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City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 5-2019 Broadway Bodies: Casting, Stigma, and Difference in Broadway Musicals Since "A Chorus Line" (1975) Ryan Donovan The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/3084 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] BROADWAY BODIES: CASTING, STIGMA, AND DIFFERENCE IN BROADWAY MUSICALS SINCE A CHORUS LINE (1975) by RYAN DONOVAN A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Theatre and Performance in partiaL fulfiLLment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of PhiLosophy, The City University of New York 2019 © 2019 RYAN DONOVAN ALL Rights Reserved ii Broadway Bodies: Casting, Stigma, and Difference in Broadway MusicaLs Since A Chorus Line (1975) by Ryan Donovan This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Theatre and Performance in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of PhiLosophy. ________________ ______________________________________ Date David Savran Chair of Examining Committee ________________ ______________________________________ Date Peter EckersaLL Executive Officer Supervisory Committee: Jean Graham-Jones ELizabeth WolLman THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii ABSTRACT Broadway Bodies: Casting, Stigma, and Difference in Broadway MusicaLs Since A Chorus Line (1975) by Ryan Donovan Advisor: David Savran “You’re not fat enough to be our fat girl.” “Dance like a man.” “Deaf people in a musicaL!?” These three statements expose how the casting process for Broadway musicaLs depends upon making aesthetic disquaLifications. In this dissertation, I study how embodied identities facing sociaL stigmatization are represented on Broadway and contextuaLize the representation of these identities reLative to the sociaL movements from which they emerged. My research considers the politics of representation and makes cLear that casting is aLways a politicaL act, situated within a power structure favoring certain bodies. Previous scholarship on casting largeLy centers on race and ethnicity as the centraL issues; my research reframes the study of casting to focus on bodies, incLusive of race and ethnicity but especiaLLy reLative to abiLity, gender, sexuaLity, and size. My research addresses the incLusion of “other” kinds of embodied difference: Deaf and disabled bodies, fat femaLe bodies, and gay maLe bodies. In this dissertation, I redefine what bodies are fit for Broadway by providing a history of casting specific kinds of embodied difference. Interviews with key players (actors, casting directors, and producers) and archivaL research support this examination of casting. Though my research is grounded in theatre studies, its intervention is the application of different fieLds emerging from sociaL movements designed to combat stigmatization and oppression: Deaf/DisabiLity Studies, Fat Studies, and LGBTQ+ Studies. MusicaLs appear to be among the iv most incLusive of the performing arts, yet my findings describe the borders of this incLusivity. The casting process is often the primary barrier for actors as they attempt to fit themseLves into not just a character but a system that depends upon the aesthetics of disquaLification. These systems of disquaLification reenact those of US society at large at the same time that musicals perform a ceLebration of identities stigmatized off-stage. Broadway’s appearance of incLusivity is ultimateLy just a performance designed to capitaLize on difference in order to return profits to investors; this tension is most keenly enacted by and upon non-normative bodies. MusicaLs typicaLLy universaLize difference as they simultaneousLy ceLebrate individuaLity; my research highlights the particularity of different kinds of embodied difference. These identities are forged upon histories of stigmatization and excLusion not just from the stage but from many areas of life in the US, especiaLLy labor. Each case study investigates a particular embodied identity reLative to its representation in musicaLs and explains how these non-conforming bodies are employed in representation. In its incorporation of DisabiLity Studies, Fat Studies, LGBTQ Studies, and Theatre Studies, my research asks how the most globaLLy popular theatricaL form—the musicaL— embodies identity. MusicaLs make meaning through their embodiment of difference; which identities are represented onstage reveaLs which identities are vaLued. These embodied differences are profoundly tied to an actor’s employabiLity; when an actor enters the audition room she puts her body on the line—does she have a “Broadway Body” or not? In focusing on casting as a site of power reLations, my research attends which bodies are cast, and which are cast aside. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the support and encouragement of my committee. Thank you to David Savran, Jean Graham-Jones, and ELizabeth WolLman for guiding me each step of the way and beLieving that I was going to be able to put aLL of the various fieLds and disciplines in meaningful conversation with each other. This dissertation grew out of a paper I wrote first for David’s musicaL theatre seminar and deveLoped further in Liz’s seminar on rock musicaLs. SpeciaL thanks to Judith MiLhous for her encouragement early in my graduate studies as weLL as supporting my attendance at conferences and the opera. Matt Brim’s course on LGBTQ studies was especiaLLy useful as I began to formulate my research questions. Rhonda GareLick’s confidence in my work came aLong at a cruciaL moment and made me a stronger writer. Thank you to everyone I interviewed for this dissertation—the research would not have been possible without your generosity and wiLLingness to have sometimes difficult and intimate conversations with a totaL stranger. SpeciaL thanks to those who heLped connect me to interview subjects: Carl Andress, Jane Blass, David EngeL, Stephanie Fittro, Asmeret GhebremichaeL, Nina Goldman, Shana O’Hara, Vanessa Van Vrancken, and Blake West. Thank you to colLeagues at ATHE’s Music Theatre/Dance Focus Group and the Song, Stage and Screen conference, which have been my scholarly communities and provided space for me to share this research. Thank you to the members of the MusicaL Theatre Forum working group who have provided detaiLed feedback, heLpful questions, and support during my graduate studies (Joanna Dee Das, Liza Gennaro, Raymond Knapp, Jeff Magee, Doug Reside, Jessica SternfeLd, Dominic Symonds, Stacy Wolf, and Tamsen Wolff). Thank you to my colLeagues and friends in the Theatre and Performance program at The Graduate Center, and especiaLLy to Fidan vi Eylül Akinci, Chloë Edmonson, Andrew Goldberg, ALosha Grinenko, Anna Harb, Phoebe Rumsey, Jennifer Thompson, and Catherine Young—aLL of whom were accomplices to various parts of the PhD process. Thank you to The Graduate Center, CUNY for funding my research, both with the Dissertation FeLLowship and the DoctoraL Students’ Research Grant. The Interlibrary Loan team made the research process much more efficient and I am indebted to their services. Thank you to the archivists and librarians at The Library of Congress, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and YaLe University’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library and Manuscripts and Archives Repository for their heLp finding materiaLs. Thank you to two people who told me I should get a PhD someday when that wasn’t even on my radar: Meghan Duffy, who I beLieve said this to me onstage during a crowd scene in Brigadoon, and Connie Vandarakis-Fenning, my anatomy professor at University of the Arts. Lynette Gibson taught me the importance of knowing your supporters and aLLowing them the chance to cheer you on—of course deLivered with her trademark combination of hauteur and warmth. Her support and humor aLways brightened my day and heLped me beLieve that I would actuaLLy complete the PhD when that stiLL seemed very far away. The curiosity of friends and famiLy about my research heLped me to learn to make it mean something outside of the academy. Thank you to my aunt Joan KiLmon for introducing me to the LPs of Evita and Les Misérables and the magic of Patti LuPone. Thank you to my parents for aLways being supportive and taking me to see my first Broadway musicaLs—LittLe did they know where that would lead. Thank you to my husband Erik for heLping me see the forest for the trees and too many other things to list here. vii Table of Contents “I HOPE I GET IT”: CASTING MUSICALS AND THE BIND OF THE BROADWAY BODY .............................................................................................................................................. 1 Casting About .......................................................................................................................... 3 Broadway Bodies ................................................................................................................... 11 Why Musicals? ....................................................................................................................... 21 “I Really Need This Job”: A Chorus Line and Casting as Labor ......................................... 26 Difference, Identity, Labor, and Stigma

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