ABSTRACT
This chapter is devoted to the analysis of musical performance, which is not only based on aural experience but also refers to the visual, and in many cases is related to corporal representation reflecting gender identities.1 Musical-theatrical performance, with its aural and visual aspects, offers diverse opportunities to play with gender identities and fulfill gendered dreams. As with the genre of opera, which was also constructed as a space for gender crossing (where men could perform as women and women as men), there is thus an implied opposition to the “real” world that is largely ruled by the politics of definition and separation.
