Anna, a former streetwalker recovering from tuberculosis, returns home to live with her aging father, ex-sailor Chris Christopherson, in turn-of-the-20th century New York City after plying her trade in St. Paul, Minnesota for 15 years.

Choreographer Bob Fosse was eager to showcase the talents of star Gwen Verdon, for whom the show had been fashioned, but the material didn't lend itself to big song-and-dance routines.

During rehearsals he devised a second act dream sequence that depicted life in a brothel through seductive and suggestive movement, and during its tryout run in New Haven, Connecticut, local police closed the show.

The cast included Gwen Verdon as Anna, Cameron Prud'homme as Chris, Thelma Ritter as Marthy, and George Wallace as Mat.

A "Cathouse Ballet" was cut when the show tried out in Boston, possibly because it made Anna's former life as a prostitute appear far more appealing than her present circumstances.