Music hall
Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Britain between bold and scandalous Victorian Music Hall and subsequent, more respectable Variety differ. The music hall involved a mixture of popular songs, comedy, specialty acts, and variety entertainment. The term is derived from a type of theatre or venue in which such entertainment took place. In North America, vaudeville was in some ways analogous to British music hall, featuring rousing songs and comic acts.
Originating in saloon bars within public houses during the 1830s, music hall entertainment became increasingly popular with audiences. So much so that during the 1850s, some public houses were demolished, and specialized music hall theatres developed in their place. These theatres were designed chiefly so that people could consume food and alcohol and smoke tobacco in the auditorium while the entertainment took place. This differed from the conventional type of theatre, which seats the audience in stalls with a separate bar-room. Major music halls were based around London. Early examples included: the Canterbury Music Hall in Lambeth, Wilton's Music Hall in Tower Hamlets, and The Middlesex in Drury Lane, otherwise known as the Old Mo.
By the mid-19th century, the halls cried out for many new and catchy songs. As a result, professional songwriters were enlisted to provide the music for many star performers, such as Marie Lloyd, Dan Leno, Little Tich, and George Leybourne. All manner of other entertainment was performed: male and female impersonators, lions comiques, mime artists and impressionists, trampoline acts, and comic pianists (such as John Orlando Parry and George Grossmith) were just a few of the many types of entertainment the audiences could expect to find over the next forty years.
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