Musical writers are told to choose an exotic location for the story i.e. - Siam, the South Pacific, Victorian London, Revolutionary France. Give the audience a trip to far away places. It will be deadly to set the story in your hometown.
WELCOME TO WATERBURY
But Meredith Wilson set The Music Man in his home town and Lin-Manuel Miranda set In The Heights in his old neighborhood and Kinky Boots is mostly set inside an old factory.
So, why not Waterbury - The Brass City. There is something in the water in Brass City that makes it a special place in its inhabitants hearts and minds. It may be a toxin. To be sure this is often a sentimental vision of how it must have been once upon a time before the moniker Brass City was replaced by Dirty Water, before the city was twice ranked by Money Magazine as the worst place in America.