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What's The Difference Between A Ballet, An Opera And A Musical?

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Julii Brainard answered
All involve a story set to lots of music.

In a ballet all the acting is done via the dance. There's no singing or speaking (virtually never).

In a musical, there's some dance, some singing, and some acting done with speech.

An opera may also feature, dance, but it's usually a minor part of the acting. Singing is paramount. Few operas feature plain (non-singing) speech.

An opera is further distinct from a musical by the length (operas are sometimes many hours if not days long). The demands placed on opera singers are normally much greater than in a musical; opera singers have to be really loud and to be able to sing a much greater range of notes, holding those notes for longer.

The themes of ballet/opera/musicals are also quite divergents. All three may touch on social issues, but overwhelmingly comedy is a big part of musicals. Whereas ballets and operas are rarely comical and yet frequently tragic in their message and storyline.

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