An extravaganza is a play that highlights the luxurious decoration of a theater as well as the astounding use of stage technology and stage machinery, but is characterized by a free style. The extravaganza is found mainly in the second half of the 19th century and comes from the US and English plays. In addition to the richly decorated stage pictures and costumes, the genre is distinguished by witty texts in rhymed couplets (stanzas of varying verses, ending in a pointed chorus), which are mostly performed in familiar melodies. Often, the extravaganza presents itself as a revue, pantomime, ballet and musical or mixes these forms together and recalls some circus performances. As a rule, myths and oriental, fantastic or fabulous fabrics are shown. Related forms are feerie and burlesque.
The term is derived from the Italian noun stravaganza, which can be translated as extravagance. Extravagance is something that is deliberately omitted and exaggerated, and which is noticed by these qualities. The term thus reveals what is at stake and relates to the luxury shown in costumes, the stage design and the extravaganza staff employed.
James Planché (1796-1880), an English historian and playwright, whose works strongly influenced the English melodrama and, in addition, the extravaganza, burlesque, farce and mime, was well-known and shaped. The use of very complex stage decoration and machinery is characteristic of his stage pieces. In his melodrama The Vampire (1820), for example, he let the vampire appear and disappear by means of meditation.Placates who advertise extravaganzas.
Image: Two posters advertising for extravaganza.
The above pictures, which advertise for the performances of two extravagances, illustrate quite clearly what is special about these pieces: this is primarily about the effect of the representation, which is failed and exaggerated. In addition, it is also apparent that the whole can be based on the revue (right) and the classical burlesque (left) and is therefore hardly fixed.
One of the first American extravaganzas is The Black Crook (1866) by Charles M. Barras, which combines ballet, singing and elements of the melodrama and was premiered on September 12, 1866, at Niblo’s Garden on New York’s Broadway. The King and I (1951) by Richard Rodgers and Kismet (1953) by Robert Wright and George Forrest, which brings individual stories from a thousand and one nights on stage, also became popular. As a modern extravaganza, The King of Lions (1997) by Elton John and Tim Rice can be considered.