Oh, Captain!

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oh, Captain! was a Broadway musical comedy based on the film The Captain's Paradise. The film starred Alec Guinness as a philandering ship's captain, with a wife in one port and a mistress in another. The musical starred Tony Randall, and updated the film's Algiers setting to Paris. The score was by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, with direction by José Ferrer. The production was dismissed by the critics as a "tired businessman's show", but the cast and choreography were much praised. The highlight of the show was an extended dance sequence between Randall and prima ballerina Alexandra Danilova that has been referred to by musical theatre historians as perhaps the best number ever staged in a post-war musical.

The original cast included Abbe Lane, Susan Johnson, Jacquelyn McKeever, Edward Platt, Paul Valentine, and Stanley Carlson. Abbe Lane was under contract to a rival studio, which refused to allow her to record the original cast album. Her songs were recorded by Eileen Rodgers. Lane did record two of her numbers on one of her subsequent solo albums.