The musical was originally a short sketch,[1] based loosely on the Gold Diggers movies, written by George Haimsohn, Jim Wise, and Robin Miller.

The show opened in May 1966 as Dames at Sea, or Golddiggers Afloat at the Caffe Cino, a small coffee house/performance space in New York City's Greenwich Village, where it continued for 148 performances.

The original Caffe Cino cast featured Peters as Ruby, Joe McGuire as Frank, David Christmas as Dick, Jill Roberts as Joan, Norma Bigtree as Mona and Gary Filsinger as the Director and Captain.

[2] Retitled simply Dames at Sea, the musical re-opened at the Bouwerie Lane Theatre on December 20, 1968,[3] and transferred to the larger Theater de Lys on April 22, 1969, and closed on May 10, 1970, after a total of 575 performances.

The cast also featured Steve Elmore as the Captain, Tamara Long as Mona Kent, Joseph R. Sicari as Lucky, and Sally Stark as Joan.

[4] After Peters left the show, the role of "Ruby" was played by Loni Ackerman, Bonnie Franklin, Janie Sell, Barbara Sharma, and Pia Zadora.

[12] The show began previews on Broadway on September 24, 2015, and officially opened on October 22 at the Helen Hayes Theatre, with direction and choreography by Randy Skinner.

[13][14][15] A workshop for this production was held in January 2014 with Laura Osnes, Rachel York, Mara Davi, John Bolton, Cary Tedder, and Danny Gardner.

[16] The Broadway cast featured John Bolton as The Captain/Hennesey, Mara Davi as Joan, Danny Gardner as Lucky, Eloise Kropp as Ruby, Lesli Margherita as Mona Kent and Cary Tedder as Dick.

John Wilson in The New York Times pointed out that the music is a mixture of parody, such as the torch song "That Mister Man", pastiche ("Raining in My Heart"), and the real thing.

Tamara Long, as the slinky heavy, brandishes a flaming Morganitic torch for her Mister Man, and Sally Stark, as Ruby's peroxided pal, belts a note almost as plangent as the great Merman's.

The comic delight of the show, though, is Bernadette Peters, whose Ruby can simultaneously sing and dance up a storm that puts all New York (including Queen Mane of Rumania) at her feet.

Individually, Kathleen White as Ruby is deliciously comic, with expressions and physical comedies that recall Lucille Ball ... Chrysten Peddie as Joan has the tough dame attitude down cold.

"[30] Steven Suskin, in reviewing for the Huffington Post wrote: "The surprise, today, is that the show remains viable; this first Broadway production is impeccably staged and loaded with entertainment, and should delight its target audience ...