From Operetta to Musical: A Journey of Popular Entertainment
- Jonathan Gunson
- 2 days ago
- 16 min read
Introduction
Musical theatre is one of the most successful forms of theatre and popular entertainment in the world. Where, however, does it come from?
One could argue that musical theatre can be traced back as far as ancient Greece, with Greek theatre integrating music, poetry, and dance into dramatic performances, sometimes within the context of religious festivals and with the importance of the chorus narrating and commenting on the story and actions (Kenrick, 2017). One could then look to similar traditions in ancient Rome, sometimes including musical interludes (Kenrick, 2017). One could then move through the religious and liturgical dramas of the Middle Ages, with Church chants and hymns, often taking the form of morality plays and mystery plays, in churches or public squares, laying foundations for performance conventions, gradually integrating secular elements and more complex musical accompaniment. This was followed by the Renaissance and the earliest forms of opera in the late 16th century, blending music and theatre to tell dramatic stories (Kenrick, 2017). Whilst opera is a distinct form, the groundwork was thus already being laid for modern musicals with their combination of narrative, music, and spectacle. This article will argue, however, that the true beginnings must be seen as the 18th and 19th centuries, with the ballad operas and operettas.
This article will trace the origins of the musical, from the early operettas of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, through the Golden Age of the Musical and Broadway from roughly the 1940s to the 1960s, the innovations in the concept musical, and developments into the contemporary era.
Operetta and Light Opera
Before discussing musical theatre, it is perhaps appropriate to begin with operetta, a form of light opera, for it is important to consider its contribution to the development of musical theatre. This is a form of performing arts which brings together elements of opera with lighter, often happier and comedic or romantic themes, and often with a happy ending rather than ending in tragedy. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Golden Age of Operetta, this form of performance had gained international popularity and influenced musical theatre worldwide.
Operetta is a form of opera aimed at entertainment rather than presenting the more serious, grandiose themes of traditional opera, and it often includes a lighter tone, and might also incorporate spoken dialogue (Grout & Williams, 2003). Its musical, orchestral style, length, and character are less ambitious and demanding than traditional opera (Grout & Williams, 2003; Lamb, 2001b; Kennedy, 2005; Opera Vivrà, 2013). It emerged as a recognisable form in the mid-19th century in France, leading to many different national styles (Lamb, 2001b); the term first appears in Italy, and is then acknowledged in Paris as an independent genre in around 1850, before moving to Vienna as a centre when Paris fell to Prussia (Kennedy, 2005). Key features which distinguish operetta and light opera from grand opera include light, accessible music, such as dance rhythms, less heavy or dramatic orchestration than grand opera, spoken dialogue which bridges the gap between opera and musical theatre, humour and satire with comic plots and parody, as well as social and political commentary, accessible themes of romantic entanglements and mistaken identities, and dance numbers with an entertaining atmosphere (Grout & Williams, 2003; Traubner, 2003).
The ballad opera, a form of light or comic opera, became popular in England in the 18th century, using existing popular tunes with new, often satirical lyrics, perhaps the most famous of which is John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera (1728), satirising politics, high society, and Italian opera, and laying the foundations for the musical comedies of the 20th century and helping to shape later comic opera and operetta traditions (Kenrick, 2017; Kozinn, 1990; Taylor & Rush, 2022).
The origin of operetta can be traced back to the 17th and 18th centuries, and some of the light musical theatre emerged from these comic traditions in Europe. In France, opéra comique developed during the early 18th century and brought together sung music with spoken dialogue, in contrast to grand opera, which was entirely sung, and it included lighter subjects with amusing or sentimental plots, such as André Grétry's Zémire et Azor (1771) (Traubner, 2003). Another French example is opéra-bouffe (Gänzl, 2019), again with spoken dialogue interspersed with musical numbers, and with dance and singable melodies (Lamb, 2001b). In Germany, Singspiel emerged with singing and dialogue, and often involves folk elements or fantastical stories, such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute , 1791), which in turn influenced later operetta styles (Lamb, 2000). Despite this, there was an increasing need for shorter, lighter works to opéra comique, which were becoming increasingly serious and indeed, as with Georges Bizet’s Carmen (1875), actually had tragic endings, with the comique coming to mean something more like humanistic or real life (Lamb, 2001b). This developed into the rise of operetta.
