Mister Roberts is a 1948 play based on the 1946 Thomas Heggen

Thomas Heggen

Thomas Heggen was an American author best known for his 1946 novel Mister Roberts and its adaptations to stage and screen.-Navy service:...

 novel of the same name.

The novel began as a collection of short stories about Heggen's experiences aboard the USS Virgo (AKA-20)

USS Virgo (AKA-20)

USS Virgo was an Andromeda class attack cargo ship of the United States Navy, named after the constellation Virgo. She was later converted to an ammunition ship and redesignated as '...

 in the South Pacific

Oceania

Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...

 during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Broadway producer Leland Hayward

Leland Hayward

Leland Hayward was a Hollywood and Broadway agent and theatrical producer. He produced the original Broadway stage productions of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific and The Sound of Music.-Early years:...

 acquired the rights for the play and hired Heggen and Joshua Logan

Joshua Logan

Joshua Lockwood Logan III was an American stage and film director and writer.-Early years:Logan was born in Texarkana, Texas, the son of Susan and Joshua Lockwood Logan. When he was three years old his father committed suicide...

 for the adaptation.

Mister Roberts opened on Broadway

Broadway (New York City)

Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...

 at the Alvin Theatre

Neil Simon Theatre

The Neil Simon Theatre, formerly the Alvin Theatre, is a Broadway venue built in 1927 and located at 250 West 52nd Street in midtown-Manhattan....

 on February 18, 1948, starring Henry Fonda

Henry Fonda

Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...

, David Wayne

David Wayne

David Wayne was an American actor with a career spanning nearly 50 years.-Early life and career:...

, Robert Keith and Jocelyn Brando

Jocelyn Brando

Jocelyn Brando was an American film, stage and television actress.Her film debut came in the war movie China Venture with Edmond O'Brien and Barry Sullivan. Her best-known movie role was as detective Glenn Ford's doomed wife in the gangster film noir The Big Heat...

 who replaced Eva Marie Saint

Eva Marie Saint

Eva Marie Saint is an American actress who has starred in films, on Broadway, and on television in a career spanning seven decades. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the drama film On the Waterfront , and later starred in the thriller film North by...

 before the show opened. Logan's brother-in-law, William Harrigan

William Harrigan

William Harrigan was an American actor who played standard roles in Hollywood during the thirties and forties.-Filmography:*On the Level *Cabaret *Nix on Dames *Born Reckless...

, played the Captain. The original production also featured Harvey Lembeck

Harvey Lembeck

Harvey Lembeck was an American comedic actor best remembered for his role as Cpl. Rocco Barbella on The Phil Silvers Show in the late 1950s, and as the stumbling, overconfident outlaw biker Eric Von Zipper in the beach party movie series during the 1960s...

, Ralph Meeker

Ralph Meeker

Ralph Meeker was an American stage and film actor best-known for starring in the 1953 Broadway production of Picnic, and in the 1955 film noir cult classic Kiss Me Deadly.-Career:...

, Steven Hill

Steven Hill

Steven Hill is an American film and television actor. His two better-known roles are District Attorney Adam Schiff on the NBC TV drama series Law & Order, whom he portrayed for ten seasons , and Dan Briggs, the original team leader of the Impossible Missions Force on CBS's television series...

, Lee Van Cleef

Lee Van Cleef

Lee Van Cleef was an American film actor who appeared mostly in Western and action pictures. His sharp features and piercing eyes led to his being cast as a villain in scores of films such as High Noon, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and The Good The Bad and the Ugly.-Early life:Van Cleef was...

 and Murray Hamilton

Murray Hamilton

Murray Hamilton was an American stage, screen, and television actor who appeared in such memorable films as The Hustler, The Graduate and Jaws.-Early life:...

. Fonda got out of a Hollywood film contract in order to star in the Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 stage production, and won the Tony Award

Tony Award

The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

 for Best Actor in a Play. The production ran for 1,157 performances.

Tyrone Power

Tyrone Power

Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr. , usually credited as Tyrone Power and known sometimes as Ty Power, was an American film and stage actor who appeared in dozens of films from the 1930s to the 1950s, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads such as in The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan,...

 starred in the London company. John Forsythe

John Forsythe

John Forsythe was an American stage, television and film actor. Forsythe starred in three television series, spanning four decades and three genres: as single playboy father Bentley Gregg in the sitcom Bachelor Father ; as the unseen millionaire Charles Townsend on the crime drama Charlie's...

 appeared in a national touring production. Many actors began their career in various productions and touring companies. Fess Parker

Fess Parker

Fess Elisha Parker, Jr. was an American film and television actor best known for his portrayals of Davy Crockett in the Walt Disney 1955-56 TV mini-series and as TV's Daniel Boone from 1964-70...

began his show business career in the play, in 1951.

Joshua Logan's account of his collaboration with Thomas Heggen in the writing of the play is in Logan's autobiography, Josh: My Up and Down, In and Out Life.