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 Caffe 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.