Sail Away (by Noël Coward) is carbon-copy Coward. All it needs is a carbon-copy audience from the dated musical comedies of the '20s and '30s. Sample dialogue: Englishman, in tweeds and monocle: "I've just found a cockroach in my bath." Steward: "I trust it was a British cockroach, sir."
Still, at times, a gallant Broadway cast has a ball among the mothballs. In the role of Mimi Paragon, social director of the S.S. Coronia, Star Elaine Stritch performs comic labors in herding a party of U.S. hicks, stuffy Britons, lushes, lady authors, child horrors and pet dogs (including one named Adlai) through...