Vaudeville
For other uses, see Vaudeville (disambiguation). A promotional poster for the Sandow Trocadero Vaudevilles (1894), showing dancers, clowns, trapeze artists, costumed dog, singers and costumed actors Vaudeville ( / ˈ v ɔː d ( ə ) v ɪ l / ; French: [vodvil] ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of 1700. A vaudeville is a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation. It was originally a kind of dramatic composition or light poetry, usually a comedy, interspersed with songs or ballets. It became popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s, but the idea of Vaudeville's theatre changed radically from its French antecedent. A typical American vaudeville performance was 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...