“Suddenly Seymour: The Girl That’s Inside You”: Voice, Gender, and Trans* in Musical Theater

Abstract

This thesis offers a sensorial investigation of the gender-ambiguous voice both to argue for trans* female performers’ potential in musical theater and to explore the relationship between gender and voice. Although trans* performers have been featured increasingly in musicals, they remain significantly absent in non-trans*-developed roles. One exception, however, is Michaela Jaé Rodriguez as Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors, whose feature drew attention to the gender-ambiguous sound of trans* women for their testosterone-developed vocal folds. This incongruence between norms of feminine sound and the trans* female voice has been studied by medical sciences as gender dysphonia only to “cure” the voice (de Bodt et al. 2015, 320). Yet it is of primary importance to this research to argue that it is not the gender-ambiguous voice, but the normative structures of identity that complicates trans* existence. By analyzing musical theater, this thesis unveils how one can reconceive the gender dysphonic voice as beautiful on the premise of an aesthetic of difference. I first perform critical readings of gender dysphoria and gender dysphonia to redefine the latter as an affective state that aims to satisfy gender normativity, while simultaneously complexifying it through non-normative attempts at sonic femininity through incongruous voicing. I then shed light on the complicated dynamic of gender communication through voice in musical theater, yet also how the gender-ambiguous voice can excel under the welcoming conditions of rock-horror. Finally, I contend how the gender dysphonic trans* female voice can restructure reality-building, question the performativity of authenticity, and problematize contexts of binarized normativity through a concept-based, musicology-informed dramaturgical analysis of Rodriguez’s voice as Audrey in LSOH. By relying on voice science and studies, trans* studies, and musical theater studies to scrutinize the premise of sameness in Western aesthetics, I argue trans* female voices/performers are valuable to musical theater and trans* emancipation precisely for showcasing the sonic mutability of gender.