Why is it called vaudeville?

The word vaudeville is derived from an old French term for a satirical song, vaudevire, which is a reference to the Vire valley of France, where the songs originated. In the United States vaudeville acts performed variety shows, using music, comedy, dance, acrobatics, magic, puppets, and even trained animals.

Is Broadway a vaudeville?

The Palace Theatre, which is now a Broadway theatre, was originally a vaudeville house. Playing The Palace Theatre in New York City was the goal of every vaudeville performer. It meant you had made it.

What are the elements of vaudeville?

A typical vaudeville show offered the audience a little bit of everything in eight to fourteen acts or “turns.” The average show had about ten turns and included magic segments, musical numbers (especially solo and duet vocals), dance numbers, combination song-and-dance acts, acrobatics, juggling, comic routines ( …

Why is vaudeville so popular?

The development of vaudeville marked the beginning of popular entertainment as big business, dependent on the organizational efforts of a growing number of white-collar workers and the increased leisure time, spending power, and changing tastes of an urban middle class audience.

What is a dumb act in vaudeville?

Traditionally, dumb acts were used at the opening and closing of a vaudeville show, because the audience could noisily file in and out of the theater without causing other spectators to miss the aural content of the act. These dumb acts exemplify the most transparent transfer from the vaudeville stage to film.

Who performed in vaudeville?

Vaudeville was made of comedians, singers, plate-spinners, ventriloquists, dancers, musicians, acrobats, animal trainers, and anyone who could keep an audience’s interest for more than three minutes.

How did vaudeville end?

The standardized film distribution and talking pictures of the 1930s confirmed the end of vaudeville. By 1930, the vast majority of formerly live theatres had been wired for sound, and none of the major studios were producing silent pictures.

What is a synonym for vaudeville?

In this page you can discover 17 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for vaudeville, like: variety-show, skit, vaud, theater, show, entertainment, cabaret, entr-acte, bawdeville, revue and music-hall.

What was the name for vaudeville in Britain?

variety
Often known as variety, they were to the English what vaudeville was to Americans during the same span of time. In Britain, variety, musical comedy and revue all had common characteristics.