Chasing Rainbows is in the tradition of New York, New York; Cabaret; and West Side Story. But its deeper influence comes from Orpheus by Claudio Monteverdi, which is considered to be the first opera in music history. In the opera, Orpheus descends into Hades to save his wife and bring her back to life. In Chasing Rainbows, a girl (Scarlet) finds she was adopted and goes on a search for her parents. This brings her to the darker side of Boston, where her real mother is a well-known nightclub singer. Like Orpheus, Scarlet faces dangerous tests before she is able to face her mother. In one way or another, every major character is the film is chasing a rainbow.