Victor/Victoria (1995 Broadway Production)

In 1930s Paris, Victoria Grant (Julie Andrews), a struggling female singer, is unable to find work. She runs into Carroll "Toddy" Todd (played by Robert Preston) at a Paris restaurant as she is scheming to plant a cockroach in her food in order to get her meal for free, trying to foil the waiter (Graham Stark). Toddy hits upon a plan to help both her and himself after he gives Victoria his ex-boyfriend's clothes to replace her ruined clothes: Victoria will pretend to be a man pretending to be a woman, and get a job as a female impersonator in a nightclub. In order to enhance the ruse, Toddy will pretend to be her gay lover.

Soon Victoria's new persona, "Count Victor Grazinski", becomes the toast of Paris. As money and fame start to turn her (and Toddy's) lives around, an additional complication arises. King Marchand (James Garner), a gangster and nightclub-owner from Chicago, finds himself at first repelled by and then strangely attracted to "Victor". This encourages his burly bodyguard, "Squash" Bernstein (Alex Karras), to come out of the closet, but it enrages Marchand's whiny-voiced, peroxide-blonde spitfire girlfriend Norma (Lesley Ann Warren).

Marchand also starts to investigate Victor, sure that a man like himself could never fall for another man. Norma becomes more annoying and tawdry, in contrast to the classy Victoria, and King finally has Squash send her home to Chicago so that he is free to pursue Victoria. Victoria must come to terms with what she really wants out of life: to be true to herself by giving up her career and fame in Paris to be with the man who loves her and whom she loves, or to continue with her duplicitous profession and risk losing Marchand.

The vocal numbers in the film are presented as real-life scenes or entertainments that involve singers; this explains why neither Toddy nor Marchand sings a duet with Victoria as part of some sort of private scene. Nevertheless, the lyrics or situations of some of the songs are calculated to relate to the unfolding drama.

Thus, the two staged numbers Le Jazz Hot and The Shady Dame from Seville help to present Victoria as a female impersonator. The latter number is later reinterpreted by Toddy for diversionary purposes in the plot. The cozy relationship of Toddy and Victoria is promoted by the song You and Me, which is sung before the audience at the nightclub.