Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?

The original coming of age musical involves the 1950s Catholic education of eight Chicago children, following them from the start of elementary school through the senior prom and beyond. Along the way it touches on such topics as first confessions, puppy love, patron saints, teacher's pets, sex education classes, and the importance of not wearing patent leather shoes as they could reflect up under the school uniform's plaid pleated skirts. One of the central plot elements running through the musical is that Eddie Ryan is infatuated with a girl, Becky Bakowski. She becomes his best friend, and he later falls in love with her when she matures into a beautiful young woman. Unfortunately, she has decided to become a nun. Many years later Eddie returns to his old elementary school to inquire about Becky only to find she has left the order and is teaching in a small school in Indiana. At the end of the musical they are reunited.