The run closed November 28, 1953
- Opened
- June 25, 1952
- Closed
- November 28, 1953
- Performances
- 598
- Previews
- —
- Theatre
- Imperial Theatre
Of the 705 productions we hold that opened in the 1950s and record a performance count, this is the 38th longest. That is a rank within what we hold, not within everything that was staged.
Who was in it69 named
John Perkins
Frank Aletter
Tom Ayre
Nancy Baker
Mardi Bayne
Joan Berke
Sue Brin
Robert Dixon
Norma Doggett
Elliott Feder
Nancy Franklin
Gus Giordano
Elaine Gordon
Denise Griffin
Bill Hogue
Ray Hyson
Joan Johnston
Leo Kayeworth
Sybil Lamb
Al Lawrence
George Lenz
Roslynd Lowe
Toni Parker
Candi Parsons
Don Paterson
Shirley Ann Prior
Inga Rode
Ray Steele
Wally Strauss
Jan Stuart
Joseph Thomas
Gloria van Deweel
Don Wayne
Beverly Weston
Steve Wiland
Rain Winslow
Leo de Lyon
Peter Kelley
Christine Matthews
Dick Bernie
Eleanor Duffy
Ruth Gilbert
Frank Green
Edmund Hall
Larry Howard
Pat Kelley
Buddy Martin
Mary Menzies
Don Peterson
George Vosburgh
Arnold Walton
Charles Wood
17 of these 69 names have a person record behind them and link to one. The other 52 are set from the identifier in the cast list, which is a slug of the name — so hyphens and full stops are lost and a few come out wrong. We hold nothing else about them. Nobody here is matched to a character: the cast list records who was in the company and not what they played.
Creative team
- Director
- Joshua Logan
- Choreographer
- Joshua Logan, Jerome Robbins, Uncredited
- Producer
- Leland Hayward & Joshua Logan
A producer is one string on this record, however many people or companies it names. Directors and choreographers are held both as text and as identifiers; where an identifier exists the name links to a page.
Tony Awards 0 from 1 nomination
| Best Musical | Nominated |
Around this production
The enormous popularity of the sultry title song—and the novelty of a featured swimming pool—carried WISH YOU WERE HERE past poor reviews to a long, successful run. Show Tunes the Songs Shows and Careers of Broadway S Suskin Steven Suskin Steven, p. 226
- Bond, Sheila Wish You Were Here, 154 Broadway Musicals Show By Show Green Stanley Green Kay 5th Ed Rev and Updated By, p. 353
- Wish You Were Here is now best remembered as the “swimming pool musical,” but it wasn’t the first to dip its toe into the Broadway pool. Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals the Dan Dietz, p. 271
- Wish You Were Here ’s audiences went home whistling more than the scenery; Harold Rome’s infectious title song, an insinuating bolero, became one of the most popular show tunes of the era. Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals the Dan Dietz, p. 272
- Another sketch (which included songs) was an elaborate first-act finale spoof titled “Hope You Come Back,” which managed to combine, and slaughter, two recent Broadway hits directed by Joshua Logan, the 1952 musical Wish You Were Here and the play Picnic , which had opened in early 1953. Complete Book of 1950s Broadway Musicals the Dan Dietz, p. 359
- Wish You Were Here, a fair musical version of Arthur Kober's delightful play Having Wonderful Time, opened and managed to run for 598 performances, mainly because Eddie Fisher (who was not in the show) recorded the title song and it became a Hit Parade favorite. At This Theatre 100 Years of Broadway Shows Stories and Botto Louis Viagas Rober, p. 180
Passages naming this production, found by keyword across 178 books. Where it turns up in the literature, not curated notes about it.
What this page does not know
- No photograph of this staging. 48 of 13,459 productions hold one.
- No character names. We can say who was in the company and not who they played.
- No recording is held for Wish You Were Here at all.
- Reviews, box office, running order, understudies and designers: none of it is held for any production.