Vaudevilles

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A variety entertainment popular in the early 20th century featuring a mix of specialty acts, comedians, and musicians
2. A theatrical performance format characterized by a series of short acts, including comedy sketches, songs, and dances
3. An entertainment genre marked by diverse performances, often involving multiple acts in a show that were aimed at family audiences

Etymology: The plural "vaudevilles" is simply the plural of "vaudeville", so the story belongs to the singular. The noun comes from French "vaudeville", and its most famous origin is a place rather than a person: it is usually traced to the Vau-de-Vire, a valley in Normandy associated with the 15th-century poet Olivier Basselin, whose drinking songs were said to be sung there. The name later became attached to light, satirical songs in French comedy, and by the 18th century "vaudeville" in French theatre meant a short comic play interspersed with popular tunes. English borrowed the word from French and, in the United States in the late 19th century, it came to describe a bill of separate acts (singers, acrobats, comedians, magicians) presented one after another in a single evening. The plural form therefore refers to that succession of distinct turns, each complete in itself, which is why the entertainment felt like a collection of unrelated performances rather than a single play.

Synonyms: variety shows, musical comedies