Beck Hokanson (Dick), Joe Bushell (Hennessy), Peter Kattner II (Lucky) and Elizabeth Bushell (Joan) in “Dames at Sea” at Citadel Theatre. (Photos by North Shore Camera Club.)
Highly recommend
Sometimes a show from the past that is not performed much now, is just what we need as a break from the usual holiday fare. Such is “Dames at Sea” a 1966 musical with book and lyrics by George Haimsohn and music by Jim Wise now on stage at Citadel Theatre.
Think of it as a spoof on the over-the-top 1930’s large dance movie productions of Busby Berkely and you will understand what may at first seem as over-emoting by some of the cast.
Also a spoof on “42nd Street,” it is filled with superb tap dancing and fine voices as it follows Ruby, (Melody Rowland) who comes to New York from Utah to, hopefully, star on Broadway.
She is accepted by producer/director Joe Bushell (Hennessy) because one of his chorus girls has just left.
Her just met boyfriend, Beck Hokanson (Dick) a sailor and songwriter is off a battleship in the harbor with sailor Peter Kattner II (Lucky).
To complicate relationships Lucky had met and likes Elizabeth Bushell (Joan) plus the production’s main star, Mona (Ciara Jarvis) really likes Dick’s songs and makes Ruby jealous.
The first half takes place in a tumbling down off Broadway theater that is going to be repurposed. When the roof literally caves in on everyone, the sailors decide they should move the production to the ship. Thus we literally have “Dames at Sea.”
Coincidences keep happening. When Mona gets seasick, Ruby does step in to the starring role.
What is amazing about this show is how choreographer/director Gregg Denhardt has fit the action, including the whole chorus line, onto Citadel’s tiny stage.
I even liked Dick’s funny attempts to keep a kicking girl’s leg out of his face when he “played” one of his songs on the upright piano in the corner.
The funny things is that when the show opened in 1966 in a Greenwich Village coffee house’s performance space, it starred the then, mostly unknown, Bernadette Peters as Ruby because the original star left. The show stayed there for 148 performances.
Peters went on to do regional performances in the 1970s including one at the Academy Playhouse in Lake Forest.
The show did eventually, officially open on Broadway, October 22, 2015 at the Helen Hayes Theatre.
Melody Rowland (Ruby) with soon to be boyfriend Beck Hokanson (Dick),
DETAILS: “Dames at Sea” is at Citadel Theatre at 300 S. Waukegan Road, Lake Forest, now through December 15, 2024. Running time: 90 minutes with a brief intermission. For tickets call 847-735-8554 or visit www.citadeltheatre.org.
Jodie Jacobs
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