Operetta fully emerged as a distinct genre in the 19th century, in particular through French and Austrian composers. Louis-Auguste Florimond Ronger, who went by the pseudonym Hervé, wrote the opérette, L'Ours et le pacha in 1842 and, in 1848, a one-act tableau grotesque which was a burlesque on Don Quixote entitled Don Quichotte et Sancho Panca, this sometimes being viewed as the first operetta (Traubner, 2003). Other works include Le petit Faust and Mam’zelle Nitouche. Key, however, in the development of operetta, is Offenbach. Jacques Offenbach (1819–1880), a German-born French composer and cellist, composed operettas that brought together witty librettos, catchy melodies, and satirical humour, which often made fun of political and social conventions (Faris, 1980; Gammond, 1980). Perhaps the most famous work of Offenbach was Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld, 1858), which parodied the classical myth of Orpheus and indeed opera itself, including the “Can-Can” dance, with his influence shaping operetta across Europe (Traubner, 2003). In 1849, he obtained, in 1849, permission to open the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens, offering two of three satirical one-act sketches, which subsequently turned into a full evening performance (Lamb, 2001a), although these performances were bound by the rules of the Parisian police prefecture (Sorba, 2006). Other works include The Tales of Hoffman, and the works of Offenbach went on to tour Europe. Both Offenbach and Hervé are attributed as the fathers of French operetta, with Hervé having laid the groundwork, whilst Offenbach developed the concept as it is known today (Strömberg, 2018; Traubner, 2004).
In Vienna, meanwhile, Johann Strauss II (1825–1899), known as the “Waltz King”, led the way in operetta, emphasising dance rhythms such as the waltz, polka, and march, as well as romantic and light-hearted stories (Lamb, 2001b). One such example is Die Fledermaus (The Bat, 1874), a comedy which covers mistaken identities, disguises, and high-society antics, often performed at New Year. Other important Austrian composers from this period include Franz Lehár (1870–1948), whose Die lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow, 1905) became an international sensation and remains a staple of the repertoire today (Lamb, 2001a; Traubner, 2003). Lehár’s success also helped to maintain operetta’s popularity, even as musical theatre began evolving in new directions (Traubner, 2003).
In England, the operettas of librettist W.S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan remain hugely popular, including on the amateur dramatics circuit, with numerous amateur societies dedicated to their production, as well as professional productions by leading companies such as the English National Opera. The influence of Offenbach reached England by the 1860s, with Sullivan composing Cox and Box (1866) as a reaction to Les deux aveugles (1855) (Lamb, 2001b). This collaboration was later called the Savoy Operas under the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company of Richard D’Oyly Carte. Their most famous works include H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), The Pirates of Penzance (1879), and The Mikado (1885), which offer witty and satirical librettos with political commentary, parody British society and institutions, and combining operatic formality with accessible humour (Gänzl, 2001). One example of this is The Mikado, with its commentary on the death penalty (English National Opera, n.d.). Another particularly notable political example is Iolanthe. These works are important in bridging operetta with the later development of American musical theatre, and influenced the form and style of light musical productions (Lamb, 2000).
The tradition of English operetta continued into the 1890s and a period marked by Edwardian musical comedy, whilst Viennese operettas such as The Merry Widow were successfully translated for the English stage (Scott, 2019). This embrace of operetta internationally correlated with the development of the West End in London and Broadway in New York (Scott, 2019), with Americans being introduced to operetta in 1878 with Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore (Bordman, 1981).
Opera began to lose favour in the 1930s to musical theatre (Traubner, 2004). As jazz, musical comedy, and the Broadway musical emerged, the popularity of operetta somewhat – although far from entirely – declined in the 20th century, but its influence persisted (Lamb, 2000). This includes in musical comedy and Broadway, with spoken dialogue, catchy tunes, and accessible stories, so much a part of the American musical theatre tradition, and with early Broadway shows drawing on the conventions of operetta, such as blending operatic components with popular music styles. Further, the distinction between opera, operetta, and musical continues to be fluid. An example of this fluidity might include Porgy and Bess (1935) by George Gershwin, an opera which utilises folk and jazz music (Opera Vivrà, 2013).
Operetta therefore presents an important chapter in the history of Western musical theatre, in a sense bridging the gap between grand opera and popular musical entertainment. With their origins in comic and folk traditions, operetta evolved through the works of Offenbach, Strauss, Gilbert and Sullivan, Lehár, and continues into this day. They are also important in the understanding of contemporary musical theatre. In this sense, Operetta can be seen as a precursor of the modern musical theatre, or musical (Jones, 2003), and traits of the operetta can be found in musical theatre works, such as those by Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, and Stephen Sondheim (Kennedy, 2005).
The American Musical
The development of musical theatre in the United States of America began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Drawing on European operetta, minstrel shows, vaudeville, burlesque, and variety, the early American musicals were often light-hearted comedies, focusing more on spectacle and power than storytelling. One of the first American musicals which brought togethet plots and music in a meaningful way was The Black Crook (1866), arguably the first “book musical”, which involved a coherent story, songs, and dance integrated into spectacle (Kenrick, 2017).
