vaudeville

Definition

A style of multi-act theatrical entertainment which originated from France and flourished in Europe and North America from the 1880s through the 1920s.

Etymology

Borrowed from French vaudeville.

Example Sentences

• "Mr. Sterling was born in Baltimore on June 24, 1915, to Jack Sexton and Edna Cable, veteran performers in vaudeville, showboats and stock companies."
• "“Me, Myself and I,” directed by Emily Mann and engagingly acted by a cast that includes the invaluable Albee veteran Brian Murray, is in the tradition of Mr. Albee’s mid- and late-career works like “The Marriage Play” and “The Play About the Baby”: fragmented philosophical vaudevilles that turn the most fundamental questions of identity into verbal soft-shoes."