Vaudeville

Vaudeville (/ˈvɔːdᵊvɪl/; French: [vodvil]) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment. It was especially popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. A typical vaudeville performance is made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill. Types of acts have included popular and classical musicians, singers, dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, female and male impersonators, acrobats, illustrated songs, jugglers, one-act plays or scenes from plays, athletes, lecturing celebrities, minstrels, and movies. A vaudeville performer is often referred to as a "vaudevillian."

Vaudeville developed from many sources, including the concert saloon, minstrelsy, freak shows, dime museums, and literary American burlesque. Called "the heart of American show business," vaudeville was one of the most popular types of entertainment in North America for several decades.

Etymology

The origin of this term is obscure, but is often explained as being derived from the French expression voix de ville ("City Voice"). A second speculation is that it comes from the fifteenth-century songs on satire by poet Olivier Basselin, "Vaux de Vire." In his Connections television series, science historian James Burke claims that the term is a corruption of the French "Vau de Vire" ("Vire River Valley", in English), an area known for its bawdy drinking songs and where Basselin lived. Some, however, preferred the earlier term "variety" to what manager Tony Pastor called its "sissy and Frenchified" successor. Thus, vaudeville was marketed as "variety" well into the 20th century.

Vaudeville (album)

Vaudeville is a 2010 album by Canadian rapper D-Sisive. The first single from the album was '"Ray Charles (Looking For a Star)". The album sees D-Sisive experiment with a broader range of styles, including pop influences such as those seen on the single "I Love a Girl".

Track listing

References

Vaudeville (disambiguation)

Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s.

Vaudeville may also refer to:

See also