What theatrical art forms inspired Broadway musicals?
Definitions of Musical art forms that inspired the Broadway musical:
Operetta - a short opera, usually on a light or humorous theme and typically having spoken dialogue. Notable composers of operettas include Offenbach, Johann Strauss, Lehár, and Gilbert and Sullivan.
Minstrel Show - The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American form of entertainment developed in the early 19th century. Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people specifically of African descent. The shows were performed by mostly white people in make-up or blackface for the purpose of playing the role of black people.
Vaudeville - a farce with music. In the United States the term connotes a light entertainment popular from the mid-1890s until the early 1930s that consisted of 10 to 15 individual unrelated acts, featuring magicians, acrobats, comedians, trained animals, jugglers, singers, and dancers.
Burlesque - A second source for vaudeville was burlesque, which had begun as a series of comic sketches parodying current social trends or artistic trends or other plays to increasingly show off scantily clad females with a small amount of song and dance ability.
Follies and Musical Revues - They were much like vaudeville in their organization, but they did not tour. They opened and closed in one city, usually in a large theatre, and tended to have large budgets that encouraged spectacle in scenery and costume. The Ziegfeld Follies is the most famous example of a follies style show. Florenz Ziegfeld staged a new follies show each year. Each one outdid the next in extravagance. Costumes were full of feathers and jewels and scenery shifted spectacularly. Flying effects were popular. And he hired an enormous chorus of dancing girls, who generally appeared somewhat scantily clad. (See more here)
Watch: “Introduction of Ziegfeld Follies”
Watch any of the following movies:
Ziegfeld Follies (1946)
The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
Ziegfeld Girl (1941)