The musical was adapted from Kober's 1937 play, Having Wonderful Time,[1] and revolves around a summer camp for adults.

Camp host Lou Kandel gives the newcomers, mostly women, the rundown of the place; first, he introduces the waiters, mostly college men.

Enter Teddy Stern, a young woman soon to be wed to a stuffy, older man: Herman Fabricant.

Teddy then meets Itchy Flexner, the social director who does it all: imitations, singing, dancing, and telling stories.

As she heads to her cabin, Teddy meets Pinky Harris - a dashing, womanizing fellow who takes an interest in her.

After Teddy has changed for dinner, she notices Fay flirting with Harry "Muscles" Green - the new athletic director.

The scene shifts to the locker room for the waiters listlessly wipe the water glasses and reflect on what they have to do to put themselves through school ("Bright College Days").

Kandel enters and reminds the waiters that part of their job is to entertain the ladies - all of them, not just the pretty ones - by dancing and talking with them.

Chick, a law student, is tired of being a waiter by day and gigolo by night - he wants to meet a real girl, not these eager beavers, as he calls them, at Camp Karefree.

She listens to the other girls speculate that tonight could be the night they fall in love, looks at her ring finger, and starts crying ("Could Be").

Inside the social hall, Itchy directs everyone in a get-acquainted dance ("Tripping the Light Fantastic").

When she leaves, Chick explains that he cannot get involved with Teddy - he is putting all his time and attention towards Law School.

Chick has trouble with the socializing part of his job because all of the girls he is supposed to romance want long-term contact.

Meanwhile, Pinky tells Teddy he has just ordered a new formal dress in her size that is meant to be the prize for the Miss Karefree bathing beauty contest.

Kandel is so mad at Itchy that he demotes him to Boat House Boy and puts Muscles in charge of all social events.

He proposes marriage and imagines how his friends would react to their going out together to museums and cultural events ("They Won't Know Me").

Itchy performs a rousing number that he hopes will both draw out Teddy and win Fay back ("Don Jose").

Gussie quickly laps up Chick when he finishes singing and Pinky tries to get Teddy drunk and take her back to his cabin.

By the time Itchy leaves, Teddy has emerged from the bathroom with an empty glass wearing the sexy dress she won in the beauty contest.

Itchy wants her to go over to the big camp basketball game and make Pinky, the referee, tell the truth.

He claims that he did no such thing; however, the rest of the camp is having a great time insinuating that Teddy is now a loose woman.

Directed and choreographed by Logan, uncredited show doctoring was by Jerome Robbins, with scenic and lighting design by Jo Mielziner.

The cast included Patricia Marand as Teddy Stern, Jack Cassidy as Chick Miller, Phyllis Newman as Sarah, Larry Blyden, Harry Clark as Herman Fabricant, Florence Henderson, Reid Shelton, Tom Tryon, Sheila Bond as Fay Fromkin, John Perkins as Harry "Muscles" Green, Sidney Armus (as Itchy Flexner), and Paul Valentine.

[3] The York Theatre Company Musicals in Mufti series presented their concert version of the show in January 2000.

As good word-of-mouth built an audience, some critics returned to review the show again, and it had a long run.

[9] In his book JOSH (1976), Joshua Logan recalls urging Harold Rome, after several attempts, to create a hit song.

Their new wonder featured a center-stage swimming pool and every other extravagance for which they could invent an excuse: a basketball game... a fire...and a rain storm."

In addition to rewriting the book, they brought Jerome Robbins in to "restage the dances and add a new ballet" and Rome added a new song.

[10] In 1952, the original Broadway cast performed on The Ed Sullivan Show which, at the time, was known as Toast of the Town.

Ed even had one of the show's first sets constructed to accommodate those stars: A replica of a swimming pool, with mirrors to simulate depth.