Eight Nights a Week: How Broadway Turned Backbreaking

Ever wonder why Elphaba belts so high in “Defying Gravity,” why we love to watch Evan Hansen unravel, or why Broadway dance became so gymnastic? In this talk, Dr. Ryan Donovan (Duke University) explores how performing in Broadway musicals became backbreaking. Broadway performers have to belt higher, dig deeper, and dance harder than ever. Broadway is hard work. It takes not only exceptional talent but exceptional stamina to survive eight shows a week. 

About Ryan Donovan

Ryan Donovan is Assistant Professor of Theater Studies at Duke University. He is the author of Broadway Bodies: A Critical History of Conformity (Oxford), winner of the 2024 Outstanding Book Award from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education and recognized as one of NPR’s 2023 Books We Love. His other books are Queer Approaches in Musical Theatre (Methuen Drama), and The Routledge Companion to Musical Theatre, which he co-edited. His articles appear in Theatre Journal, Theatre Survey, The Journal of American Drama and Theatre, and Studies in Musical Theatre. A professional dancer-turned-scholar, Ryan is an alumnus of The New School (BA, Liberal Studies) and the Theatre and Performance PhD program at The Graduate Center, City University of New York. He is President and co-founder of the International Society for the Study of Musicals. Ryan’s next book, Eight Nights a Week: How Broadway Turned Backbreaking, will be published by Oxford University Press in 2027.
 

RSVP link coming soon!