[1] The Broadway production, produced by Richard Kollmar, directed by Morton DaCosta and choreographed by Helen Tamiris, opened on January 27, 1955 at the Mark Hellinger Theater.

Able as Jacob, Gloria Marlowe as Katie, Douglas Fletcher Rodgers as Ezra, Barbara Cook as Hilda, David Daniels as Peter and the 12-year-old Scott Walker (billed as "Scotty Engel") as a young miller.

[5][6] A major summer stock production at the famed Melody Top Theatre in Milwaukee Wisconsin which starred Margaret Whiting as Ruth, TV’s Carl Betz as Dan, Joy Garret as Hilda and Ed Evanko as Peter.

It starred Cady Huffman, Charlotte Rae, Nancy Anderson, Jack Noseworthy, Erick Devine, Jordan Leeds and Sara Delaney.

While there, they become involved with the local villagers, including Hilda Miller, who mistakes Dan's kindness for romantic overtures, and Ezra's banished brother Peter, who returns to claim the hand of his childhood sweetheart, Katie.