“Power’s Not Supposed to Look Like Me”: An Analysis and Creative Exploration of the Narrating Chorus of Black Women in American Musical Theater through Little Shop of Horrors (1982) and Macbeth in Stride (2024)

Abstract

Inquiries about power and relationships are at the core of this thesis. This research investigates the role of the trope of the narrating Chorus of Black women in American musical theater as written and as performed. Through the Chorus, it elucidates the relationship among race, gender, and narrative power in performance. How can the Chorus possess the most narrative power and foresight with the least amount of individuality and agency? What is the relationship between the audience and the Chorus? How did the Chorus of three Black women become a trope in American musical theater, and what does it reveal about the relationship among gender, race, and narrative power in American culture and society? This research interrogates this trope through a close reading of the musical Little Shop of Horrors (1982) and a practice-based approach to Whitney White’s Macbeth in Stride (2024). Through an analysis of the libretto and directing Macbeth in Stride, this project underscores White’s subversion of the Chorus. Through casting choices, conversations in the rehearsal room with actors, and design decisions that embody themes of the show, this thesis pairs knowledge of the Chorus with theaterpractice.