Hollywood, Once upon a time. Dex Webster, a production assistant’s assistant, dreams of one day making a difference by directing big important movies with big important themes. (LOST IN HOLLYWOODLAND) On his first day at work, he inadvertently burns down Pinnacle Studios and finds himself washed up before he’s barely begun.
     Now unable to ever again step foot on a studio lot, Dex toils away screwing in replacement light bulbs up at the illuminated Hollywood Sign. Driven to despair, desperate and demoralized, he swears he would sell his soul to direct a picture. (I HAD A DREAM)
     Out of nowhere, Malatoff Dyáblik, an independent film producer and the Devil incarnate, appears with a contract for Dex to direct movies at Dyáblik Studios. (MOVIES, MOVIES)
     The terms are simple. Upon completion of the first film, Dyáblik will own Dex’s soul. Dex, in turn, will be given The Midas Touch - Everything he touches will turn into box office gold. His name will be a household word; people will see his movies in droves and his films will leap off the screen. The moon and the stars can be his, all he has to do is sign.
     Dex signs the contract and POW! Overnight all his wishes come true… but Dex’s rise to fame is not quite as he imagined. He becomes the world's most successful director of schlock pictures while Dyáblik harvests souls by signing contracts with actors so desperate they’ll sign anything to be in movies. (ALL THAT I WANT!)
     Though internationally famous for directing giant mutated bug pictures such as "My Uncle, My Ant," " Cuckoo for Cucarachas," and "The Bride Wore Lice," Dex’ s life is empty and hollow… until he meets Daphne Marienkäfer, the daughter of a local fumigator.
     Beautiful but bug-phobic, Daphne suffers from recurring nightmares of giant, mutated insects. At the suggestion of her therapist, she has recorded these dreams in her diary until a few months ago when her diary inexplicably disappeared. (REOCCURRING) Having seen her nightmares turned into movies playing at the local drive-in, she is certain Dyáblik Studios has stolen her diary and intends to sue the studio for plagiarism.  Smitten by her gumption and lack of any desire to be cast in one of his films, Dex agrees to help her. (MAKE A DIFFERENCE).
     Dyáblik has just signed Carlotta DeLongpre, a besotted legend in her own mind, and her husband Edwin McMannoff, an under-employed, over-the-hill Shakespearean actor to appear in Dex’s next feature. In celebration, Carlotta becomes inebriated celebrates with a narcotic toddy (XAMBRUSIA) as Dex arrives with Daphne to claim her diary.
     Dyáblik assures Daphne her diary will be returned by morning. To make amends, he will have Dex treat her to a night on the town courtesy of Dyáblik Studios.
     Gazing at the sparkling city lights from the Hollywood sign, Dex warns Daphne she is in terrible danger. He encourages her to get her diary and go as far away as she can before something happens. But of course, by then it is too late. Something has happened - they have fallen in love. (DAPHNE) As they kiss, Dyáblik lurks in the shadows, always on the look out for another soul.
     The next morning Daphne returns for her diary. Appealing to her vanity, ambition and dreams of romance, Dyáblik inveigles her into starring in “The Slug Woman From Uranus.” Fame, fortune and romance with a certain handsome, young director will be hers guaranteed. After all, doesn’t the camera love pretty young girls with (LONG LUXURIOUS LASHES)? Not to mention handsome, young film directors do too. Bedazzled by the promise of the moon and the stars, Daphne signs the contract.
     Upon learning Daphne signed away her soul in the name of love, Dex is in agony. However, there still is a chance she can be saved. The contract states Dyáblik will own her soul AFTER the movie is made. Dex desperately begs Daphne to renounce her stardom; But Daphne, now hooked on fame, is convinced Dex is only jealous of her eminent success.
     It is in fact Carlotta who is jealous. Edwin, embarrassed to be appearing in sci-fi shlock, entreats Carlotta to quit the picture. (I AM AN ACTOR) But Carlotta, enraged that she has been reduced to playing a mere maid, plots to knock Daphne out by poisoning the chicken croquettes in the studio commissary with the potent Xambrusia. (THIS IS THE PART) With Daphne out of the way, Dex will be forced to recast Carlotta in the lead. Through a series of mishaps, Carlotta inadvertently overdoses the (CHICKEN CROQUETTES). Unfortunately for all concerned, she not only inadvertently kills Daphne and Edwin, but herself as well.

ACT II

As Dyáblik joyfully recasts his picture signing up tourists on Hollywood Blvd (MALATOFF DYÁBLIK) Dex grieves the death of Daphne on the soundstage. (WE WERE MADE FOR EACH OTHER). Unwanted by heaven and unclaimed by hell because they never made a movie, Daphne, Edwin and Carlotta return to the sound stage… as ghosts. (HOW IN THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN?)
     Dex confronts Dyáblik: if Dyáblik doesn’t release the ghosts from their contracts and (BRING THEM BACK) to life, they will haunt the soundstage halting production and all soul-gathering.
     Backed into a corner, Dyáblik becomes willing to negotiate. Dyáblik owns their souls AFTER they complete the movie. He gives Dex and the actors until sunrise to film "The Slug Woman from Uranus. " IF they are successful, the contracts will be void. Everyone’s lives and everyone’s souls will be returned, and Dyáblik agrees to never make another movie in Hollywood again.
     But if they fail to complete the film by dawn, Dyáblik will own everyone's soul free and clear (as well as Daphne's diary and all its contents.)
     Dex will have the entire studio at his disposal and Dyáblik’s full cooperation; however, he will not have “The Midas Touch.”
     The bargain is made.
     Without the Midas Touch, Dex now possesses the skills of a mere production assistant’s assistant. (DEX’s MELTDOWN) Battling against time, he realizes that not only can Daphne not act, but stage fright prevents her from delivering her lines.
     As Dyáblik gloats, Dex is struck with inspiration. Daphne will play the maid. She won’t have much to do – just serve cocktails and scream. Carlotta will play the ship’s other maid, who is in reality a double agent from Alpha Centauri whose mission is to search out and destroy the Slug Woman. As for the Slug Woman, Dex casts Dyáblik himself.
     Dyáblik refuses of course, but Dex is insistent. The producer had pledged his full cooperation. Secondly, Dex convinces Dyáblik that what makes Dyáblik superior to Hitchcock, DeMille and Disney is a certain star quality the other moguls lack. After all, does every Hollywood Mogul have LONG LUXURIOUS LASHES (REPRISE) like Dyáblik? Even Malatoff Dyáblik is not immune to the siren call of fame, and he agrees.
     Overcoming every obstacle, the film is completed just seconds before sunrise.(THE SHOOT)
     The ghosts rejoice, and so does Dyáblik. For he has known all along: Ectoplasm, though visible to the eye, does not photograph on film. The only one who can actually be seen in the movie is Dyáblik. And what a performance!
     But Dex stops him cold. The ghosts did in fact make the movie, and though they didn’t show up on film, Dyáblik certainly did! A movie’s a movie and deal’s a deal. The souls are returned and the contracts are redeemed.
     As Dex tears them up, he and his cast are restored back to their former, albeit no longer famous, selves.
     Dyáblik is banished from the film industry, and Dex gets his own true love and a newfound hope. For in addition to Daphne, he now has access to her diary. Many other dreams are written in there besides dreams of giant, mutated insects, she assures him; big important dreams with big important themes…
     As the sun sets over the soundstage, Dex and Daphne kiss. The moon rises high above the Hollywood sign, and the stars begin to gleam. WE WERE MADE FOR EACH OTHER(REPRISE).