Annapolis’ Infinity Theatre Company (Anna Roberts Ostroff & Alan Ostroff) and Perry Street Theatricals (Martin Platt & David Elliott) are proud to announce that the first Broadway production of DAMES AT SEA will set sail at Broadway’s Helen Hayes Theatre (240 West 44 Street), beginning performances Thursday, September 24, 2015, with an opening night of Thursday, October 22, 2015.
With a book and lyrics by George Haimsohn and Robin Miller, music by Jim Wise, and music supervision and vocal & dance arrangements by Emmy Award winner Rob Berman (Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, Finian’s Rainbow), Dames at Sea will be directed and choreographed by three time Tony Award nominee Randy Skinner (42nd Street, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas).
Tickets for Dames at Sea will be available Monday, June 15, 2015, for Audience Rewards members who get first exclusive access to tickets through Sunday, June 21, 2015, via www.AudienceRewards.com.Single tickets go on-sale to the general public beginning Monday, June 22, 2015, through www.Telecharge.com at (212-239-6200). For groups of 10 or more visit www.Telecharge.com/groups at (800-432-7780).
Casting for Dames at Sea will be announced shortly.
“This is a triple-threat American musical comedy with a funny, witty book and a wonderfully tuneful score. It’s the first time in New York that Dames at Sea will be heard with an orchestra, and the show will have more dancing than ever before with all new dance and vocal arrangements by Rob Berman,” said
Director/Choreographer Randy Skinner, “and the Helen Hayes Theatre is the perfect fit for our show.”
“Randy’s vision for this first ever Broadway production of Dames at Sea remains true to the original concept of the show, but will raise the bar much higher for our cast and creative team,” said Producer Anna Roberts
Ostroff. “We are excited to share this beloved musical with Broadway audiences where they can leave their troubles at the door and escape into a world of tap dance, and laughter.”
Directed and choreographed by the three-time Tony Award-nominated Choreographer Randy Skinner, Dames at Sea is a tap-happy gem of a show that celebrates the golden era of movie musicals with dazzling dames and
a heart as big as the ocean! Ruby steps off a bus in Manhattan, and into her first Broadway show, but hours before the opening night curtain is to rise, the cast learns their theater is being demolished, so it is “all hands on deck” to find a stage to put on the show. Featuring rollicking tap dancing, love at first sight, joyful music and a boatload of laughs, this glittering musical extravaganza has everything you need to sweep your glooms away.
Dames at Sea will feature scenic design by three-time Tony Award nominee Anna Louizos (In The Heights, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella), costume design by two-time Tony Award nominee David C. Woolard West Side Story, The Rocky Horror Show), lighting design by Tony Award winner Ken Billington (Chicago, Act One), sound design by Tony Award winner (South Pacific, The King & I), and casting by Binder Casting.
One of the most unique musicals ever created, the original production of Dames at Sea pulled off the feat of creating a magnificent musical experience with a tight, multi-talented cast of six.
Dames at Sea opened OffBroadway at the Bouwerie Lane Theatre on December 20, 1968, and became an immediate smash hit and quickly transferred to the Theater de Lys on April 22, 1969, were it went on to run for 575 performances. The Theater de Lys, now called the Lucille Lortel Theatre, has the same basic stage dimensions as Broadway’s Helen Hayes Theatre. The production starred a young ingénue named Bernadette Peters as Ruby, launching the career of one of Broadway’s greatest stars. DAMES AT SEA successfully crossed the Atlantic twice to play the West End’s Duchess Theatre in 1969 and again in 1989 to play the West End’s Haymarket Theatre.
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For more information visit:
www.DamesAtSeaBroadway.com
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BIOGRAPHIES
GEORGE HAIMSOHN (Book & Lyrics) was born in St. Louis and served in the Navy in World War II. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, where he had his first poetry published in the student literary journal. Mr. Haimsohn’s theater credits include the musicals Dames At Sea; Now, Zing! and Johnny American. He was also a professional photographer known as Plato in the early years of physique photography and passed away in 2002 at the age of 77.
ROBIN MILLER (Book & Lyrics) began his career as a journalist in New York just after World War II. He also wrote scripts, including a screenplay for The Canterville Ghost. Subsequently, he joined forces with George Haimsohn and Jim Wise to create Dames At Sea. He also wrote the book and lyrics for a musical version of Vanity Fair, and collaborated on Peg and Radio Times, both of which were produced in London. He passed away in 2010, aged 82.
JIM WISE (Music) wrote the musicals Dames At Sea, Yankee Ingenuity and the children’s musical Olaf. Mr. Wisefounded the Allardice-Wise Scholarship at Wooster College where he received a degree in Classical Languages in 1941. During his lifetime, Wise sat in on the auditions and helped pick the scholars. The scholarship continues to be awarded, on the basis of a competitive audition to a senior Theatre major. Mr. Wise passed away in 2000, at age 81.
