as tap-happy as
this one, and Skinner prides himself in showing how varied the form can be. All six step
impressively, in particular Gardners leaping-while-kicking-the-piano maneuvers, and
Tedders combinations of intricate taps and ballet moves. Kropps feet never stop, even
while shes belting out Star Tar; shes exuberant or wistful as required, and while this role
may not propel her into stardom as it did Peters, shes pretty adorable. And Margheritas
bossy Mona is a hammy delight, whether emoting through the torchy That Mister Man of
Mine or, in a superb sight gag, simply carrying a ladder across the stage. (You have to be
there.) Davis Joan exudes sass and sympathy, and Bolton nicely differentiates his two
roles, perpetually mopping his sweaty brow as Hennessy and wittily playing the captain
with an amiable cluelessness resembling, of all people, President Reagan.

Mara Davi as Joan and Danny Gardner

One misstep: Singapore Sue. This, another Dick-penned production number, is quite
specifically a spoof of Shanghai Lil, from 1933s Footlight Parade, wherein James Cagney
and a slant-eyed Keeler tapped together while she nasally sang to him, I miss you velly
much a long time. Singapore Sue has been, as it were, deracinated, scrubbed of rhymes
like gentle/Oriental and references to the Malay evening, and retrofitted with bland,
site-nonspecific lyrics. Did the PC police descend on Skinner and company, and did they fail
to understand that the number is a mockery of the casual racism of 1930s Hollywood, not
an endorsement of it? Whats left is cute but pointless.
Some grumpy reviews of this Dames at Sea, speculate that younger audiences may not
know the source material well enough to fully appreciate whats being satirized (they may
be right), deriding the material for being just empty-calorie escapism. Well, it is, but its as
solidly built as escapism gets, and one of the rare musicals currently on display that
actually sends you out happy and humming. If you know the material well, you may
occasionally fret that a line hasnt been socked across with sufficient panache, or that the

voices, Tedders and Gardners in particular, are a little light (and a little overmiked, by
Scott Lehrer). So be it; the rest is shipshape.
2hrs, with intermission
Helen Hayes Theatre,
240 W. 44th St. between Broadway and 8th Avenue
Box office hours: Mon-Sat, 10am-8-pm, Sun, 12-7:30pm
Website: Damesatseabroadway.com