The musical, like the film, follows the story of a pair of male musicians who disguise themselves as women to escape from gangsters after witnessing a murder.

[4] In 1933, right before the end of Prohibition, Chicago speakeasy performer Sweet Sue is arrested in a raid ("What Are You Thirsty For?").

After being bailed out of jail, Sue decides to form an all-female band that will tour the western U.S., playing its final engagement in San Diego.

That evening, Colombo receives a tip from FBI Agent Mulligan that he will be arrested imminently if he doesn't turn state's evidence.

Joe makes a plan: he and Jerry will disguise themselves as women and join Sweet Sue's band to get to San Diego, then flee to Mexico.

The next day, Joe and Jerry arrive at the train station as the band is departing, posing as two music students named Josephine and Daphne.

Sweet Sue hires them to replace the original sax and bass player, whose instruments were dumped in the river by Joe and Jerry.

On the train, Sugar confesses to Josephine and Daphne that she is joining the all-female band because of her weakness for male musicians, particularly saxophone players ("A Darker Shade of Blue").

("Take It Up A Step") Joe, who struggles to fit in as Josephine, marvels at Jerry’s ease in behaving femininely as he leads the girls in telling off a greedy bar manager ("Zee Bap").

Joe attempts to escape alone by stealing the luggage of Austrian screenwriter Kip von der Plotz, but bumps into Sugar.

Still dressed as Kip from the shoulders down but covered by a blanket, Josephine explains that she was waylaid by food poisoning.

Eventually, Agent Mulligan, dressed as Josephine, is able to corner and arrest Colombo ("Tip-Tap Trouble").

Sweet Sue is glad everyone is okay, but upset that the band has lost their investor, prompting Osgood to offer his investment instead.

[5][6] The show began previews at the Shubert Theatre on Broadway on November 1, 2022, with an opening night on December 11,[7][8] directed by Casey Nicholaw and features Christian Borle as Joe/Josephine, Kevin Del Aguila as Osgood, J. Harrison Ghee as Jerry/Daphne, and Adrianna Hicks as Sugar.

[10] On March 23, 2023, due to a large absence of cast members and understudies, director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw filled in for Lotito as Spats.