Vaudeville

A term applied in the 15th c. to satirical couplets set to popular airs, and modified in the course of the 17th c. so as to denote satirical ballads, often of a political character. By the 18th c. it was used to refer to performances by the strolling players at the Paris fairs. Because of the monopoly of the Comédie-Française over the classical repertory, plays staged by the théâtres de la foire could only be given in dumb-show, using interpolated choruses based on popular tunes and often parodying the productions of the legitimate theatre. Ironically, this cheeky folk tradition survived and took off after the Napoleonic regime introduced (1806-7) dictatorial controls limiting the number of ‘secondary’ theatres in Paris to four: the Gaîté and Ambigu-Comique, restricted to melodramas, pantomimes, and farces; and the Variétés and Vaudeville, limited to parodies, musical sketches, etc. Within this scheme, vaudeville blossomed into a form of short comedy of manners in prose, enlivened by farcical episodes, rhyming couplets, songs, and dance routines [see Comedy, 2]. Zestful and naughty, it was also topical and irreverent, dominating the light stage for some 30 years after 1815. Offenbach was its natural heir [see Meilhac and Halévy].

[S. Beynon John]