Queer Approaches in Musical Theatre

Description

Queer Approaches in Musical Theatre introduces readers to a facet of musicals often assumed but misunderstood: how queer approaches in musical theatre extend deeper than fabulosity. Queerness in musicals challenges their typical heteronormativity but also sometimes simultaneously reinforces it. Featuring four case studies centered around musicals such as The Book of Mormon, Cabaret, Fun Home, La Cage aux Folles, and Rent, this concise study examines the stakes of representation in the theatrical genre most often presumed to be openly queer. Providing readers with an understanding of the historically-shifting terminology of queerness, this foundational book offers a brief overview of how queer studies informs the analysis of musicalsthemselves, and introduces histories of queerness in musicals as well as methods of how to examine the historical context, text, staging, and reception of these works.

Ryan Donovan is Assistant Professor of Theater Studies at Duke University. He is the author of Broadway Bodies: A Critical History of Conformity and co-editor of The Routledge Companion to Musical Theatre.