Mordden explains that there were other musical theater pieces before The Beggar's Opera, but this piece was really the first, which fits today's definition of a musical (Mordden 3). After The Beggar's Opera became successful in London, other ballads and savory operas began to take the stage. Soon after the end of the Civil War, a production called The Black Crook marked the beginning of the first era of musicals. This is where the first musical genres began to divide into subgenres and become further integrated into song and story (Mordden