RANDY SKINNER (Director/Choreographer) was choreographer for Broadway’s 2008 and 20009 Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, earning him his third Tony and second Drama Desk nominations. He received Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics and Astaire award nominations for his choreography of the 2001 revival of 42nd Street. He also earned Tony and Outer Critics nominations for Ain’t Broadway Grand, and an Outer Critics nomination for State Fair, which he also co-directed. His other Broadway credits include After the Night and the Music for
Manhattan Theatre Club. For the West End, he choreographed Lend Me A Tenor, The Musical.
Mr. Skinner has choreographed five City Center Encores! productions: Do Re Mi, Of Thee I Sing, Face the Music, No, No, Nanette and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. He earned a Lucille Lortel nomination for Off-Broadway’s Lone Star Love. In 2001, he choreographed the opening number for the Tony Awards. In Los Angeles, Mr. Skinner has choreographed Hello, Dolly! with Nell Carter, Pal Joey with Dixie Carter and Elaine Stritch, Strike Up the Band with Tom Bosley, and Garry Marshall’s Happy Days. His other regional credits include Broadway: Three Generations at The Kennedy Center, Stormy Weather starring Leslie Uggams at the Pasadena Playhouse, The Gershwins’ An American in Paris
at the Alley Theatre in Houston, and George M, Lucky In The Rain and Babes In Arms at Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut. He has received the L.A. Drama Critics, L.A. Dramalogue, Bay Area Critics, Connecticut Critics and Cleveland Times Theatre awards.
ROB BERMAN (Music Supervisor, Vocal & Dance Arrangements) is an Emmy Award winning New York based conductor and music director. He is the music director of Encores!, and in eight seasons there, he has conducted twenty productions. For nine years, Rob has been music director of the Kennedy Center Honors, for which he won the 2012 Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction. Rob’s many Broadway credits as a conductor
include Irving Berlin’s White Christmas; and revivals of Wonderful Town, The Pajama Game, Finian’s Rainbow, The Apple Tree, and Promises, Promises. He was music director of A Broadway Celebration: In Performance at the White House, which aired on PBS. Rob has conducted eleven original cast recordings, including the Encores! productions of Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along and Jule Styne’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. He was music director for Bright Star by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell at the Old Globe Theater, and also for Tuck Everlasting at the Alliance Theater.
INFINITY THEATRE COMPANY (Producer) is run by Anna Roberts Ostroff and Alan Ostroff, a Tony Award winning husband and wife team who co-produced the Broadway revival of Pippin. Their producing career began with the NYC Fringe Festival’s 2006 presentation of Tradition, written by Alan, which was one of the highest-grossing shows in that year’s festival. This was followed by many NYC benefits, starring such performers as Aaron Lazar and Alexander Gemignani, and Theatre for Young Audience tours, including PigPen Theatre Co.’s The Mountain Song – exclusively for the non-profit Arts For All, of which Anna is the Founder and Executive Director.
Anna and Alan have associate produced two Cardinal Theatricals shows in Minneapolis, MN – the hit runs of Rent and The Rocky Horror Show staged at the Lab Theatre. In 2010, the couple formed Infinity Theatre Company, a regional theatre bringing
NYC talent to Annapolis, MD for a summer season of musicals, where they have since set the standard for excellence in local entertainment, producing The Fantasticks, My Way, Little Shop Of Horrors, Sisters Of Swing, Dames At Sea, Always…Patsy Cline, She Loves Me, Hank Williams: Lost Highway, I Do! I Do!, and currently, Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash, and Baby. Anna and Alan are graduates of NYU Tisch School of the Arts.
PERRY STREET THEATRICALS (Producer), is led by Martin Platt and David Elliott, the Tony Award winning co-producers of Christopher Durang’s 2013 hit comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike. In 2011 they produced the Olivier nominated Lend Me A Tenor – The Musical in London’s West End. Mr. Platt’s other West End credits include Nixon’s Nixon, A Woman In Mind, Gumboots, and Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill and the international tour of Gumboots. In New York, Platt produced Here Lies Jenny (Bebe Neuwirth/Roger Rees/Ann
Reinking), and additionally, Mr. Platt was also founding Artistic Director of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. He has directed theatre and opera extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe. Mr. Elliott produced the multiaward winning production, The Exonerated. As Perry Street Theatricals, productions include: Treason, Shylock, an oak tree (Obie Award Winner), and In The Continuum (Obie Award Winner). Perry Street Theatricals is currently developing the new musical by Adam Overett, My Life Is A Musical.
LINKS
Director and Choreographer Randy Skinner on Directing ‘Dames at Sea’ at Infinity Theatre Company by Joel Markowitz on DCMetroTheaterArts.
Review of Dames at Sea at Infinity Theatre on DCMetroTheaterArts.
Alan Ostroff on Investing in ‘Pippin,’ the Tonys, and Infinity Theatre Company’s New Season by Joel Markowitz on DCMetroTheaterArts.
Infinity Theatre website.
https://youtu.be/COe19c9UzDY
