The sound of musicals' women: Tessitura and the construction of gender in the American musical

This study analyzes the sound of women characters in select musicals from 1943 to 1989. Using tessitura as a quantifiable measurement of the voice, I interpret gender constructions found in the text of the musicals. I view the voice sometimes with and sometimes against prior interpretations of character and other cultural norms to map a historical shift in womens' voices and characterizations in the musical. By isolating moments along a historical trajectory, I trace vocal contributions to the perception and construction of women in the musical.; The study quantifies the tessitura through a system of "voiced beats." The tessitura is interpreted through qualitative definitions of tessitura. Within these definitions, I employ theoretical models of gender performance including race and class indicators. The voice is also considered amidst theories of celebrity, liveness, performance environment, timbre metaphor construction, democratization and methods of training.; The results indicate that the tessitura of womens' voices in the musical has shifted over the fifty years analyzed. The tessitura of the characters overall is slightly lower and more compact. The analysis also indicates the range of women characters in the 1970s and 1980s is slightly wider than many characters in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Interpreting characters with this data, I conclude that the tessitura of the characters offers indications of training methods during particular periods. It also contributes to the perception of gender construction by offering indicators of class, culture, virtuosity, and reflects historical markers of musical theatre practice. Furthermore, the tessitura also offers indicators of the morality of characters through the level of acceptance of shifting musical styles, vocal construction via training and performance styles, and the surrounding political and social environments. The conclusions also indicate that the construction of the womens' voices in musical characters is closely tied to timbre, authorial power, shifts in technology and its effects upon the body of the performer.