musical play accompanied by rock music (i.e. "Tommy" by "The Who")
A rock opera is a
rock music album or stage production that intends to evoke the sense of music drama commonly associated with opera. In truth, the form of most rock operas is actually much closer to that of
song cycles or
oratorios, if the lyrical story is told inclusively within the musical dialog. If the performance includes dialog between musical passages, it would in fact be an
operetta.
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