It starts with an art-deco-ish black-and-white movie that gives us the credits of the show we’re about to see. Little flecks suggest that the print is well-worn and distressed.

But this can’t be a vintage film, given the names it displays. Everyone in it is very much alive and – happily enough – all are working on Broadway.

And aren’t we glad they are? For soon the silver screen departs and six marvelous entertainers bring us into a wonderful world of color. Here’s the live-on- stage beautiful, luscious, lovely Dames at Sea.

So why start with the film? It’s a way of reminding theatergoers that Dames at Sea takes its inspiration from such black-and-white ‘30s musical movies as 42nd Street, Footlight Parade or – need we add? – Dames.

Some 2015 Broadway observers have stated that today’s theatergoers don’t know these films and therefore won’t understand what bookwriters- lyricists George Haimsohn and Robin Miller and composer Jim Wise’s were lovingly spoofing when they wrote the show in the late ’60s.

Such knowledge doesn’t matter. When I caught Dames at Sea in a 1970 summer stock production, I hadn’t yet seen any of those films. Even without knowing them (or catching on that characters Ruby and Dick respectively meant Keeler and Powell), I had a helluva time.

So even the youngest of theatergoers will pick up that this is a valentine to yesteryear without having experienced those years. They’ll get that the musical’s creators were gently mocking the entertainments of yore while also stressing how much they ardently missed them.

Dames at Sea has traveled a long way since its days as a coffee house entertainment and then a 1968 off- Broadway hit. Now it gets Broadway-level production values. That should please the show’s fictional Broadway star Mona Kent, who says she wants it “big in color and twinkling.”

Hold on there: Mona is actually using those words to describe the sign she demands to trumpet her stardom. “The Amazon Queen,” as she’s not-so- fondly nicknamed, isn’t very nice to Ruby, a Broadway wannabe who’s just arrived from (of all places!) Utah. You’d think that Mona’s heart would melt just from seeing the poor lass in in a five-and- dime dress that looks as if it cost fifteen cents.

Not a chance.

But Dick, a sailor who dabbles in songwriting, is quite nice to Ruby, thanks to that time-honored musical comedy convention called Love at First Sight. Mona decides to come between them and has no doubt she can. Who can turn Dick’s songs into hits and who cannot?

So we want Mona taken down a peg – and will see her taken down a leg, which means an understudy will have to be found. Now can Ruby go out a youngster and come back a star? (Well, what do you think? Here’s a show that could just as easily be called Sunshine Boulevard.)

Although Dames at Sea was conceived as a retro entertainment, in one way it inadvertently turned out to be ahead of its time: it has very short book scenes the way today’s musicals do. We need not wait very long to get to that next delightful song.

The only sour note you’ll hear is when Dick accidentally happens to hit the piano keyboard with his wayward elbow. But you’ll be glad he did, for it spurs him to sing his new composition. And wouldn’t you know that as soon as he gets past the first few words, he stands up, moves away from the piano, but the music somehow continues? Hey, if it was good enough for those ‘30s musical movies, it’s good enough here.

Wise’s melodies are so terrific that they shouldn’t just be praised as toe-tappers, but ten-toe tappers. And that’s where director Randy Skinner’s spectacular choreography comes in by way of a good (make that excellent) half-dozen numbers.

We’ve heard that the Helen Hayes Theatre where Dames now resides will soon undergo renovations.

The powers-that-be had best budget for a new stage floor, too, because the talented dancers are currently punishing it eight times a week with more rat-tat- tat-tats than Funny Girl has had performances around the world.

Memo to Skinner: make no plans for the evening of Sunday, June 5, 2016. Your presence will be required at the Tony Awards. Wear something nice, because you’re probably going to be called to the stage, and you’ll want to look good for the nationwide audience.

Skinner has been careful, smart and tasteful in he’s handling a potentially dicey situation. After all, with our hero’s name being “Dick,” the director could have ordered his cast to say the name salaciously to get cheap laughs. If any theatergoers do snigger at what they perceive to be a double entendre, they’re the ones with the dirty minds, not Skinner and his crew.

As Ruby, the wholesome-faced Eloise Kropp immediately makes you fall in love with her when she bats her eyes twice and says “Gosh! I am!” after Dick points out that she’s on Broadway. He’s portrayed by a real find — Cary Tedder – who can literally dance while standing on his head. Lesli Margherita’s Mona has the hauteur of a star who not only believes her best press clippings but probably writes and sends them to critics. She’s especially funny when she melodramatically sings “When I was blue” and suddenly hunches over in Quasimodo-reminiscent posture.

Mara Davi and Danny Gardner respectively play the tasty second bananas Joan (read: Blondell) and Lucky, who were once an item but split up too quickly. The way they cavort in “Choo Choo Honeymoon” make us see they’ll reunite before the thought occurs to them.

In Act One, John Bolton is the harried Hennessey, the director-producer of Mona’s musical. “We’ve got to move seven tons of costumes and scenery,” he moans. There isn’t all that much less on the Helen Hayes stage, for this is the most ornate production of Dames at Sea that you’ll ever see.

Events cause Hennessey to doubt that The Show Will Go On. Joan sings “Good Times Are Here to Stay,” but Hennessey’s face says otherwise. But then oh, look! Bolton’s legs and body suddenly start swaying as if they have minds of their own. We delight as his face and brain catch up.

Act Two has Bolton become the captain of the ship on which Mona’s musical will be staged. Yes, you read that right – but we won’t tell you the reason why that’s the venue. In any case, it won’t be the first Show Boat in Broadway history.

But Skinner’s production will never be confused with cruise ship entertainment. Still, his accomplished performers are only human, so after the whirlwind tap-infused number “Star Tar,” they do need to catch their breaths. Luckily, the audience’s applause is so sustained that the performers have enough time to collect themselves. Hell, with the hand-clapping lasting as long as it does, everyone would have enough time to walk offstage and down a well- deserved pint of water.

And yet, the show has even a greater miracle in store. Along the way, what’s been a spoof of cardboard characters somehow manages to effortlessly switch gears and make you genuinely care about them as Real People. In addition to all its other assets, Dames at Sea has enough heart to take over yours.