Summary of the musical Paradise Square :
In New York in 1863, in the slum of Five Points in Manhattan, Irish immigrants and black Americans live in harmony. It is here that Nelly and her husband Willie run a saloon, Paradise Square, helped by their family.
However, the Civil War is raging and the harmony of the neighborhood will soon be upset.
Riddled with fines, the Nellys and Willies imagine a dance competition. The money collected will save the saloon. The remaining $300 will be used to pay the winning dancer, the exact amount needed to escape Civil War military service, just announced. This federal proscription will spark deadly riots. A myriad of characters will then come to try their luck.