His sister Nellie, recently released from a mental asylum, tells Miss Jane, their step-mother, that Floyd has been stuck before and she shouldn't be worried (Lucky).

William Burke "Skeets" Miller, a small man who works for the Louisville Courier, is able to squeeze through and visit with Floyd, interviewing him for his paper.

The story gets picked up by the national news and is broadcast on radios across the country telling about a man trapped in a cave in Kentucky (I Landed on Him).

Floyd's father Lee Collins is distressed about his son's situation and Miss Jane tells him she married into the family and considers his kids as hers and they will get through this together (Heart an Hand).

Looking for inspiration, Landau proposed to Guettel a musical about Floyd Collins after reading about the story in a Reader's Digest issue.

After a series of research, small readings and workshops, the completed piece premiered at the American Music Theater Festival, in Philadelphia, in 1994 with Mary Beth Peil as Miss Jane.

The show made its London and European debut at the Bridewell Theatre in July 1999, with Nigel Richards as Floyd, Anna Francolini as Nellie and Craig Purnell as Homer.

[4] The production was directed by Derek Bond, with Glenn Carter as Floyd, Robyn North as Nellie, Gareth Chart as Homer and Ryan Sampson as Skeets.

[7] The production was directed by Peter Marston Sullivan, with Jim DeSelm as Floyd, Jon Harrison as Homer, and Sarah Bockel as Nellie.

Jordan will star alongside Jason Gotay, Sean Allan Krill, Marc Kudisch, Lizzy McAlpine, Wade McCollum, Jessica Molaskey, Cole Vaughan and Taylor Trensch.

John Simon, writing for New York Magazine, proclaimed that Floyd Collins was "the original and daring musical of our day."

He also wrote that "Floyd Collins reestablishes America's sovereignty in a genre it created, but has since lost hold of: it is the modern musical's true and exhilarating ace in the hole.

"[20] Reviewing a 2016 production, Terry Teachout, writing for the Wall Street Journal, called it "the finest work of American musical theater, not excluding opera, to come along since Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd".

[21] Ben Brantley, in his review for The New York Times, wrote, "Mr. Guettel establishes himself as a young composer of strength and sophistication.