Happy Women’s History Month! Women’s stories are not just in books. Real-life women have inspired some of the most beloved shows in Broadway history, where they lead the narratives and clearly tell their own stories.
Whether their lives are being told on Broadway now, like Gypsy Rose Lee, or in past seasons, like the suffragists—these real-life trailblazers and history-makers remind audiences that women’s voices deserve to be heard and celebrated.
1. Suffs (Alice Paul, Carrie Chapman Catt, Ida B. Wells)
Suffs premiered on Broadway in 2024, earning a Tony win that same year for book and score (with its creator Shaina Taub making theatre history by being the first woman to win both prizes by herself). The show brought the story of suffragist Alice Paul—along with the Women's Suffrage movement's victories and failures leading up to the ratification of the 19th Amendment—to the stage. Paul was an outspoken advocate for women's suffrage, and strategized movements like the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession, the Silent Sentinels protests, and more.
The musical also features several other real-life suffragists: Ida B. Wells, Carrie Chapman Catt, Lucy Burns, Inez Milholland, Ruza Wenclawska, Doris Stevens, and more. As Taub told Playbill: "Suffs is, in a lot of ways, both a celebration of the suffs and a cautionary tale about the perils of progressive infighting." Though Suffs is closed on Broadway, it is currently readying a national tour and the show will eventually be broadcast on PBS.
2. Evita (Eva Perón)
Evita tells the story of the real-life Eva Perón, an actor who became the powerful and controversial first lady of Argentina. Perón became a central figure of Argentine culture, and impacted many through her charitable organization, the Eva Perón Foundation—which advocated for women's suffrage. She died young at 33, but the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical makes sure her legacy, and complexity, lives on. The original 1979 Broadway production won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical and for Patti LuPone's performance in the title role. The show also contains a number of songs that have become musical theatre standards, including"Don't Cry for Me Argentina" and "Another Suitcase in Another Hall."
In recent years, there's been multiple attempts to bring Evita back to Broadway, with Sammi Cannold directing a version for New York City Center in 2019 and Jamie Lloyd directing an upcoming West End version this summer. Which version will come to Broadway? Stay tuned for the rainbow tour.
3. SIX: The Musical (Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anna of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and Catherine Parr)
Remember them from PBS? The stories of the six wives of Henry VIII are brought to the stage in this musical from Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, with each character modeled sonically after a different pop diva (from Beyoncé to Adele to Ariana Grande).
Most Americans know the general gist of the story of Henry VIII and his six wives; he had six of them and beheaded two, one of whom was the mother of Queen Elizabeth I. Well, prepare to be educated at SIX, as each wife of Henry VIII steps forward to tell her story—and to show the audience that she was more than "divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived." Premiering to much fanfare in the West End in 2019, SIX quickly transferred to Broadway—the show has been entertaining (and educating) audiences on both sides of the Atlantic since, showing that there's a robust audience for women's stories set to a "sick beat."
4. Funny Girl (Fanny Brice)
We would be shocked if you haven’t heard “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” but did you know Fanny Brice was a real person? The actress, comedian, model, and singer was the creator and star of the popular radio comedy series The Baby Snooks Show. In addition to numerous radio shows, Brice was a headliner of the Ziegfeld Follies, and a Broadway performer—her signature song was "My Man."
The musical Funny Girl, based on her life, premiered on Broadway in 1964, with Barbra Streisand starring. The show made Streisand such a star (arguably "the greatest star") that she reprised her performance for the 1968 film adaptation. Funny Girl was revived in 2022 with Beanie Feldstein and, later, Lea Michele as Bryce. The show is currently touring nationally now.
5. Fun Home (Alison Bechdel)
Based on cartoonist Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir of the same name, Fun Home tracks Bechdel's journey of self-discovery as she comes to terms with her identity as a lesbian. The show also doesn't shy away from Bechdel's complicated family dynamics, particularly her relationship with her closeted father.
The musical won a Tony Award for Best Musical. Its creators, Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron, also made history for being the first all-female writing team to win a Tony for Best Score and Best Book. It was also a watershed moment for lesbian representation onstage: "Even musicals about women, where women are the central characters and not just a romantic lead and really have a story of their own [are rare]," Bechdel said in a 2013 Playbill interview. "The moment with Small Alison singing about the butch delivery woman feels huge. To have a child sing about desire and identification; it's brilliant." This year marks the 10th anniversary of Fun Home's opening on Broadway which means it's a good time to say, "Caption: Happy Birthday Fun Home!"
