Sidney Jones' the Geisha (1898), one of the first musicals

Musical theater (or musical theatre) is a kind of performance in a theater. A work of musical theater is called a musical. It uses acting, music, songs, and often dance. Some musicals (for example Les Misérables) have only a few lines of dialogue. Everything else is sung. It is usually a mixture of speaking and song. Some well-known musicals are West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Chicago, and Oklahoma!.