The Takeaway

In the new book, “Broadway Bodies: A Critical History of Conformity," Ryan Donovan looks at Broadway musicals and casting from 1970 to 2020 and the bodies that Broadway has historically excluded from its stages, based on size, gender, disability, and how that intersects with race and ethnicity, and the shows that are not making an effort to be more inclusive. 

Broadway Bodies: Industry Bias and Dreamgirls with Ryan Donovan

Have you ever stopped to think about the history of bodies in theater? Or the implicit bias that goes into what we see on stage? When I began doing EDI work for theater and the arts, I couldn’t find many resources about the topic of inclusion and Broadway musicals. That is… until I found the book called Broadway Bodies: A Critical History of Conformity. It’s the book our industry desperately needs. 

The Broadway Radio Show with Donald Feltham

A Conversation with RYAN DONOVAN about Broadway Bodies

Dancers of All Sizes Hope Change Follows a Discrimination Ban

The trend toward thinner and thinner dancers has raised both equity and health concerns. In addition to limiting opportunities for larger performers, size-related pressures can significantly affect dance practitioners’ well-being. Studies have shown that dancers are three times more likely than nondancers to develop eating disorders.

But when bodies are art, what qualifies as body discrimination?

Let Me Tell You—These Theater Books Are Must-Reads

But even the most voracious fans can’t read everything. Countless nonfiction books about theater are published every year; the volume of volumes is intimidating. And I’d like to help with that. Here are a dozen books about theater that have come out in the past three years and that I think are eminently worth your time.

NPR’s 2023 Books We Love

So much of the casting for Broadway musicals depends not on voice range or mastery of dance styles, but on the height, thinness, age, color, ethnicity and lack of disability of certain bodies. Ryan Donovan, an assistant professor of theater studies at Duke, examines the history of the “Broadway Body” over the last 50 years, looking at questions like: Why do some shows use fat suits instead of casting heavier actors? Why are there so many disabled characters in musical theater and so few disabled actors? And most crucially: Is casting based on body shape/size/ethnicity/color actually crucial to the work onstage, or is it just a form of entrenched bias and legalized discrimination?

Summer Reads 2023

Need something new on your nightstand? Looking for a summer escape? Or need your next book club selection? We've got you covered. It's all the pleasures of a reading list, without the book report.

We asked some of Duke's most admired faculty members to contribute to our popular Lifelong Learning summer reading list. Each book includes five questions to consider while reading, direct purchase links, and an introduction video from the author.

Summer Books: 9 Books by Graduate Center Scholars That Will Take You Far Afield

Completely anecdotal studies show for many of us, the ideal summer book isn’t always a hot romance (though of course we are fans of those, too!). If you’re looking for a book to pack in your beach tote or carry-on, consider these new titles from Graduate Center faculty, students, and alumni that will transport you back in time, or into the imagined reaches of the cosmos, or deep below the surface of the sea.

8 Theatre Must-Reads for July

Whether you’re basking in the sun, lounging at the beach, or parked at home by the AC, picking up a new book is a perfect summer pastime. Playbill’s got you covered with this roundup of eight upcoming releases, curated specifically for theatre lovers.

27 Theater Books for Your Summer 2023 Reading List

Summer is here and there is no better time of year to soak up the sun and dive into a new book. You're in luck, because Broadway's best have put pen to paper to turn out theatre page-turners of every kind. From theatre biographies to theatre fiction; theatre books for kids to theatre history; check out our collection of 27 new Broadway books for every theatre lover's Summer reading list.

Triple Threats

“Upon hearing of the recent release of two new musical-theatre-related publications, I eagerly set aside time to dive into Chita, a memoir by Broadway’s legendary triple threat Chita Rivera, while somewhat dreading having to slog through dancer-turned-academic Ryan Donovan’s Broadway Bodies: A Critical History of Conformity, a scholarly treatise I felt obligated to tackle. To my surprise, I found Rivera’s book a bit of a snooze and Donovan’s riveting.”

How S.F.-bound ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ and anti-drag legislation prop each other up

“When Tennessee passed Senate Bill 3, the country’s first anti-drag law, in March, legislators kept wording vague. According to the law, any show that has ‘topless dancers, go-go dancers, exotic dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest or similar entertainers’ cannot be performed anywhere where it might be seen by ‘a person who is not an adult.’” 

