It's a musical which first came to life Off-Off-Broadway nearly a half century ago, and now, "Dames at Sea" has finally sailed on to Broadway. Contributing critic David Cote of Time Out New York filed the following review.
In the annals of Broadway, there are a select few shows that began Off-Off on tiny budgets and clawed up to the Great White Way. “Hand to God,” now playing, is one of them. “Urinetown” was another. And then there’s “Dames at Sea,” which took 49 years to get from Caffé Cino to the Helen Hayes Theatre. Was it worth the wait?
If you enjoy the glitzy, silly movie musicals of Busby Berkley or the Tin Pan Alley genius of Cole Porter and the Gershwins, you will see what the creators of Dames at Sea were up to back in 1966 - spoofing backstage classics such as “42nd Street.” An endangered Broadway show called, of course, “Dames at Sea,” is about to be thrown out of its venue.
Enter sailors, a kid fresh off the bus and various show folks. The material is flimsy to a fault, but a terrifically talented cast sells it like crazy. They tap, they croon, they mug and a super-campy Lesli Margherita chews, digests and voids the scenery. Cary Tedder is a fresh-face as a sailor-songwriter. John Bolton careens heroically between a frazzled director and a ship captain. Mara Davi and Danny Gardner strike sparks as hot-to-trot couple. In addition, Eloise Kropp is a delightful sparkplug as the new girl who gets her big break.
Dames at Sea offers a few nostalgic chuckles, but it’s hard to see what it’s doing on Broadway. With the