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I'd start with the site: http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/spd130et/melodrama.htm - http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/spd130et/melodrama.htm
Melodramas were important to the 19th century in a similar fashion that 'B grade' movies were important to the mid 20th century and sitcoms & soap operas to the late 20th century. They provided cheap and easy and reliable if not super high quality entertainment to the masses. They also provided the characteristic acting of silent films--where a piano player provided music to the emotions of the exaggerated actors on film. How else could a 'silent' film convey a rich emotional vocabulary?
Some interesting results from melodramas include traveling shows, and eventually a booking system for stars. And (see the site cited above for an explanation) the growth of NYC and Broadway as a national center for theater. It also was a style of acting that grew an entirely different style of acting--"method acting" is likely a revolt against a melodrama style.
Melodrama actually means "drama put to music" (or similar) because in these shows music was used to enhance the emotions. Eventually the type of show melodrama was born as an artform and grew to mean any show that had exaggerated characters, exaggerated acting and any of a set to typical themes and plots usually with high moral overtones.
Some unique features include 1.) how many acts (3-5 but mostly 3-4). 2.) the role of music to emote. 3.) use to actors and theaters to the growth of the rep system of shows, leading to traveling visiting 'stars' and the star system.
We've come a long way, baby--nevertheless, you can see echos of Melodrama in soaps, cartoons (especially Japanese), videogames (again Japanese), and in a raft of shows like Grease and High School Musical that seem more like spoofs.
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