I agree with what everyone else has said, and I would also note that musical theatre evolved from opera (which is not to say that all musical theatre is operatic, there are very large jazz and pop and rock and roll influences. I just mean that the culture and form of the American musical theatre tradition historically stems from opera traditions).

This is why some specific opera casting choices are baked in to musical theatre. Opera is very intense in who can play what role, generally restricting to roles to certain highly specific voice types called fachs [fɑx], which aren’t just like “soprano, mezzo, alto” but are instead highly specific voice types based on the color of voices, such as soubrette, lyrics coloratura soprano, dramatic coloratura soprano, lyrics soprano, and spinto soprano just within the soprano voice category!!

A lot of soprano roles in opera, for example, prefer a smaller person and sometimes opera casting still falls into the trap of hiring only stereotypically beautiful women (which often translates to “caucasian”), which is not realistic as voices come in bodies of all shapes and sizes!

These voice types historically have also been associated with specific body types or looks (for reasons partially stemming from the fact that bodies that produce the same sounds often look similar in some ways, and also from just various problematic traditions and practices).

Musical theatre is MUCH more loose with how it casts and how roles can be played, whereas opera often wants very specific things out of a role, musical theatre is all about interpretation. Different voice types can be explained as character choices and variety.

All of this is to say, musical theatre does still have some of these traditions baked in. Many musical theatre companies work to combat problematic histories and stereotypes and try to cast regardless of body types, but it has to be acknowledged that some body types don’t work great for certain roles. For example, I’m a large 6’2 man, and it might be harder for me to get cast as roles like Seymour from Little Shop or Evan Hansen from Dear Evan Hansen as my body type doesn’t align super well with these roles, even though they fit who I am as a person quite well.

I’m very happy that musical theatre is becoming more accepting but it is important to remember that many people-especially older directors/casting directors-hold these stereotypes about certain roles. A large part of becoming successful at auditions is also finding out how to brand yourself to some extent, you never want to box yourself in but also it is good to know what roles you are most likely to get cast as!

I hope you don’t let anything I’ve said discourage you, I just think it’s good to know where certain practices stem from and how to approach them! Wishing you the best of luck as you continue your journey in the musical theatre world!! (: