Disability and the American stage musical

This chapter offers a brief history detailing the emergence of the able-bodied triple-threat performer and discuss two primary modes of disability representation in musical theatre: narrative prosthesis, or a dependency on metaphors of disability, and disabilities woven into the fabric of a character and plot that compel physical performance onstage – what the author calling diegetic disabilities. It intends to open conversations regarding the organization of musical theatre around the able body and begin to answer how and why disability is a significant concern of the American stage musical. The most common example of disability in musical theatre is a rhetorical invocation in musicals in which there are otherwise no disabled characters at all. We can easily find examples of ableist language in everyday speech: a movie may be “lame,” a highway can be “crippled” by a snowstorm, your “psycho” neighbor or co-worker, and many more besides.