Women Writing Musicals: The Legacy That the History Books Left Out

Broadway producer Tepper (The Untold Stories of Broadway, Vols. 1–4) offers an informative and well-researched look at the women who created musicals on and off Broadway. Though information is scarce, there is evidence that many of the musicals of the 18th century were created and produced by actresses and singers. By the 20th century, women began to take a more active role in songwriting and writing books for Broadway. Most productions were produced with the backing or association of well-known men family members. For example, Mary Rodgers, daughter of composer Richard Rodgers, had a successful run with her award-winning Once Upon a Mattress. However, during the 1960s and 1970s, women slowly became more accepted as talented dramatists and songwriters, Tepper writes. This is especially true for women of color: Vinnette Carroll became the first Black director of a Broadway production (Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope), and Ntozake Shange’s landmark musical poem For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf won Tony Awards and, later, was adapted into a film.