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. Readers will be introduced to histories of queerness in musicals as well as methods of how to study musicals by examining their historical context, text, staging, and reception. Featuring four case studies centered around musicals such as The Book of Mormon, Cabaret , Fun Home, La Cage aux Folles, and Rent , this volume examines the stakes of representation in the theatrical genre most often presumed to be openly queer. Published as part of the Topics in Musical Theatre series, this foundational book provides readers with an understanding of the historically shifting terminology of queerness as well as offering a brief overview of how queer theory informs the study of musicals themselves. “[Pushes] the reader to explore beyond the text and score. Donovan's scrupulous breakdown of history, text, production and public reception makes this a must-read for any director or producer considering a revival, whether the production is considered queer or not.” ― Musicals Magazine “Highlights the ways in which the genre has variously reflected, explored, combated, and even exacerbated the processes and effects of marginalization … Highly useful in courses designed to examine the sociopolitical dimensions of musical theatre and to those performing dramaturgical work on specific musicals dealing with [queerness] … Well-rounded and informative. [The volume] will spur the beginning or intermediate musical theatre student or aficionado, or theatre practitioner, to deeper exploration and, perhaps, to new understanding.” ―Dennis Sloan, Theatre Topics 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 . Robert Gordon is Professor of Theatre and Director of the Pinter Centre for Performance and Creative Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London, where in 2003 he introduced the first British MA in Musical Theatre for producers and writers and a new BA in Musical Theatre in 2018. He is author of The Purpose of Playing: Modern Acting Theory in Perspective (2006), Harold Pinter's Theatre of Power (2012) and, with Olaf Jubin and Millie Taylor, British Musical Theatre Since 1950 (2016). Edited collections include The Oxford Handbook of Sondheim Studies (2014) and, with Olaf Jubin, The Oxford Handbook of the British Musical (2016). He has acted and directed in South Africa, the UK, Ireland, the USA, Italy, Russia and the Czech Republic. In 2013, he directed the European première of Kander and Ebb's Steel Pier in Brno, while his musical version of Five Children and It with composer Nick Hutson, received a professional workshop in 2015. He is currently engaged as a writer and actor of Shylock Speaks , which premiered in February 2020. Emilio Méndez is associate professor of Theatre Studies at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He has worked as a director and translator. He has published works on the history of musical theatre in Mexico and Mexican training programmes for theatre. He received the 2015 National University Distinction for Young Academics in the field of Artistic Creation and Cultural Dissemination.