Based on the original book and concept of the same name by Peter Stone, the musical is a send-up of backstage murder mystery plots. Set in 1959 Boston, Massachusetts, it follows the fallout when Jessica Cranshaw, the supremely untalented star of Robbin' Hood of the Old West is murdered during her opening night curtain call. It is up to Lt. Frank Cioffi, a police detective who moonlights as a musical theatre fan, to save the show, solve the case, and maybe even find love before the show reopens, without getting killed himself. Cioffi also dreams of being in musical theatre.