Watch Your Step is a musical

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

 with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin

Irving Berlin

Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...

 and a book by Harry B. Smith

Harry B. Smith

Harry Bache Smith was a writer, lyricist and composer. The most prolific of all American stage writers, he is said to have written over 300 librettos and more than 6000 lyrics. Some of his best-known works were librettos for the composer Victor Herbert...

. It was Irving Berlin's debut musical. "Play a Simple Melody

Play a Simple Melody

"Play a Simple Melody" is a song from the 1914 musical, Watch Your Step, words and music by Irving Berlin. The show was the first stage musical that Berlin wrote. It ran for 175 performances New Amsterdam Theater in New York City...

" and "They Always Follow Me Around" as well as "When I Discovered You" and "The Syncopated Walk" were introduced by this musical.

Productions

The original Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 production, produced by Charles Dillingham, opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre

New Amsterdam Theatre

The New Amsterdam Theatre is a Broadway theater located at 214 West 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in the Theatre District of Manhattan, New York City, off of Times Square...

 on December 8, 1914. It ran for 175 performances and featured in the cast Vernon and Irene Castle

Vernon and Irene Castle

Vernon and Irene Castle were a husband-and-wife team of ballroom dancers of the early 20th century. They are credited with invigorating the popularity of modern dancing. Vernon Castle was born William Vernon Blyth in Norwich, Norfolk, England...

, Frank Tinney, Elizabeth Murray, Harry Kelly and Justine Johnstone

Justine Johnstone

Justine Johnstone was an American stage and silent screen actress who retired to become a pathologist and expert on syphilis. She also was part of the team that developed the modern intravenous drip technique....

.