Oh, Captain! is a musical comedy based on the film The Captain's Paradise

The Captain's Paradise

The Captain's Paradise is a 1953 British comedy film starring Alec Guinness and directed by Anthony Kimmins. It is set in Gibraltar and northern Morocco, and on a ship that travels between them....

, which had been written by Alec Coppel

Alec Coppel

Alec Coppel was an Australian born screenwriter, novelist and playwright. He spent the majority of his career in London and Hollywood, specialising in light thrillers, mysteries and sex comedies...

 and Nicholas Phipps

Nicholas Phipps

Nicholas Phipps was a British actor and screenwriter who appeared in more than thirty films during a career that lasted between 1938 and 1970. He was born in London in 1913. He made his screen debut in the 1938 television film Hands Across the Sea. He appeared mainly in British comedy films, often...

. The film starred Alec Guinness

Alec Guinness

Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...

 as a philandering ship's captain, with a wife in one port and a mistress in another. The musical starred Tony Randall

Tony Randall

Tony Randall was a U.S. actor, comic, producer and director.-Early years:Randall was born Arthur Leonard Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Julia and Mogscha Rosenberg, an art and antiques dealer...

, and updated the film's Gibraltar and Algiers setting to London and Paris. The score was by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, with direction by José Ferrer

José Ferrer

José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón , best known as José Ferrer, was a Puerto Rican actor, as well as a theater and film director...

. 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

Alexandra Danilova

Aleksandra Dionisyevna Danilova was a Russian-born prima ballerina who became an American citizen....

 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

Abbe Lane

-Biography:Born Abigail Francine Lassman in a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York, Lane began her career as a child actress on radio, and from there she progressed to singing and dancing on Broadway....

, Susan Johnson, Jacquelyn McKeever, Edward Platt

Edward Platt

Edward Cuthbert Platt was an American actor best known for his portrayal of "The Chief" in the 1965-70 NBC/CBS television series Get Smart...

, 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

Eileen Rodgers

Eileen Rodgers was an American singer and Broadway performer.-Career:Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1930, she began her career as a nightclub performer, later singing as lead vocalist with Charlie Spivak's orchestra...

. Lane did record two of her numbers on one of her subsequent solo albums.

The Stanford production starred Laurence Guittard

Laurence Guittard

Laurence Guittard is an actor and singer, mostly appearing on the Broadway stage. He made his Broadway debut in Baker Street in 1965. Notable appearances include Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm in Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, Curly in the 1979 revival of Oklahoma!, and as Don Quixote in...

.

Songs

Act I

• A Very Proper Town - Captain Henry St. James and the Company
• Life Does a Man a Favor (When It Gives Him Simple Joys) - Mrs. Maud St. James and Captain Henry St. James
• A Very Proper Week - The English Townspeople
• Life Does a Man a Favor (When It Leads Him Down to the Sea) - Captain Henry St. James, Enrico Manzoni and the Crew
• Captain Henry St. James - The Crew of the S.S. Paradise
• The Dock Dance - The Dockworkers
• Three Paradises - Captain Henry St. James
• Surprise - Mrs. Maud St. James and the Neighbors
• Life Does a Man a Favor (When It Puts Him in Paree) - Captain Henry St. James
• Hey Madame - Captain Henry St. James and Lisa
• Femininity - Bobo
• It's Never Quite the Same - Enrico Manzoni and the Crew
• It's Never Quite the Same (Reprise) - Mrs. Maud St. James, Enrico Manzoni and the Crew
• We're Not Children - Mrs. Maud St. James and the Spaniard
• Give It All You Got - Mae and the Tourists
• Love Is Hell - Mae and the Ladies of the Ensemble
• Keep It Simple - Bobo and Her Dancing Companions

Act II

• The Morning Music of Montmartre - Mae and the People of Montmartre
• You Don't Know Him - Bobo and Mrs. Maud St. James
• I've Been There and I'm Back - Enrico Manzoni and Captain Henry St. James
• Double Standard - Bobo and Mrs. Maud St. James
• All the Time - Captain Henry St. James
• You're So Right for Me - Enrico Manzoni and Bobo
• All the Time (Reprise) - Mrs. Maud St. James
• Finale - The Entire Company

Awards and nominations

• 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...
  
   nominations
• Tony Award for Best Musical
  Tony Award for Best Musical
  This is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Musical, first awarded in 1949. This award is presented to the producers of the musical.-1940s:* 1949: Kiss Me, Kate – Music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Samuel and Bella Spewack...
  
   - Book by Al Morgan
  Al Morgan
  Al Morgan was an American producer of The Today Show during the 1960s, was a novelist best known for his trenchant look at media personalities, The Great Man , which reviewers compared to The Hucksters and Citizen Kane...
  
  , José Ferrer; Music by Ray Evans; Lyrics by Jay Livingston, Ray Evans; Music by Jay Livingston; Produced by Howard Merrill, Theatre Corporation of America
• Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical - Tony Randall
• Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical - Susan Johnson, Jacquelyn McKeever
• Tony Award for Best Scenic Design - Jo Mielziner
• Tony Award for Best Costume Design
  Tony Award for Best Costume Design
  These are the winners and nominees for the Tony Award for Best Costume Design. The award was first presented in 1947 and included both plays and musicals...
  
   - Miles White

• Theatre World Award
  Theatre World Award
  The Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or off-Broadway.-History:...
  
  
• Jacquelyn McKeever (WINNER)