1880-1883United States / Canada

Vaudeville

Also known as variety stage

A historically grounded entry for vaudeville as live variety entertainment, with emphasis on its North American circuit, mixed-bill format, and influence on later mass entertainment.

Origins and context

The form developed from 19th-century popular stage entertainments and became a major urban live-entertainment circuit in North America.

United StatesCanada

The sound

Characteristics

Song
Dance
Comedy sketches
Magic
Acrobatic turns
Novelty acts

How to listen

Listen for

Rapid shifts between acts
Comic timing
Showy vocal delivery
Song-and-dance polish
Novelty staging

Mood

Brisk
Playful
Crowded
Theatrical

History

Vaudeville grew out of earlier 19th-century entertainments, including minstrel shows, medicine shows, circus acts, and music hall. The Library of Congress describes it as the most popular form of live entertainment in the United States from the early 1880s through the end of the 1920s, and notes that its bill typically ran through seven to ten acts built around a headliner. (loc.gov) Its audience and many of its performers came from the urban working and immigrant classes, and the circuit helped turn local routines into nationally recognizable material. As film and radio took over in the 1920s and 1930s, vaudeville faded, but its influence carried into musical comedy, motion pictures, radio, television, and later variety formats. (loc.gov)

Notable artists