Tunick and Robert Russell Bennett, Theodore Saidenberg was musical director, musical arrangements were by J (Billy) Van Planck, and dance and incidental music was by John Berkman. The cast featured Barbara Cook as Dolly Talbo, Carol Brice as Catherine Creek, Karen Morrow as evangelist Miss Baby Love, Ruth Ford as Verena Talbo, Russ Thacker as Colin Talbo, Max Showalter as Dr. Morris Ritz, John Baragrey as Judge Cool, Kelley Boa, Trudy Bordoff, Colin Duffy, Eva Grant, and David Craig Moskin as Miss Baby Love's orphans, known as the "Heavenly Pride and Joy", Christine Stabile as Maude Riordan, and Harvey Vernon as Sheriff Amos Legrand. The musical previewed and opened during a major New York City newspaper strike preventing advertising and reviews, with no advance theater party ticket sales guarantee. Richard Barr, Charles Woodward, Michael Harvey, and Michael Kasden gave the company the option of maintaining three more weeks for the productions' performance schedule, or closing after only seven performances, using the show's banked funds to produce a Broadway cast album. The musical orchestration was recorded in Cologne, Germany, with the Cologne Symphonic Orchestra ensemble. Returning to the States, the original cast was recorded in New York City, with the Painted Smiles Grass Harp vinyl album released a year after the musical's closing date. Because of timing, one musical number was forced off the vinyl, but added when the Painted Smiles Grass Harp audio CD was released. The Grass Harp album cover art was designed by Kenward Elmslie's fine artist-painter friend Joe Brainard. Claibe Richardson's Advertising Agency Art director-designer friend Jim Pearsal designed the Chappell Music Publishing's sheet music design-cover art work. Pearsal's twisted chinaberry tree house design, the Chappell Music Publishing sheet music cover art, replaced the original Brainard vinyl record "Grass Harp" cover art work when the Painted Smiles audio CD was issued. Initially, criticism of the show's sound system caused problems, with Truman Capote declaring "mike it". The producers could not afford to "mike" each member of the ensemble. The Grass Harp production was the last musical presented on Broadway without mikes for the cast. The scenic designer had incorporated "burlap fabric" in the production's wing and border designs, causing the deadening of the performer's vocal projections. This poor choice of stage material in the set's design with the absence of microphones for each cast member, especially the children, was the one major technical problem for the producers.