MELODRAMA:  a stage play, usually romantic and sensational in plot, and interspersed with songs, in which the action is accompanied by orchestral music appropriate to the various situations (OED)

The Bowery, long the heartland of working class amusements, had been flagging a bit, weakened by competition from new forms of entertainment, amusement parks among them. Melodramas, downtown’s favorite performance style, were still in evidence to be sure. Each night on the Bowery boards, working class heroes triumphed over rich men whose pockets were stuffed with bonds, and poor but pure shop girls or seamstresses escaped the villain’s machinations (as in Charles Foster’s Bertha, The Sewing Machine Girl.)

From Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 by Edwin G, Burrows