The cast of characters includes Confederate insurgents, prostitutes and drunks, bigoted socialites, circus performers, and some African-American kids endangered by the draft riots.

The cast included Shirley Jones and husband Jack Cassidy, who was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, and Robert Kaye as Col. John Farraday.

Critics found the basic situation of Jones and the children threatened by political unrest to be too similar to The Sound of Music,[1] albeit told in an unrelentingly darker manner.

"It is worth noting that two of the first night critics came up with the same line, calling Maggie Flynn the best Broadway musical since Her First Roman — thereby honoring a desperately lousy mishmash that opened three days earlier.

[2] During the American Civil War, Maggie Flynn, a young Irish woman living in New York City, marries Phineas, a charming scoundrel who leaves her to join the circus.