musical drama
Staged singing performance
Musical drama is a theatrical form combining spoken dialogue, songs, and orchestral music to tell a story, with the music serving dramatic rather than purely decorative purposes.
The term encompasses opera, operetta, and modern musicals, though it often specifically distinguishes works where music advances plot and character from lighter musical entertainment.
Wagner conceived his operas as unified musical dramas.
- GesamtkunstwerkArtwork uniting all forms
- grand operaFully sung dramatic spectacle
- librettoOpera's written words
- operaTheatrical art combining song
- Chinese operaTraditional staged musical drama
tragedy · leitmotif · score · pit orchestra · Broadway musicals · tragic hero · composer · melodrama · aria · mythological tales · overture · recitative · love duet · cantata · choreographer · oratorio · duet · West End
- Broadwaymusicals, Tony Award, theaters, show tunes, showtunes
- dramaacting, playwright, character study, acting class, character development
- stage showsplays, musicals, dramas, comedies, tragedies
- operaopera, aria, arias, soprano, tenor
- hybrid genresjazz fusion, rock opera, blues rock, folk rock, country rock
- dramasmelodrama
musical dramamusical comedy
Humorous sung theatrical production
comic opera · operetta · light opera · burlesque · vaudeville
musical dramaincidental music
Accompanying theatrical composition
concert performance · song cycle · recital · background score · film score