Dames at Sea?
Dames at Sea?
#0Dames at Sea?
Posted: 5/9/05 at 12:27am
What is this show about?
Has anyone seen it?
Facebook...ME !!!
clarkstallings
Leading Actor Joined: 1/9/05
#1re: Dames at Sea?
Posted: 5/9/05 at 12:48amDames at Sea is one of my favorite musicals. It is similar to 42nd Street. Great upbeat music. Buy the cast recording and you will see why this show needs to be produced more.
kjklo
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/29/03
#2re: Dames at Sea?
Posted: 5/9/05 at 12:51amYou absolutely need to be familiar with Busby Berkeley"s film musicals of the 1930s in order to appreciate it.
#3re: Dames at Sea?
Posted: 5/9/05 at 12:54am
It's actually a parody of many old-fashioned type musicals. In a glorious way. It has all of the archetypes, stereotypes, involuntary tap numbers, backstage drama, and love-at-first-sight romance that exists in any musical of the genre. This is all done in a charming and innocent way. I mean, come on, they put on a Broadway show on the deck of a ship? Haha. I musical directed the show at my college last semester. It was a lot of fun to work on. It's just fun. I don't think it can be taken seriously, but it's a peppy, happy show.
~Steven
Mary_Ethel
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/04
#4re: Dames at Sea?
Posted: 5/9/05 at 1:43am
...If I May...
DAMES AT SEA is "not like" 42ND STREET--although I can see how one would jump to that conclusion.
DAMES AT SEA is a gentle parody of screen musicals from the early 1930s (of which, of course, 42ND STREET is one.)
EVERY Song in DAMES AT SEA is a direct "spoof" of a song from the early 1930s:
For example:
DAMES AT SEA MUSICAL NUMBER -- ORIGINAL SONG IT IS SPOOFING
"Wall Street" "42nd Street"
"It's You" "You're The Top"
"Singapore Sue" "Shanghai Lil"
"Choo-Choo Honeymoon" "Shuffle Off to Buffalo"
etc.
The show's leading characters--Dick and Ruby--were named after the leading screen duo of early "backstage" musical films--Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler.
The show was originaly done Off-Broadway in 1968, and enjoyed a successful run--with Bernadette Peters getting her first big break as the original 'Ruby'. It has been revived Off-Broadway three times, as recently as 2004.
There was a TV version in the late 1960s with Ann-Margaret as 'Ruby'--I do not believe that version is available on VHS OR DVD.
"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."
Mary_Ethel
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/04
#5re: Dames at Sea?
Posted: 5/9/05 at 1:43am
...If I May...
DAMES AT SEA is "not like" 42ND STREET--although I can see how one would jump to that conclusion.
DAMES AT SEA is a gentle parody of screen musicals from the early 1930s (of which, of course, 42ND STREET is one.)
EVERY Song in DAMES AT SEA is a direct "spoof" of a song from the early 1930s:
For example:
DAMES AT SEA MUSICAL NUMBER -- ORIGINAL SONG IT IS SPOOFING
"Wall Street" "42nd Street"
"It's You" "You're The Top"
"Singapore Sue" "Shanghai Lil"
"Choo-Choo Honeymoon" "Shuffle Off to Buffalo"
etc.
The show's leading characters--Dick and Ruby--were named after the leading screen duo of early "backstage" musical films--Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler.
The show was originaly done Off-Broadway in 1968, and enjoyed a successful run--with Bernadette Peters getting her first big break as the original 'Ruby'. It has been revived Off-Broadway three times, as recently as 2004.
There was a TV version in the late 1960s with Ann-Margaret as Ruby--I do not believe that version is available on VHS OR DVD.
"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."
Mary_Ethel
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/04
#6re: Dames at Sea?
Posted: 5/9/05 at 1:44am
...If I May...
DAMES AT SEA is "not like" 42ND STREET--although I can see how one would jump to that conclusion.
DAMES AT SEA is a gentle parody of screen musicals from the early 1930s (of which, of course, 42ND STREET is one.)
EVERY Song in DAMES AT SEA is a direct "spoof" of a song from the early 1930s:
For example:
DAMES AT SEA MUSICAL NUMBER -- ORIGINAL SONG IT IS SPOOFING
"Wall Street" "42nd Street"
"It's You" "You're The Top"
"Singapore Sue" "Shanghai Lil"
"Choo-Choo Honeymoon" "Shuffle Off to Buffalo"
etc.
The show's leading characters--Dick and Ruby--were named after the leading screen duo of early "backstage" musical films--Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler.
The show was originaly done Off-Broadway in 1968, and enjoyed a successful run--with Bernadette Peters getting her first big break as the original 'Ruby'. It has been revived Off-Broadway three times, as recently as 2004.
There was a TV version in the late 1960s with Ann-Margaret as Ruby--I do not believe that version is available on VHS OR DVD.
"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."
Mary_Ethel
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/04
#7re: Dames at Sea?
Posted: 5/9/05 at 1:46am
...damn TRIPLE post!!!... 
SORRY, folks...
"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."
clarkstallings
Leading Actor Joined: 1/9/05
#8re: Dames at Sea?
Posted: 5/9/05 at 1:57amThank you for asserting yourself Mary_Ethel. I'd say that parodying a particular work is making a work "like" another work. The intention may not be to directly copy the source material, it is still however "like" its source material. Anyway, I said similar in my original post and I stand by that premise seeing as the musical style and plot are similar in a multitude of respects. I didn't discuss the intention of the show as a parody. I left said obviousness for somebody such as yourself to point out and you did it in a spectacularly odious and condescending fashion. Bravo!
Mary_Ethel
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/04
#9re: Dames at Sea?
Posted: 5/9/05 at 2:03am
All I see here is a misunderstanding not worth arguing about.
And I'm not going to.
"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."
wildcat
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/04
#10re: Dames at Sea?
Posted: 5/9/05 at 3:46am
The TV version starred the three Anns:
Ann-Margret, Anne Meara and Ann Miller! with Harvey Evans and Dick Shawn in support.
It's not available on tape, sadly. The TV version also used a chorus instead of the cast of six as originally conceived.
Lots of interesting ladies have played Ruby including Leland Palmer, Barbara Sharma and Pia Zadora!
Jon
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
#11re: Dames at Sea?
Posted: 5/9/05 at 8:17am
Not to mention that the first "Ruby" was Bernadette Peters.
Nowadays, the problem with the show is that many theatregoers just don't "get" it - especially after "42nd STREET" has been done on Broadway with it's cast of 40. One of the major musical theatres in Chicago did DAMES AT SEA about 15 years ago, and audience members complained - "This is a cheap rip-off of 42nd Street. Where is the chorus? Why are thee only six people?"
wildcat
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/04
#12re: Dames at Sea?
Posted: 5/9/05 at 9:02am
Oh dear, I knew there was someone else famous in the TV version. It was Fred Gwynne, Herman Munster himself.
Interesting bit of triv: two songs were dropped from the original production after the show opened..."I Can't Dance", which (I think) was replaced by "Broadway Baby", and a song called "I'll Show You the Ropes".
#13re: Dames at Sea?
Posted: 5/9/05 at 10:01am
but Mary_Ethel.....how do you REALLY feel? heheheh
I love Dames at Sea!
It is ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. New York City is itself a detective story...
AGATHA CHRISTIE, Life magazine, May 14, 1956
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