<P> The European Renaissance saw older forms evolve into two antecedents of musical theatre : commedia dell'arte , where raucous clowns improvised familiar stories , and later , opera buffa . In England , Elizabethan and Jacobean plays frequently included music , and short musical plays began to be included in an evenings ' dramatic entertainments . Court masques developed during the Tudor period that involved music , dancing , singing and acting , often with expensive costumes and a complex stage design . These developed into sung plays that are recognizable as English operas , the first usually being thought of as The Siege of Rhodes ( 1656 ) . In France , meanwhile , Molière turned several of his farcical comedies into musical entertainments with songs ( music provided by Jean Baptiste Lully ) and dance in the late 17th century . These influenced a brief period of English opera by composers such as John Blow and Henry Purcell . </P>
what is considered to be the first musical in western musical theatre
The Siege of Rhodes