Broadway's DAMES AT SEA Begins Previews Tonight at the Helen Hayes Theatre

DAMES AT SEA sets sail at Broadway's Helen Hayes Theatre (240 West 44 Street), beginning performances tonight, September 24, 2015, with an opening night of Thursday, October 22, 2015.

DAMES AT SEA will star John Bolton as The Captain/Hennesey, Mara Davi as Joan, Danny Gardner as Lucky, Eloise Kropp as Ruby, Laurence Olivier Award winner Lesli Margherita as Mona Kent, and Cary Tedder as Dick. The original 1968 production of Dames at Sea launched the career of the young ingénue playing Ruby, Bernadette Peters. The Dames at Sea company includes Tessa Grady, Kristie Kerwin, Ian Knauer and Kevin Worley.

With a book and lyrics by George Haimsohn and Robin Miller, music by Jim Wise, orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick, 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).

DAMES AT SEA is a tap-happy gem of a show that celebrates the golden era of movie musicals with dazzling dances, spectacular songs and delightful dames! 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, Dames at Sea 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) and Jason Kantrowitz, sound design by Tony Award winner Scott Lehrer (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 Off-Broadway 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. 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.