The weather is scorching, the news is bad, and there’s nothing “must-see” to watch on TV. Sounds like it’s time to slip into the theater for a light, winsome musical comedy—something like Florida Studio Theatre’s production of Dames at Sea.

This easy-to-like show, spoofing those 1930s dance musicals with stars like Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell (especially 42^nd Street), hasn’t been seen locally for quite a while, and it’s just the kind of escapist pleasure those of us marooned here for the summer can use.  In this piece, composer Jim Wise and book and lyric writers George Haimsohn and Robin Miller set out, nearly 60 years ago, to affectionately poke fun at the trope of the naïve small-town girl headed to Broadway stardom with nothing but a song in her heart and tap shoes in her suitcase. That they summoned up nostalgia for those big Busby Berkeley extravaganzas with only six actors, a small band and fairly minimal set dressing makes for a great deal of the fun.

Here you have all the familiar characters of the genre: that up-and-coming dancer, Ruby (Emily Ann Brooks); the sailor-songwriter, Dick (Devin Johnson), she immediately falls for (and into, when she faints of hunger); the wise-cracking chorus girl, Joan (Kelsey Stalter), and her off-and-on heartthrob, Lucky (Larry Toyter); the demanding diva, Mona (Jenna Coker-Jones); and the desperate show runner Hennessey (Joel Newsome), facing the destruction of his theater building just before the opening night. Since the show must, of course, go on, what better venue to replace it with than the Navy ship docked nearby, where the captain (Newsome again) happens to be an old flame of Mona’s?

That’s all that’s needed, plotwise, for this 90-minute (plus intermission) entertainment. Throw in a dozen or so songs, ranging from a torch tune sendup (“That Mister Man of Mine”) to love ballads (“It’s You”) to a star turn number aboard ship (“Star Tar”), and a lot of talented tapping, and you’ve got yourself a show.

The cast, well choreographed and directed by Ben Liebert, has the right attitude to pull things off here, whether it’s Coker-Jones launching herself atop a piano before then launching into song, Stalter and Toyter gamely taking off for a “Choo-Choo Honeymoon” or a wistful Brooks pining for her sailor with “Raining in My Heart,” surrounded by yellow umbrellas. And they make all the dancing look easy, even though you know it’s not.

Costumes by K. April Soroko, lighting by Andrew Gray and an easily transformable set design by Isabel A. and Moriah-Curley Clay make Dames at Sea fun to watch, too. And that three-member band, led by music director David Caldwell, delivers with panache.

Can Dames at Sea cure the world’s troubles? No, any more than those old movie musicals could end the Depression. But it might make you forget them for a couple of hours.

Right now, the show is set to run through June 29 at the Gompertz Theatre, but chances are good there’ll be an extension. Call the box office at (941) 366-9000 or visit floridastudiotheatre.org.