Theatre (or theater) combines visual arts, dramatic arts, music, and dance into a single art form. Theatre can take many forms, from a blockbuster Broadway musical to a one-man show in a one-stoplight town. However, there's no denying that theatre is popular. In 2005, according to census figures, theatergoers spent $729 million on Broadway shows.

No one can tell quite how far back theatre dates in human civilization, but the earliest documented performance took place in Egypt in 2000 B.C.. The ancient Greeks set down many of the principles of theatre that are still observed today, including the separation of comedy and tragedy.

Modern theatre can be separated roughly into comedies, dramas, and musicals. Dramas are generally considered the only "serious" theatre and comprise most of the plays deemed to be literature. Famous playwrights known for their dramas include Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, and Henrik Ibsen, among many others. Comedies and musicals tend to be taken more lightly, usually lumped together into the genre of "musical comedy," although composers such as Stephen Sondheim have created musicals that address serious issues and have received critical acclaim. One of the most popular forms of Western theatre is the musical. Musicals are plays in which songs (and often dance) have been added to further the plot. The modern musical (including such popular shows as "Les Miserables", "Phantom of the Opera", and "Wicked") has its roots in nineteenth-century New York, in the play "The Black Crook". "The Black Crook" is five and a half hours long, and is the first to incorporate music and dance as part of the story, rather than as mere ornamentation.