 Peters ' performance as " Ruby " in the 1968 Off @-@ Broadway production of Dames at Sea , a parody of 1930s musicals , brought her critical acclaim and her first Drama Desk Award . She had appeared in an earlier 1966 version of Dames at Sea at the Off @-@ Off @-@ Broadway performance club <unk> Cino . Peters had starring roles in her next Broadway vehicles — Gelsomina in La Strada ( 1969 ) and Hildy in On the Town ( 1971 ) , for which she received her first Tony Award nomination . She played Mabel Normand in Mack and Mabel ( 1974 ) , receiving another Tony nomination . Clive Barnes wrote : " With the splashy Mack & Mabel ... diminutive and contralto Bernadette Peters found herself as a major Broadway star . " Although these had short runs , Peters was singled out for praise by the critics , and the Mack and Mabel cast album became popular among musical theatre fans . She moved to Los Angeles in the early 1970s to concentrate on television and film work . 
