The York will be showcasing a new version of the 1957 hit musical Jamaica, which was written by Harold Arlen, E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, and Fred Saidy. The original collaborators had previously worked on Bloomer Girl, which was a big hit, as well as contributing to three revues and the Wizard of Oz movie. After Bloomer Girl, Harburg and Saidy had success with Finian's Rainbow, but not with Flahooley. Arlen had highly respected music for two shows that flopped. The original plan was to write a show called Pigeon Island, which dealt with a young fisherman named Koli and his girlfriend Savannah who dreams of living in New York. Koli is hesitant to dive for pearls for a man named Joe Nashua, who arrives from Harlem and threatens to win Savannah's heart. Eventually, everyone becomes pearl happy and the atomic bomb drops.