This down-and-dirty musical set in the world of working-class New York tells the story of a husband's journey into infidelity and redemption when he must choose between his seductive mistress and his beleaguered wife.
Nick and Kitty Murder are married middle-aged working class New Yorkers. Kitty catches Nick in an indiscretion when she finds a love poem, extolling the virtues of one specific body part, Nick wrote to his mistress, Tula. The poem is the last straw for Kitty regarding their marriage. Kitty has the support of their three grown daughters - biological or other - her cousin Bo, her pastor and others at the church. They help her with among other things finding and thus dealing with Tula, who she does not know, and looking back at if she made a mistake in choosing Nick over her first love. On the other side, Nick turns to his co-worker Angelo, and a local police officer/ex-military man for advice, which he also gets unsolicited from his tough talking mother. Nick still has Tula, a frank-talking Northern English sex shop clerk, who truly loves Nick's body parts as he loves hers. A little emotional distance may provide Nick and Kitty the best perspective of what their future holds.—Huggo
Down-and-dirty musical love story set in the world of the working class. Nick is an ironworker who builds and repairs bridges. He's married to Kitty, a dressmaker, a strong and gentle woman with whom he has three daughters. He is carrying on a torrid affair with a redheaded woman named Tula. Nick is basically a good, hardworking man driven forward by will and blinded by his urges. Like Oedipus at Colonus, he is sent into exile and searches to find his way back through the damage he has done. Explores the cost and value of a relationship through life and death. When the characters can no longer express themselves with language, they break into song, lip-synching the tunes lodged in their subconscious. It is their way to escape the harsh reality of their world - to dream, to remember, and to connect to another human being.—Anonymous
In the early 1980s in New York, Kitty Kane discovers that her husband Nick has been having an affair after finding an explicit poem he wrote to his mistress. This revelation creates a rift between them and sends shock waves through their family and neighborhood. As characters grapple with what love, sex, and pleasure mean to them, their innermost thoughts and feelings are expressed through elaborate musical numbers. Meanwhile, their daughter Baby navigates her own romance with Chetty Jr., who is dim-witted but charming. When Baby announces her plans to get married, Kitty forbids it, fearing her daughter's life will end up like hers. Nick continues his affair with Tula, a young woman from Manchester who works in a lingerie shop. As Kitty struggles to come to terms with Nick's infidelity, she finds solace in church and reconnects with her parish priest. Kitty and her cousin Bo track down Tula and confront her in a violent altercation. Later, Nick falls ill after eating too much licorice and is rushed to the hospital. His mother and friend Angelo confront him about his infidelity, revealing that he's following in the footsteps of his unfaithful ancestors. Ashamed and fearing being remembered as a "whoremaster," Nick ends his affair and tries to reconcile with Kitty. Baby breaks up with Chetty Jr. due to his lack of ambition. Nick gets into a physical altercation with a neighbor and is nearly beaten to death before Kitty intervenes. Later, Nick is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, which he had contracted from years of smoking. Distraught, he confesses his infidelity to Kitty's priest and expresses gratitude for their life together. As Nick's condition deteriorates, Kitty agrees to care for him until the end. In his final moments, Nick composes a poem expressing his love for Kitty and gratitude for their life together. After he passes away, Kitty is left to reconcile her feelings for him and contemplate her own future.
