By the Beautiful Sea (music & lyrics by Arthur Schwartz and Dorothy Fields; book by Dorothy and Herbert Fields) is a cheerful spot, at least till the tide starts running out. A lavish musical about early-in-the-century Coney Island, it has a bright and diverting first act, and it has Shirley Booth all the way. Shirley Booth may not be to musicomedy what Ethel Merman or Mary Martin is, but she is one of the wonders of show business. Her personal warmth almost seems to constitute (or render superfluous) a style of acting: her Lottie Gibson seems a triumph of little more...
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