The Goodspeed Opera House's revival of Dames at Sea, the daffy musical spoof of 1930s movie musicals, closed early on June 30.

The show, which began in East Haddam, CT, on April 5, was to have run through July 6. However, two of the six cast members gave notice, and, rather than train two new performers for the final week of shows, the Goodspeed opted to shut the production down prematurely.

Andrea Chamberlain was Ruby and Joel Carlton was Dick in Dames. Chamberlain was seen on Broadway as Ramona in Little Me and in Goodspeed's No, No, Nanette. Carlton's Off-Broadway credits include Imperfect Chemistry, Jeffrey and Most Men Are., as well as Goodspeed's No, No, Nanette.

Scott Thompson directed and choreographed the tale of a young chorus girl who becomes a star when the leading lady gets seasick (after the demolition of a theatre leads a troupe to perform on the deck of a battleship). Book and lyrics of the 1968 Off-Broadway hit (which launched the career of Bernadette Peters) are by George Haimsohn and Robin Miller, with music by Jim Wise. Goodspeed's opening night is April 26.

The principals, singing comic pastiche numbers such as "Choo Choo Honeymoon," "Raining in My Heart," "Broadway Baby" and "It's You," included Corinne Melançon (as Mona), whose Broadway credits include Kiss Me, Kate, Jekyll & Hyde and Big, and Michael Gruber (as Lucky), featured on Broadway in the original companies of Swing! and Miss Saigon. Paula Leggett Chase (playing Joan) was seen in Broadway's revivals of Kiss Me, Kate and Damn Yankees. The roles of Harry Henessey and the Captain will be played by David Engel, most recently seen on Broadway in Seussical. —By Robert Simonson
and Kenneth Jones