So Katherine mentioned an interest in Vaudeville in a comment to my earlier post. I know a little bit about that from a previous class of mine, so I figured I could let you know what I know!
Vaudeville was established in the last couple decades of the 1800's and remained a popular branch of entertainment until the 1930's or so (someone please tell me if I'm way off). It was basically a menagerie of different types of acts that were all under one headline - sort of like a variety show. It grew out of forms such the burlesque, circus, Wild West, and medicine shows of the early 1800's - effectively borrowing various aspects from each of these forms and combining them into a refined, standardized show which was meant to appeal to the widest range of audience possible.
That's what I remember anyways. If anyone knows more, please post a comment!
Vaudeville acts typically don't have to have a plot that follows through the story. Footlight Theatre (a community theatre company based in Burnaby) puts on a Vaudeville show that runs during the summer at the Burnaby Village Museum. I have had friends in this show, so one summer I checked it out and it was basically a lineup of classic songs (ex. I Love A Piano, Can-Can, etc.) and there were small sketches/one-liners between these songs. They typically were similar to jokes that we would consider corny (Why did the chicken cross the road?).
ReplyDeleteI could assume that the types of performances in each vaudeville show varied from song and dance to acrobatics to basically any "special skill" that one could find under the sun.
That's cool! Thanks for writing all that down Theo! So I guess with Jacob's points, vaudeville sounds kinda like pantomime-meets-MGM classics a la 1920's minus the plot :P
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