musical comedy

[ myoo-zi-kuhl kom-i-dee ]

noun

1. a musical that is light or humorous with a happy or cheerful ending.
2. (formerly, especially in reference to works from the first half of the 20th century) musical ( def 5 ).
3. Also called com·e·dy mu·sic. a genre of entertainment that prominently features songs in a comedy routine, such as stand-up comedy, or that is a type of show or album similar to a comedy routine, presented entirely in song.

musical comedy

noun

1. a play or film, usually having a light romantic story, that consists of dialogue interspersed with singing and dancing
2. such plays and films collectively

musical comedy

1. A play or film that highlights song and dance. , , A Chorus Line, and The Producers are well-known musical comedies.

Word History and Origins

Origin of musical comedy¹

First recorded in 1755–65

Example Sentences

This past spring, executive producer Tina Fey and creator Meredith Scardino offered up Girls5eva, a hilarious musical comedy that traced the reunion of a late-’90s one-hit-wonder girl group.

From Time

The Pirates of Penzance is a romantic musical comedy from 1983.

From TechCrunch

Other musical comedy fans are probably also wondering why Peacock’s “Girls5eva” didn’t make the list.

From Washington Post

This month’s highlights include a modern Masterpiece, an offbeat British rom-com, an homage to Anaïs Nin, a musical comedy about finding oneself in punk rock and the darkly funny origin story of an ’80s aerobics mogul.

From Time

A radio and TV writer with no previous musical comedy experience, Burrows almost instantly solved the problems with the book.

From The Daily Beast

His big break came when he was cast as Finn on Ryan Murphy's musical-comedy TV series Glee.

From The Daily Beast

I was also expecting a surprise nomination for Channing Tatum as best actor/musical comedy, since he was in every movie this year.

From The Daily Beast

From heckling hecklers to his musical comedy, WATCH VIDEO of seven of his classic moments.

From The Daily Beast

Jace Lacob on where the Fox musical-comedy has gone horribly, offensively wrong.

From The Daily Beast

I daresay you know Lord Woldo saw me in a musical comedy at Scarborough—he has a place near there, ye know.

From Project Gutenberg

It was as much like musical comedy as any stage setting of war at the Gaiety.

From Project Gutenberg

Great care has been taken to follow the usual musical-comedy plan of making the Second Act even worse than the first.

From Project Gutenberg

His Iole was the basis of a delightful musical comedy produced in New York in 1913.

From Project Gutenberg

In hours of ease some business men follow baseball, others golf, tired ones musical comedy.

From Project Gutenberg