Innovators of the early 20th century, such as George M. Cohan, who wrote the patriotic anthem "Yankee Doodle Dandy", contributed towards a more distinctly American musical theatre, with themes of patriotism and the urban experience, and with shows such as Little Johnny Jones (1904). New York City had, by this stage, become the heart of American musical theatre. Stories became more unified, character development more centralised, and song and dance were also more effectively deployed for entertainment, advancing plot, and revealing character (Everett & Laird, 2017).
The Golden Age of Musical Theatre is generally considered to be the 1940s to the 1960s, especially with regard to Broadway. This was a period in which musicals matured as a form of dramatic art. Music, lyrics, and story become more fully integrated than before.
Figure IV: Press photo. (1945). 1945 Press Photo of the music-writing team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rodgers_and_Hammerstein_at_piano-original.jpg
A key moment in this period came in 1943 with Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical, Oklahoma, in which songs and dances were not simply interludes but actually crucial for the development of the characters and plot, as well as introducing the dream ballet in which an extended dance sequence – something which can also be seen in other Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals such as Carousel (1945) – revealed the inner emotions of the character and their psychological state (Everett and Laird, 2017; Gennaro, 2011). Rodgers and Hammerstein went on to write the aforementioned Carousel, South Pacific (1949), The King and I" (1951), and The Sound of Music (1959). Other musicals during this period include Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady (1956) and Camelo" (1960), Frank Loesser’s Guys and Dolls (1950) and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1961), and Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story (1957). West Side Story remains a groundbreaking musical which blends Shakespearean drama, based as it is on Romeo and Juliet and set on the Upper West Side Manhattan, with jazz, Latin rhythms, and complex choreography by Jerome Robbins. These musicals also deal with serious themes such as racism, war, gangs, class, and love, whilst still providing entertainment for large audiences with their songs and performances and refining the dramatic arc of the musical so that the songs spring from the character rather than interrupting the story (Everett & Laird, 2017; Kenrick, 2017).
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It is also worth mentioning the significance of the Jewish tradition on the rise of the Broadway musical (Wollman, 2024), with composers including Irving Berlin, who is known for songs such as God Bless America, White Christmas, and There’s No Business Like Show Business, and Broadway hits such as Annie Get Your Gun; George and Ira Gershwin, who are known for Porgy and Bess, Girl Crazy and Strike Up the Band; Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II (Rodgers was Jewish, Hammerstein II was not, although he had Jewish heritage on his father’s side), who were hugely significant, and whose hits included Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music; Leonard Bernstein, known for West Side Story (with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim), and Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick for Fiddler on the Roof (Virginia Stage Company, 2025). This influence can be traced back to Jewish immigrants fleeing persecution in Eastern Europe and arriving in New York City in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with many settling on the Lower East Side where Yiddish culture, including Yiddish theatre, flourished (Virginia Stage Company, 2025). Alongside this, Tin Pan Alley in Manhattan became a centre of popular music such as vaudeville, radio, and early Broadway shows, with many of these songwriters being Jewish, bringing an understanding of European folk traditions and American musical styles (Virginia Stage Company, 2025).
The Changing Landscape of the Musical
From the 1960s to the 1980s emerges what might be called the concept musical. Just as the cultural landscape shifted, so also did the musical. This saw artists experimenting with form, structure, and subject matter, with the theme or message of the show sometimes taking precedence over a linear plot (Edney, 2007; Gottfied, 1971; Young-Gerber, 2010).
One of the most significant figures in modern musical theatre is Stephen Sondheim, a pioneer of this shift. His works, such as Company (1970), Follies (1971), Sweeney Todd (1979), and Into the Woods (1987), explored complex characters and unconventional narratives, and this new approach can be seen in each of these works. Company follows a non-linear meditation on marriage and relationships, Follies a nostalgic view of aging and memory, Sweeney Todd a dark story of revenge, and Into the Woods a subversion of fairy tales of adult themes. Draper (2010) argues that Company combines psychological narrative with metadrama and thematic unity rather than a simple plot progression. Rubel (2021) further argues that Company reflects contemporaneous ideas in psychoanalysis, sociology, and other human sciences, which helps explain its thematic depth and cultural salience. Other musicals of this era include Man of La Mancha (1965) with a book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh, and lyrics by Joe Darion, and Cabaret (1967), with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and a book by Joe Masteroff.