6. Gypsy (Gypsy Rose Lee)
Based on the memoir of famed burlesque performer (and talk show host) Gypsy Rose Lee, Gypsy is currently running at Broadway’s Majestic Theatre. The show follows the life of Rose (six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald), an ambitious stage mother who relentlessly pushes her daughters, June (Jordan Tyson) and Louise (Joy Woods), into show business.
In the Jule Styne-Stephen Sondheim-Arthur Laurents musical, the character of Louise is based on Lee, and the character of June is based on her sister, June Havoc. But Gypsy sets itself apart from other musicals about famed stage performers. For one, it bills itself as a "fable" instead of being strict bio-musical—freeing it from needing to cast actors who completely resemble Lee and her mother. Secondly, instead of Lee, her mother Rose is the main character, singing some of the most beloved songs in musical theatre history: "Rose's Turn" and "Everything's Coming Up Roses." It shows that many times, a compelling story can be found just beyond the spotlight.
7. The Miracle Worker (Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan)
This family drama by William Gibson is based on the memoirs of disability rights activist and writer Helen Keller. The Miracle Worker traces Keller's life from early childhood in 1880s Alabama, when an illness left her blind and deaf, to the day that her teacher Annie Sullivan helped Keller find her first words.
The Miracle Worker first premiered on Broadway in 1959, where it won four Tony Awards, including Best Play and for Anne Bancroft's performance as Keller. It has since become a beloved story, one that has been told, and retold, in schools and community theatres around the country.
8. Lempicka (Tamara de Lempicka)
Lempicka, which premiered on Broadway in spring 2024, follows Tamara de Lempicka, an aristocrat who fled with her husband from the turmoil of the Russian Revolution to Paris, where she finds fame as a painter. Besides her paintings of modern, independent women, Lempicka was also openly bisexual, something that is dramatized in the Carson Kreitzer-Matt Gould musical through the slightly fictionalized character of Rafaela. Eden Espinosa and Amber Iman originated the roles of Lempicka and Rafaela, respectively, and each received a Tony Award nomination for her performance.
“Women are forced to make difficult decisions every day of their lives…And a lot of times, we’re pegged a certain way for it: Cold, ambitious, unfeeling, difficult," Espinosa told Playbill last year about why she wanted to tell Lempicka's story. "And my intrigue with [Lempicka] was to find the humanity...You don't have to like her. I'm not asking you to, but I want you to have empathy for her struggle and feel for her.”
9. Side Show (Daisy and Violet Hilton)
This musical by Bill Russell and Henry Krieger is inspired by the true story of conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton—who toured in sideshow, vaudeville, and burlesque circuits throughout the 1920s and 1930s. The first known conjoined twins to be born in the U.K., the Hiltons were forced to perform throughout their childhood, until they sued their managers in 1931 and were legally emancipated. After being freed from their contract, the sisters returned to vaudeville; as that genre of performance fell out of fashion, the twins faded into obscurity.
Though the original 1997 Broadway production of Side Show only ran for 91 performances, it was beloved for its humane portrayal of the sisters; it earned four Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical. A revised version, that contained more historical details about the Hiltons, opened on Broadway in 2014. Though the twins died tragically in 1969, Side Show ensures that their story and struggles are not forgotten.
10. The Unsinkable Molly Brown (Margaret Brown)
The Unsinkable Molly Brown tells the rags-to-riches story of Margaret “Molly” Brown—who was a champion of women’s rights, labor rights, and immigration reform. Though you might know her, most famously, as a survivor of the Titanic. The Meredith Willson and Richard Morris tells her full story.
The original production opened on Broadway in 1960, starring Tammy Grimes, who won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. The show ran for two years. It was soon adapted into a musical starring Debbie Reynolds. A reworked version—which portrayed Brown as a more progressive and modern woman—played the Abrons Arts Center Off-Broadway in 2020, with Beth Malone (of Fun Home) starring.
Those are just some of the many Broadway shows about real women. Below are some more. What's your favorite show about a real-life woman?
