Before the Musical: Parisian Vaudeville Comes to Newcastle

What was a night of music theatre like in nineteenth-century Paris? Join us as we explore the French vaudeville, a major landmark in theatre history and grandfather of the modern musical.

If you, too, love a show, come along and dive into the theatre world of nineteenth-century Paris, hear stories of the stage from theatre historians from Durham and Newcastle, and enjoy performances of vaudeville’s top hits by professional singers and the Tyne Youth Company theatre group.

We will meet the goodies and baddies of the vaudeville stage, discover how characters were shaped for their audiences by music and costume, and delve together into song-writing techniques of the past as you help us rewrite the lyrics to our big chorus number, creating a uniquely Newcastle finale to our show.