Introduction

Abstract

This chapter uses feminist theory to provide an original understanding of how musical theater could be, written by or for women, to demonstrate for audiences the range and scope of possibilities in the realm of motherhood. This book will show the current limits of the display of critical imagination on Broadway, in the portrayal of motherhood. The current Broadway musical climate ironically forecloses the possibilities of non-traditional ways of representing motherhood, by employing pre-Modern binary distinctions. The mother in the musical must be allowed to write herself, thus be allowed greater time on stage, especially through song. The new iterations should not follow a stereotype or script but should allow for the expression of all types of motherhood, both positive and negative, generative and subversive.