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Meg Doherty is sharing her thoughts on the current state of body inclusivity in the world of musical theater. In response to a comment, the Broadway alum took to TikTok to discuss body representation—and the lack thereof—on the Broadway stage.
The response came after she was asked whether the Wicked character ShenShen could be considered a “fat track” — in other words, a role that is usually played by a plus-size performer. She confirmed this to be true, but added that the casting hinges on several factors.
“As much as we all talk about how far we have to go in representation for a lot of different types of diversity and things like that, Broadway’s crazy when it comes to body diversity,” she shared. “The average size of a woman in this country is 14-16 and that’s not happening on Broadway.” She went on to discuss some positive steps forward, offering examples of plus-size actors who have played roles that traditionally were not written for them.
“Usually roles that are played by fat people are written specifically to be played specifically by a fat person,” she said, pointing out Tracy Turnblad in Hairspray as a character whose identity and story arc are largely related to her size. “The fact that we have had characters in the last few seasons on Broadway that were just written to be people and they happened to be played by fat actors, is fantastic. I would love to see more of it. We have a very long way to go in that kind of representation because it really is a very, very thin industry.”
Doherty says this requires some creative solutions, including the inclusion of plus-size performers earlier in the process. “I think people are much more likely to be open-minded when they are first building something, versus a long-running show where it’s like ‘We’re looking for people who look like this, and move like that and that’s what the original person looked like.’ [This] is why ShenShen has stayed the way she is for over 23 years.”
Meg Doherty is a musical theater performer who has played ShenShen and served as an understudy for Madame Morrible in Wicked on Broadway. She also lent her voice to background vocals in Wicked: For Good, alongside several other Wicked alums like Allie Trimm, Lindsay Mendez, and Alyssa Fox, among others.
Photo Credit: Bruce Glikas
