Act I
1849 – STEPHEN FOSTER’s songwriting career takes off when the 22-year-old’s Oh! Susanna becomes a nationwide sensation. We hear a crude version during a dance contest between two black Kentucky slaves, with the phenomenal JOE COLLINS easily trouncing his opponent before being shackled by his owner. Then, THE GREAT DIAMOND, the Caucasian blackface headliner of Christy’s Minstrels, spiritedly performs Oh! Susanna on a Cincinnati music hall stage. Backstage, impresario E.P. CHRISTY introduces Diamond to STEPHEN FOSTER, who is dismayed to learn that Diamond, in fact, despises his tune. But with a 2-cent-a-copy contract from a New York music publisher, Stephen quits his job with his brother, MORRISON’s shipping firm, and returns home to Pittsburgh to devote his life to writing songs.

Joe comes home to the slave cabin he shares with his wife, NELLY, and their daughter, ANNIE (My Old Kentucky Home). Nelly wants to take a chance of escape on the Underground Railroad, but Joe feels the prospect is too risky, especially with a child in tow.

At a Pittsburgh social, Stephen meets the lovely, auburn-haired JANE McDOWELL, who is there with a local attorney who chastises Stephen with charges of racism for his demeaning “plantation songs.” Stephen’s longtime friend, CHARLES SHIRAS, has also taken a strong abolitionist stance, shunning the blackface minstrel shows they loved in their youth. Stephen defends his songs as harmless entertainments. Despite the conflict, Jane is clearly enamored by Stephen’s talent and commitment to the unprecedented career path of songwriting, especially when he presents a song inspired by her. (Why No One to Love?)

Learning he is going to be “sold south” to a plantation in Mississippi, Joe makes a harrowing run for it, leaving Nelly and Annie behind.

Stephen and Jane marry and embark on a month-long riverboat trip to New Orleans – Stephen Foster’s sole visit to the South (Old Folks at Home – Swanee River). One late night on the deck, consoling himself with drink over a poor business deal, Stephen comes upon Joe – now one of the paddlewheel’s crew – wistfully singing his Nelly Bly. Joe tells Stephen about his Nelly, and the two men bond in a song-and-dance version of the song. Astonished by the black man’s dancing skills, Stephen claims Joe is far more deserving of a spot on the stage than “blackface charlatans” like The Great Diamond. But after a sharp exchange about abolition, the two part ways. Moved by the experience, Stephen is inspired to write a new song.

At the plantation cabin, Nelly is grief-stricken, as her daughter succumbs to typhoid (Gentle Annie).

The next morning on the riverboat, Jane is dismayed to discover Stephen has been up all night, working on a new song, which gives voice to the “downtrodden and enslaved.” As a frustrated Jane heads to breakfast, Stephen sings the just-finished tune (Hard Times Come Again No More), trading verses with Joe, stoking the riverboat’s steam engine, and Nelly, mourning their daughter at her gravesite.

Act II
Docked at Louisville, Stephen encounters Joe sneaking off the riverboat to retrieve Nelly and Annie and bring them north. But when Joe arrives at his old plantation cabin, he tragically discovers Annie passed away a week earlier, and Nelly joined her last night (Nelly Was a Lady).

1864 – With the Civil War raging and national emotions high (That’s What’s the Matter), E.P. Christy patronizes a New York City tavern, where Joe now works as a busboy. The impresario promotes the latest edition of Christy’s Minstrels, featuring a dance challenge with The Great Diamond and a $50 prize. Down-on-his-luck and under-the-influence, Stephen arrives at the tavern and approaches Christy with a new song, only to be told, in no uncertain terms, his day is past. Stephen sings of his current fate (Comrades Fill No Glass for Me) then physically confronts Christy. Joe intervenes, and his acquaintance with Stephen is renewed. Stephen knows where Joe can earn a quick $50, while providing Stephen a last chance to revive his flagging career.

Jane arrives at Stephen’s New York hovel (The Wife) to urge Stephen to take one more stab at sobriety and return home to her and their daughter Marion in Pittsburgh. Stephen encourages Jane to move to New York with Marion, as he needs to be near “the prominent publishers and promoters.” Realizing Stephen doesn’t have the strength or inclination to meet her demands, Jane departs.

At the New York theater with Joe, Stephen assures a skeptical Christy that it’s okay to have a Negro challenge Diamond in the dance-off. Seeing Joe’s astonishing skills, Christy relents but insists Joe put on blackface before he goes onstage. Joe refuses, telling Christy he’ll challenge Diamond with his own face or not at all. And one more thing… If Joe is going up against Diamond, it will be to Stephen’s latest song. Joe and The Great Diamond have a thrilling dance off (Camptown Races), with the runaway slave ultimately winning over the skeptical crowd and trouncing the blackface pretender. Diamond storms out in a huff, while Christy promises to make Joe an international star but informs Stephen he has zero interest in his song.

Saying goodbye, Stephen advises Joe to savor his success. Heading back to the Bowery, he hears a church choir singing Hard Times Come Again No More. Then, drunk and alone in his room, Stephen has a vision of his daughter, MARION (Little Ballad Girl). Reaching out for the girl, Stephen falls, seriously cutting himself. As his landlady bursts in, the great songwriter passes out.

Eulogizing the treasured composer, his family and friends touchingly sing one of Stephen Foster’s final songs, Beautiful Dreamer.

THE END