Flora the Red Menace is a musical with a book by David Thompson, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The musical originally starred Liza Minnelli in the title role in her Broadway debut, for which she won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. This was the first collaboration between Kander and Ebb, who later wrote Broadway and Hollywood hits such as Chicagoand Cabaret.  Like Cabaret and Chicago, it features a headstrong heroine with passion and idealism, and has a strong dose of political content.

She falls in love with Harry Toukarian, another struggling designer, who attempts to convert Flora to his Communist ideals. Even though it compromises her job in an organization which does not recognise the new unions, she seeks to hold down both job and relationship. Throw in a predatory Communist matriarch who wants Harry for herself, a secretary with designs on her boss, and a jazz dancing duo with their sights on greater things, and it has all the right ingredients for a genuinely original and exciting show.