The emergence of the rock musical can also be seen during this period with musicals such as Hair (1967), including its psychedelic score and anti-establishment themes, which were reflective of the counterculture of the 1960s. Other rock musicals or rock-influenced musicals include Jesus Christ Superstar (1970) and Evita (1976) by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, who themselves established a hugely successful professional partnership. The 1980s also saw the emergence of mega musicals, often from the UK, with large casts, and dramatic staging, such as Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats (1981) and The Phantom of the Opera (1986), and Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil’s Les Misérables (1980) and Miss Saigon (1989), the latter two drawing on Victor Hugo’s novel of the same name in the case of Les Misérables and Giacomo Puccini’s 1904 opera, Madama Butterfly in the case of Miss Saigon. Whilst the American musical has influences of jazz, Latin, and song and dance music, these shows arguably also reflect the influence of the European traditions of operetta, and even grand opera. Les Misérables, for example, does not use dialogue, but rather uses libretto for speech – a tradition of the opera. These shows maintain their popularity to this day.
Going further, the 1990s and 2000s saw a broadening and diversification of musical theatre stylistically, thematically, and culturally, in the scope and appeal of the musical. This includes stage adaptations of the animated Disney films such as Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. Further, Jonathan Larson’s musical Rent (1996) modernised the rock musical, bringing it closer to youth culture, with the musical addressing themes such as AIDS, poverty, and artistic struggle, whilst drawing influence from Giacomo Puccini’s 1896 opera, La Bohéme. This focus on social issues, such as poverty, sexuality, abuse, and death, is threaded throughout the history of the musical. This can be seen, sometimes implicitly, sometimes directly, from the earliest musicals through to the present day.
Other popular musicals that emerged in the modern era include The Producers (2001), by Mel Brooks, based on the comedy movie from 1967; Wicked (2003), by Stephen Schwartz, reimagining the world of The Wizard of Oz from the perspective of the Wicked Witch; Billy Elliott (2010), with music by Elton John and integrating ballet and social commentary, based on the 2000 film; Matilda (2010) and Groundhog Day (2016) by Tim Minchin, based on the book and film respectively; and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton (2015), bringing together hip-hop, R&B, and show tunes in its retelling of one of America’s founding fathers. Further shows include Come From Away (2017), a story of compassion and community following the 9/11 attacks, Hadestown (2019), a folk-jazz reimagining of the Orpheus myth, and Six (2017), emphasising the voices of the wives of King Henry VIII, and having begun its life at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and became a major success story. Further, whilst Broadway and the West End remain major centres of musical theatre, the art form has grown internationally and tours and flourishes globally, with vibrant scenes across the world, emphasising these transnational flows (Taylor & Rush, 2022).
Conclusion
This piece has sought to demonstrate a development of musical theatre from early operetta, bringing musical performance to drama and adding elements such as dance, dialogue, and lyricism, through the history of the musical, particularly in the USA, the UK, and Europe. It remains a flourishing and vibrant art form, constantly developing and evolving, and enjoying huge popularity across the world. In this form, there can be seen not only entertainment, but also a constant innovation by artists, continuing to push the boundaries of the form in fresh directions for new audiences. boundaries of the form for new audiences.
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Visual References
Cover Image: Vision plug. (2022). Long Exposure Photo of a Red Bus on a Street in Piccadilly Circus, London, England, UK. https://www.pexels.com/photo/long-exposure-photo-of-a-red-bus-on-a-street-in-piccadilly-circus-london-england-uk-15257856/
Figure I: Nadar, Restored by Adam Cuerdon. (This copy from 1910; original c. 1870s). Jacques Offench by Nadar. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jacques_Offenbach_by_Nadar.jpg
Figure II: Chéret, Jules. (1878). Poster for Jacques Offenbach’s Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld). Lithograph, 1,270 x 0,900 m. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1878_poster_for_Jacques_Offenbach%27s_Orphée_aux_enfers.jpg
Figure III: Luckhardt, Fritz. (1899). Photograph of Johann Strauss II. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Johann_Strauss_II_by_Fritz_Luckhardt_3-4_crop.jpg
Figure IV: Press photo. (1945). 1945 Press Photo of the music-writing team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rodgers_and_Hammerstein_at_piano-original.jpg
Figure V: Warren, Allan. (1973). Leonard Bernstein conducting at The Albert Hall. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Leonard_Bernstein_Allan_Warren.jpg
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Figure VI: Unknown photographer. (circa 1970). Autographed publicity photo of Stephen Sondheim. RR Auctions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stephen_Sondheim_-_smoking.JPG
Figure VII: Datta, Shamba. (2025). Vibrant Streets of London's West End Theatre District. https://www.pexels.com/photo/vibrant-streets-of-london-s-west-end-theatre-district-33372730/
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