Ballad opera is defined as a British stage production from 1728 to 1760 that combines a comic or sentimental play with musical numbers. It was the first successful genre where both women and men were allowed to act on stage. The audiences for ballad operas were typically middle- and upper-class adults, as children would be at home with a babysitter. The most famous and successful early ballad opera was The Beggar's Opera from 1728.

1. By Michael McCauley
Ballad Opera
English stage entertainment
18th century.
The purposes of this project, ‘ballad opera’ are defined as
any British stage production from 1728 to 1760 that
combines a comic or sentimental play with musical numbers.
In Greek Theatres men were the only people that were
allowed to act. However in Ballad Operas both women and
men are allowed to take part.
The audiences were middle It is generally the age groupsthe first ballad opera, and
and top class, accepted that
where just Adults, say in the one that a group. The children successful, was The
a couple or
were at home with a babysitter as the was to prove the most
Adults where
Beggar's Opera of 1728.
wealthy who went.
Ballad opera has been called an "eighteenth-century
protest against the Italian conquest of the London operatic
scene".