With a book by Meredith Willson, Richard Morris & Ira Barmak, and music and lyrics by Willson, whose Unsinkable Molly Brown had been a bit hit, 1491 starred Chita as the love interest Beatriz, opposite John Cullum as Christopher Columbus. Jean Fenn played Queen Isabella in the show, which was billed as a “romantic speculation.” 1491 opened at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles on September 2, 1969. It was announced as a pre-Broadway run and boasted Broadway quality production qualities, but went no further than L.A.