Demographic analysis of creators and characters in musical theatre repertoire anthologies

Work Type

Article

Publication Date

2025

Department

Musical Theater; Vocal Pedagogy; Voice/Opera

Keywords

canon formation; cultural inclusion; editorial practice; musical theatre historiography; performance identity; repertoire circulation; representation politics

Abstract

Previous research has found limited demographic diversity in resource materials used in music theory, art song and opera repertoire, music education and singing competitions. Musical theatre (MT) resources have not yet received a similar assessment. The objective of this study is to assess demographic diversity as seen in the composers, lyricists and characters of musical selections included in MT resources. Publisher websites, commercial search engines, academic libraries and author collections were searched for MT anthologies curated for teen or adult users. Generalized organization defines resources without a specific demographic, show or identity marker as the inclusion basis for the resource’s musical selections. MT competition lists were collected and analysed to compare the usability of resources with the requirements of the professional market. Data collection from 99 anthologies yielded 355 unique creators and 9198 songs with repetition. Songs were written primarily by straight (n = 6195, 67.4%), white (n = 8886, 95.5%) or male (n = 8516, 92.6%) creators. Significant alignment exists between musical selections in the analysed resources and those in competition lists. MT anthologies currently available on the market do not contain musical selections written by creators with diverse demographics.

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