Fashion Avenue, they may have changed the name, but in 1964 it was still Seventh Avenue, the main artery of New York's hectic, bustling garment district, center of the tough, competitive billion dollar fashion industry- the "rag business"
RAG DOLLS reveals the behind the- scenes world of the flesh and blood dolls whose daily grind masks the glamorous image of the picture perfect fashion model-- the lovely but anonymous figures on the front lines of thefrenetic rag trade.

Meet DIMITRI DIPALMA-- an internationally famous fashion designer of the period - your host for the evening- as he reminisces the good and not so good times of his checkered past. As omniscient narrator, Dimitri introduces the colorful cast of characters who inhabited the Runyanesque world of New York's mid-sixties Seventh Avenue.

Meet ROSALIND ROSENBERG-- the recently widowed head of a failing runway model agency. A feisty veteran of some twenty years in the trenches of the rag biz, Rosalind is a tough survivor whose prickly exterior hides a dreamer¹s world-weary soul. Ever determined to pursue her illusions of elusive success, Rosalind's latest scheme is to start the first models union ever in the fashion industry establishing herself as permanent president, of course.

To launch her union project, Rosalind enlists the dubious aid of LENNY FISHER- a dyed-in-the-wool Seventh Avenue manufacturer who survives between good seasons and occasional scores at the race track with his faithful steadily employed wife of thirty years, GERTRUDE.
Suspicious of the models union chances of success, Lenny nevertheless promises to help Rosalind obtain a union charter in exchange for her cooperation in delivering SUZANNE- a long legged auburn haired beauty who left her mid-western home town two struggling years before to launch her career as a super model. Rosalind's top runway model and loyal first lieutenant, Suzanne's rag doll dreams have been somewhat tarnished by a recent botched affair with the notoriously womanizing Dimitri, who has designs for Suzanne in more ways than one. Secretly, he plans the piece de resistance of his upcoming Paris Fashion Fair to be Suzanne's actual wedding gown.

Enter BETTY SUE, another young hopeful Indiana junior miss who arrives on the bus suitcase in hand and starry-eyed. Landing at Rosalind's model agency with a signed models union petition, Betty Sue is signed up by Rosalind, befriended by Suzanne, and ultimately wooed by Dimitri, creating a sticky triangle spoof culminating in backstage chaos at the International Fashion Fair in Paris.
Meanwhile, Rosalind's boisterous attempt to create the first models union in the industry has attracted the unwelcome attention of the mob controlled Teamsters union , whose BOSS attempts to persuade Rosalind into a forced partnership by kidnapping her into the wilds of New jersey....

RAG DOLLS is a highly original musical comedy rooted in the traditional book musical form of such Broadway classics as GUYS AND DOLLS and 42 STREET, yet rendered with a unique contemporary perspective and style. Set on the leading edge of the 60's fashion nostalgia, RAG DOLLS combines the best of the Broadway revivals with the excitement of a truly original modern musical that is at once a revelation and celebration of Fashion Avenue.