The Broadway Issue

“The Body Politics of Broadway”: An Excerpt From the Recently Released Book Broadway Bodies: A Critical History of Conformity Sheds Light on Musical Theater’s Longtime Fixation on Physique

Broadway Bodies: An Interview with Ryan Donovan

“Productions of Broadway musicals have body issues. Full stop. From casting norms for Broadway choruses to the use of fat suits in Hairspray and Jennifer Holliday’s well-documented struggles with weight in relation to her Tony Award-winning role as Effie White in Dreamgirls, Broadway musicals have perpetuated questionable—to say the least—body politics for decades. This troubled history is precisely where Ryan Donovan’s new book, Broadway Bodies: A Critical History of Conformity (Oxford University Press, 2023), intervenes, offering a rich in-depth study of musical theatre, casting, and body politics.”

Rethinking the Broadway Body

A Conversation with Author and Scholar Ryan Donovan

“Broadway Bodies is dedicated to ‘anyone who has ever been told they were too fat, too short, too gay, too disabled, and otherwise too much or not enough to be in a musical.’ The book, written by musical theater scholar Ryan Donovan, examines the ways different aspects of identity have historically affected casting on the Great White Way, using shows like A Chorus Line, Dreamgirls, and La Cage aux Folles as case studies to illustrate the issues that arise when bodies are used as an artistic medium.'“

BROADWAY BODIES Lays Down the Gauntlet Against Conformity in Casting

A new book by Graduate Center alum Ryan Donovan, fueled by his own experiences of auditioning, argues for making the theater industry inclusive beyond the “hyper fit” Broadway ideal.

The Page 99 Test

"Open the book to page ninety-nine and read, and the quality of the whole will be revealed to you." --Ford Madox Ford

Ryan Donovan is Assistant Professor of Theater Studies at Duke University. His new book, Broadway Bodies: A Critical History of Conformity, examines the body politics of casting Broadway musicals in the five decades beginning in 1970.

Donovan applied the "Page 99 Test" to Broadway Bodies.

Meet Your Humanities Faculty: Ryan Donovan

Our Spring 2023 tgiFHI series continues with Ryan Donovan, Assistant Professor of Theater Studies. Here's an interview with Prof. Donovan on his research interests, method, and practice.

21 Theater Books for Your Winter 2023 Reading List

The weather outside might still be frightful for a while, but what better time to stay in and snuggle up with a great Broadway read? This season, Broadway's best have put pen to paper to turn out theatre page-turners of every kind. From theatre biographies to theatre fiction; theatre books for kids to theatre history; check out our collection of 21 new Broadway books for every theatre lover's winter reading list.

8 Theatre Books to Cozy Up With in February

Broadway Bodies: A Critical History of Conformity

Author Ryan Donovan considers how Broadway has historically favored the “hyper-fit, exceptionally able, triple-threat performer.” With investigations into conformity in A Chorus Line or the use of fat suits in Dreamgirls and Hairspray, Donovan tells an intersectional story of body exclusivity on Broadway. Available starting February 24.

“Broadway Bodies” Explores Who’s in the Spotlight. Chances Are, It’s Not You or Me.

Ryan Donovan’s book, “Broadway Bodies: A Critical History of Conformity,” to be released by Oxford University Press on February 24, is creating a buzz by engaging with the evident.

“What I’ve written about is visible to Broadway audiences, and yet it's also the elephant in the room that nobody talked about for a long time: that casting is inherently a discriminatory process favoring some bodies over others.”

Ryan Donovan’s “Broadway Bodies”: Examining Authentic Casting, Body Politics, and Outsider/Insider Status in Academia

“And that’s another thing I loved about Ryan’s book. He makes all of these (very valid) criticisms of the industry and how it’s functioned in the past, but they so clearly comes from a place of love for the craft, for the people, and, yes, even for the business. It’s rare that I can find that kind of love, and passion, for the industry in academic, and even critical, writing.”

Ryan Donovan Is Making The Stage An Inclusive Space

“Ryan Donovan, assistant professor of Theater Studies, can pinpoint the moment he decided to become a dancer.

‘It all began at the National Theater in Washington, D.C., when I was seven years old and my mom took me to see the touring production of Cats,” he said. “I was sitting on the aisle, and when those dancers came into the auditorium dressed as cats, one of them came up to me and played with my clip-on tie. I was hooked.’”

What Will It Take for Broadway to Embrace Size-Inclusivity?

“Broadway: For many, it is the ultimate career destination. A place where dreams come true, where escapism takes full form through the telling of living, breathing stories. A place where the “othered” can be accepted, amplified, embraced.

That is, unless you’re deemed too fat.”

“I have to be thin to do this job”: Inside theater’s sizeism

“In particular, musical theater’s lack of body diversity “has been one of this industry’s third-rail issues for decades,” said Ryan Donovan, theater scholar and author of an upcoming book on the body politics of casting contemporary Broadway musicals.”