[3] Florodora was the first of a series of successful musicals by Stuart, including The Silver Slipper (1901), The School Girl (1903), The Belle of Mayfair (1906), and Havana (1908).

Upon opening in London on 11 November 1899 at the Lyric Theatre, the musical starred Evie Greene, Willie Edouin and Ada Reeve.

They consisted of a "sextette of tall, gorgeous damsels, clad in pink walking costumes, black picture hats and carrying frilly parasols [who] swished onto the stage and captivated New York for no other reason than they were utterly stunning.

These women were also the object of a great deal of popular adoration, and many male admirers persuaded chorines to leave show business and settle down.

"[5] Florodora's famous double sextet, "Tell me pretty maiden", became the most successful show tune of its time.

[5] Other songs ranged from traditional waltzes such as "The Silver Star of Love" and "The Fellow Who Might" to the more quirky rhythmic and long-lined dance numbers for which Stuart was known.

Among later revivals, a young Milton Berle played one of the Florodora Boys in a production mounted for the 1920–21 Broadway season.

Also aboard the ship is Anthony Tweedlepunch, a detective who is searching for the girl who rightfully owns the perfume business.

Tweedlepunch plays along, duly examining everyone's cranial bumps of love to pronounce the proper marriage couples.

Gilfain, based on the fraudulent pronouncements of Tweedlepunch, has decreed that the clerks will wed the island girls or be discharged.

Six months later, Gilfain has managed to become the owner of Abercoed Castle, Frank's ancestral home in Wales, and everyone has travelled there.

After some confusion, Frank tells Dolores that he is really Lord Abercoed and was unable to return to her in Florodora because he was trying to keep Gilfain from acquiring his ancestral home.