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This week's Notable Opening Night is June 25, 1952, when Wish You Were Here opened at the Imperial.

Somehow I've gone this long without having familiarity with Wish You Were Here. The OBC is one I still need to listen to. In lieu of informed commentary, here's the summary from the show's rightsholder, Music Theatre International:

"Unable to stop her crying spells, Teddy Stern (played on opening night by Patricia Marand) is sent by her doctor to an adult summer camp in the Catskills, Camp Karefree – 'where friendships are formed to last a whole lifetime through.' She hopes to relax enough to clear her head for her upcoming wedding but ends up becoming one of the most sought-after female prizes for the oversexed wait staff of eager college men – among them, the aggressive, womanizing Pinky Harris (Paul Valentine) and the charming law student, Chick Miller (Jack Cassidy), who eventually makes her realize that she doesn't want to be married, after all."

Arthur Kober and producer-director-sorta choreographer Joshua Logan adapted Kober's hit 1937-38 play Having Wonderful Time, which received a score by Harold Rome. Wish You Were Here was notable for having an onstage swimming pool, which meant they couldn't have an out-of-town tryout. The cast also included a lot of young or up-and-coming performers, including Marand and Cassidy, who'd reunite in 1966 for the short-lived "It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman". I might also mention Sidney Armus (replacing Ray Walston), Tom Tryon, Frank Aletter, Harry Clark, Reid Shleton (Broadway's original Daddy Warbucks), Sammy Smith (who introduced "The Company Way" in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying), eventual Tony winners Larry Blyden and Phyllis Newman, and as "The New Girl," Florence Henderson (who went on to Rome and Logan's next musical, Fanny).

Wish You Were Here was initially not a success. In fact, it was expected to close after a few weeks until a July 6, 1952, performance on Toast of the Town helped the show gain popularity. Fittingly, Eddie Fisher's recording of the title song hit No. 1 on the charts at the summer's end.

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Wish You Were Here ran for 598 performances, closing after Thanksgiving 1953. Before that, it scored two Tonys, for stage technician Abe Kurnit (his lone Broadway credit) and featured actress Sheila Bond, who played Fay. Based on her "I Am" song, Fay was apparently a more sexually liberated Ado Annie.

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Also opening on June 25:

Side Man, which opened at the Criterion Center Stage Right. Warren Leight's autobiographical play about a trumpeter who neglects his family for jazz went two for two at the Tonys. Leight won, along with Frank Wood, recognized as a featured actor for playing Gene the musican. Side Man originated off-Broadway with Wood and Edie Falco, who played Gene's wife Terry, an alcoholic. I suspect that had Edie been part of the OBC, she would have scored a Tony nomination. Over the course of its 1998-99 run, Side Man had performers including Michael O'Keefe succeeding Wood, Robert Sella, Andrew McCarthy, Christian Slater, and Scott Wolf, all as Clifford, the son and narrator, and Wendy Makkena, Edie, and Angelica Page as Terry. Wood, Falco, and Page all took the play to London, acting opposite Jason Priestley in 2000.

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Next week, a movie classic comes to the stage.