One part sultry, one part girl next door, Carol J. Bufford was singing her first song—the show’s title number—as she entered 54 Below from the back of the packed house.
Marvin Hamlisch had had two huge successes on Broadway before he partnered with Howard Ashman (after the death of the original lyricists Carolyn Leigh) to turn the 1975 film Smile, about a California beauty contest, into a musical.