Making a splash with its Broadway debut on November 30, 1955, Pipe Dream played its premiere performance at the Shubert Theatre to an audience ready to experience Rodgers & Hammerstein’s latest creation. Based on Steinbeck’s novel Sweet Thursday, a follow-up with the characters of his previously known book Cannery Row, Pipe Dream transported audiences to the world of postwar Monterey, California. With a cast led by William Johnson, Judy Tyler, Mike Kellin and Helen Traubel, Pipe Dream played 246 performances, closing on June 30, 1956.