The Mermaids Singing (play)

The Mermaids Singing is a 1944 play, originally titled Home Ground, written by John Van Druten. It is a comedy with three acts, seven scenes, four settings, and 14 speaking characters. The action of the play spans six days time. The story concerns a married middle-aged playwright, overseeing the tryout of his latest work away from home, who hears a mermaid's song in the form of a lively and admiring young woman. The title comes from the 1915 poem, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot.

Alfred de Liagre Jr produced the play, which was staged by the author with settings by Raymond Sovey. The leads were Walter Abel and Beatrice Pearson, with Frieda Inescort and Lois Wilson in support. The Mermaids Singing had tryouts in New Haven and Boston during November 1945 then made its Broadway premiere later that same month, joining two other long-running Van Druten plays, The Voice of the Turtle and I Remember Mama. Sold-out theater party sales, a feature of the times, led to it being booked weeks in advance of the premiere. However, critical reception was mixed and the production closed in January 1946 after only 53 performances.