vaudeville

Etymology

Borrowed from French vaudeville.

noun

1. (historical, uncountable) A style of multi-act theatrical entertainment which originated from France and flourished in Europe and North America from the 1880s through the 1920s.
2. (historical, countable) An entertainment in this style.
   “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. January 28, 2008, Ben Brantley, “Ta-ta! Give ’Em the Old Existential Soft-Shoe”, in New York Times