An extravaganza is a literary or musical work (often musical theatre) usually containing elements of Victorian burlesque, and pantomime, in a spectacular production and characterized by freedom of style and structure. It sometimes also has elements of music hall, cabaret, circus, revue, variety, vaudeville and mime.[1] Extravaganza came, in the 20th century, to more broadly refer to an elaborate, spectacular, and expensive theatrical production.[2]
Professor Carolyn Wiliams writes that playwrights, producers and critics have often muddled the distinction between burlesque and extravaganza, but she describes the genre this way: "Sexy yet free of "offensive vulgarity", silly yet intelligent, raucus yet spectacularly beautiful, extravaganza was a relatively "high" form of burlesque, intended for an urbane adult audience."[3] She notes that the definition of extravaganza changed during the 19th century, in that a late century extravaganza had a "transformation scene", but earlier it focused on the sexy innuendo and fantasy, often involving fairies, and did not necessarily include a transformation scene.[3] 19th-century British dramatist, James Planché, who was known for his extravaganzas, defined the genre as "the whimsical treatment of a poetical subject."[4]
In 1881, Percy Fitzgerald described the classic transformation scene as follows:
First the "gauzes" lift slowly one behind the other – perhaps the most pleasing of all scenic effects – giving glimpses of "the Realms of Bliss", seen behind in a tantalizing fashion. Then is revealed a kind of half-glorified country, clouds and banks, evidently concealing much. Always a sort of pathetic and at the same time exultant [musical] strain rises. ... Now some of the banks begin to part slowly, showing realms of light, with a few divine beings – fairies – rising slowly here and there [in an aerial pyramid]. ... [T]he lights streaming on full, in every colour and from every quarter, in the richest effulgence. [Finally], the most glorious paradise of all will open, revealing the pure empyrean itself, and some fair spirit aloft in a cloud among the stars, the apex of all. Then, all motion ceases; the work is complete; the fumes of crimson, green and blue fire begin to rise at the wings; the music bursts into a crash of exultation; and, possibly to the general disenchantment, a burly man in a black frock steps out from the side and bows awkwardly. Then to shrill whistle, the first scene of the harlequinade closes in, and shuts out the brilliant vision. [These magnificent scenes] are significant of English energy, and cannot be approached in foreign theatres.[5]
The term is derived from the Italian word stravaganza, meaning extravagance.