Fairy Tales in Musical Theatre surveys the importance of the genre of fairy tale to musical theatre in an accessible study that's ideal for students and theatre fans alike.

The book explores narrative theory, discussing the importance of archetypal narratives and characters in musicals, and in psychoanalytical interpretations of fairy tales and their relevance to musicals that draw on fairy tale tropes.

Fairy Tales in Musical Theatre analyses musicals from across the decades which have used fairy tales as an inspiration and source for adaptation, from Once Upon a Mattress and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, to the National Theatre’s The Light Princess and Hex, and the Disney canon that has brought fairy tales and musicals together for years.

Published in Methuen Drama's Topics in Musical Theatre series, Fairy Tales in Musical Theatre is a concise and accessible academic study that highlights the meeting points between key features of both form and genre, demonstrating why the two are such a popular match.

Rebecca Applin Warner has been a freelance composer for theatre for 17 years, primarily writing musicals. Previous publications include chapters in The Oxford Handbook of the British Musical and Reframing the Musical as well as publication in the Studies in Musical Theatre journal and The Musical Theatre Composer as Dramatist (2023, Methuen Drama). She sits on the steering committee of the British Musical Theatre Research Institute.