Join us as we celebrate the release of Stacy Wolf and Paige Allen's new book Feminist Approaches in Musical Theatre. The authors' conversation will be facilitated by Jill Dolan.

How does a feminist spectator navigate misogynist representations of women? Musicals have always appealed to women as audience members and fans, even as most artists and producers were (and are) men.

Feminist Approaches in Musical Theatre untangles these contradictions that are woven into the very fabric of this beloved, unapologetically commercial art form. This book offers a concise history of feminism's encounter with musicals and outlines methods through which to interpret musicals from a feminist perspective.

Through case studies of shows such as The Music Man, Evita, Fun Home, and SIX, Feminist Approaches outlines techniques for analyzing musical theatre from a feminist perspective, modeling these methods. This foundational book provides readers with an understanding of feminist approaches as well as offering a brief overview of how feminist theory informs the study of musicals themselves.

The event will be held at Labyrinth Books (122 Nassau Street, Princeton, NJ) on December 2 at 6 pm.

Register here: https://www.labyrinthbooks.com/events/allen-wolf.

Paige Allen is a writer, researcher, and storyteller. She holds an MSt in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from the University of Oxford and an AB. in English from Princeton University.

Jill Dolan is the Annan Professor in English and Professor of Theater at Princeton University, where she served for nine years as the Dean of the College. She is the author of many books, including The Feminist Spectator as Critic and Utopia in Performance: Finding Hope at the Theatre. In 2011, she received the George Jean Nathan Award for dramatic criticism for her blog, The Feminist Spectator. Last May, she received Princeton’s Behrmann Award for sustained achievement in the humanities.

Stacy Wolf is Professor of Theater and American Studies at Princeton University. She is author of Beyond Broadway: The Pleasure and Promise of Musical Theatre Across America; Changed for Good: A Feminist History of the Broadway Musical; and A Problem Like Maria: Gender and Sexuality in the American Musical.

When?

• Tuesday, December 2, 2025 at 6 p.m. EST.

Where?

• Labyrinth Books (122 Nassau Street, Princeton, NJ 08542)