vaudeville

vaudeville
    n 1: a variety show with songs and comic acts etc. [syn:
         {vaudeville}, {music hall}]
    

Vaudeville \Vaude"ville\, n. [F., fr. Vau-de-vire, a village in
   Normandy, where Olivier Basselin, at the end of the 14th
   century, composed such songs.] [Written also {vaudevil}.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. A kind of song of a lively character, frequently embodying
      a satire on some person or event, sung to a familiar air
      in couplets with a refrain; a street song; a topical song.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A theatrical piece, usually a comedy, the dialogue of
      which is intermingled with light or satirical songs, set
      to familiar airs.
      [1913 Webster]

            The early vaudeville, which is the forerunner of the
            opera bouffe, was light, graceful, and piquant.
                                                  --Johnson's
                                                  Cyc.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. a {variety show} when performed live in a theater (see
      above); as, to play in vaudeville; a vaudeville actor.
      [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
    

121 Moby Thesaurus words for "vaudeville":
      Broadway, Grand Guignol, Passion play, Tom show, antimasque,
      audience success, ballet, bomb, broadcast drama, burlesque,
      burlesque show, carnival, charade, circus, cliff hanger,
      closet drama, comedy drama, critical success, daytime serial,
      dialogue, documentary drama, drama, dramalogue, dramatic play,
      dramatic series, duodrama, duologue, entertainment industry,
      epic theater, experimental theater, extravaganza, failure, flop,
      gasser, giveaway, happening, hit, hit show, improvisational drama,
      legit, legitimate drama, legitimate stage, masque, melodrama,
      minstrel show, miracle, miracle play, monodrama, monologue,
      morality, morality play, music drama, musical revue, mystery,
      mystery play, off Broadway, off-off-Broadway, opera, pageant,
      panel show, pantomime, pastoral, pastoral drama, piece, play,
      playland, playlet, problem play, psychodrama, quiz show,
      radio drama, repertory drama, review, revue, sensational play,
      serial, show, show biz, show business, sitcom, situation comedy,
      sketch, skit, soap, soap opera, sociodrama, spectacle, stage play,
      stage show, stage world, stagedom, stageland, stock,
      straight drama, strawhat, strawhat circuit, success, summer stock,
      suspense drama, tableau, tableau vivant, talk show, teleplay,
      television drama, television play, the boards, the footlights,
      the scenes, the stage, the theater, theater of cruelty,
      theater world, theatromania, theatrophobia, total theater, variety,
      variety show, vaudeville show, vehicle, word-of-mouth success,
      work