Broadway Bodies: A Critical History of Conformity. Ryan Donovan. New York: Oxford University Press, 2023; Pp. 316.

BROADWAY BODIES: A CRITICAL HISTORY OF CONFORMITY. Ryan Donovan. New York: Oxford University Press, 2023; Pp. 316.

What exactly is a “Broadway body?” This is the question central to Ryan Donovan’s timely 2023 monograph Broadway Bodies: A Critical History of Conformity. Published in a new era of “miracle” cures and adaptive assistance technology juxtaposed with the body-positivity movement circulating via social media, Donovan’s book situates itself firmly in the middle of this conversation. Well-researched and readable, this tome contributes to the continually growing body of work at the intersection of performance studies and greater cultural studies, namely race, queer, gender, disability, and fat studies.  

Early in his introduction, Donovan defines what he means by a “traditional” Broadway body: “the hyper-fit, muscular, tall, conventionally attractive, exceptionally able triple-threat performer (one highly skilled in acting, dancing, and singing)” (4). In defining this term, Donovan is not endorsing this definition, but rather critically establishing what he wants to interrogate: how did this body type become the stereotypical Broadway body? As Donovan points out, this issue is not simply a social one. On the contrary, the proliferation of a Broadway body grounds labor disputes: getting consistent work is how actors survive in this business. By being constantly disqualified due to physical characteristics, the canonization of the Broadway body has created a sizeable socioeconomic problem in our industry. Donovan highlights these central issues through interviews with working actors, critiquing casting calls, and analyzing theatrical texts and performances.   

After defining the Broadway body, Donovan parses that definition through lenses of size, sexuality, and ability. In the book’s first chapter, Donovan analyzes the megahit musical A Chorus Line (1975). Here, the author considers how the original production of this show developed into a global commercial phenomenon that required triple-threat performers to keep the machine going for its thirty-year production history. Donovan argues that the casting of A Chorus Line is where this idea of a “Broadway body” originated, since all performers in this show had to be able to sing, dance, and act with the best of them. To illustrate how formative A Chorus Line’s casting policies were, the case studies of the ensuing chapters of this book examine Broadway productions post-Chorus Line.  

Donovan’s next two chapters form a section titled ‘Size'. In Chapter 2, which considers Dreamgirls (1981), the author postulates how the body of a character’s original actor affects the future casting of said role, centering the character Effie White and the fat body of original performer Jennifer Holliday. Holliday’s performance and body cast such large shadows that future actresses of the role wore fat suits, despite the character not needing to have a fat body. In Chapter 3, Donovan considers the casting of fat women on Broadway, with his main case study being the roles of Tracy Turnblad and Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray (2002). Hairspray’s producers required actors to literally “weigh-in” weekly and attend boot camps before they were cast. These two chapters illustrate Donovan’s methodological approach to his central question, simultaneously dissecting the texts of a Broadway production and examining the conforming machine of Broadway casting. The author notes how “standardized” bodies are enforced and argues for the dismantling of such enforcement.  

Broadway Bodies’s next section considers ‘Sexuality’. While the relevance of sexuality in a project dedicated to the politics of casting and bodily appearance may not be immediately apparent, Donovan contends that the casting of straight or closeted actors in queer parts reinforces embodied conformity. Chapter 4’s case study of La Cage aux Folles (1983) questions the politics of the queer affectations performed by the show’s two heterosexual leads alongside the burgeoning AIDS crisis that decimated much of the cast. While La Cage may have registered as an important piece of theatre for the gay pride movement, the liberation espoused by critics and the media at its Broadway premiere was undercut by the fact that the gay couple onstage was played by Gene Barry and George Hearn, actors who were decidedly not gay. Chapter 5 further addresses LGBTQ+ representation in theatre through the 1990s and 2000s, accenting boundaries broken by openly queer actors. While the number of queer roles has grown exponentially over the last forty years— not to mention that openly queer actors have played straight romantic leads to great acclaim for decades— many mainstream LGBTQ+ roles are crafted with stereotypes in mind, further reinforcing bodily conformity on Broadway, argues the author. 

While Donovan described the Broadway body as “hyper-able,” his last section instead highlights spectrums of ‘Ability’ found in both actors and their roles. Chapter 6, for example, documents and interrogates Deaf West’s 2015 Broadway revival of Spring Awakening. Featuring d/Deaf actors and hearing actors working in tandem to create roles, Donovan states that this landmark production illustrated a level of inclusion that Broadway strives to employ yet rarely does. After all, Broadway is a commercial venture, and while Deaf West’s Spring Awakening was a critical darling, the show fiscally faltered. In his final chapter, Donovan considers the long history of disabled characters, from Porgy in Porgy and Bess to Farquaad in Shrek, being played in “crip face” by non-disabled actors. Donovan contrasts this bodily erasure with the rise of disabled Broadway stars, namely Ali Stoker and her Tony Award-winning performance as Ado Annie in the 2019 revival of Oklahoma! While Broadway rarely puts its money where its mouth is regarding disability inclusion, Donovan portends that Stoker’s celebrity may mark a new beginning for casting and non-conformity. 

Donovan concludes his book by documenting four activist groups who are working to change casting practices on Broadway, as well as by highlighting the 2022 Olney Theatre Center production of Beauty and the Beast that cast the romantic leads against type, signaling a potential shift in representational and production practices.  

As a reader, I greatly appreciate how Donovan opens his book with a personal narrative regarding his time as a musical theatre dancer, specifically noting how his height and size were cast as barriers to employment. A person’s relationship with their body is an extremely personal one, a concept that Donovan takes to heart throughout this book. Through his personal lens and insightful case studies, Donovan successfully illustrates that casting reflects more than just a theatrical decision – it reflects and shapes societal norms.  

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