History BLAM / Theater

* The musical comedy Drood has several, by the [[NoFourthWall nature of the play.]] Most notably is 'Off To The Races' where all the minor characters come in, sing the 'stage house's theme song' and then leave, for essentially no good reason. Also notable is 'Never The Luck' where a secondary character is allowed to have a song because 'the first act is almost over' and the Chairman is feeling generous. It adds nothing to the plot, other than establishing Bazzard's desire to be a lead actor (which had already been established in 'No Good Can Come From Bad') and is never brought up again, except for a few lines in his version of the Confession ([[MindScrew it's a weird play.]])

* The drinking quintet in the second act of Marschner's ''DerVampyr'' seems to mainly be an excuse to have a drinking scene; it interrupts the plot with characters who had one or two lines previously and whom we never see again, and ends abruptly with [[spoiler:the discovery of Emmy's death]].

* The [[EarWorm catchy]] "One Night in Bangkok" in the musical ''Theater/{{Chess}}''. Freddie/the American sings about going out partying in Bangkok at the beginning of the second act, but the song has no bearing on the plot of the musical as a whole, other than setting the scene. The song was (wisely) marketed to promote the musical, and actually reached a high point on the music charts. Ironically, more people are familiar with the song now than the play it comes from.

** In ''{{Macbeth}}'', there's a scene that is cut out of most film versions, where Hecate herself comes to the Weird Sisters and yells at them for giving Macbeth this information instead of her. This scene does not alter the plot as it does not result in the witches trying to correct their mistake or even doing anything about it. in fact, there's even a fairly common hypothesis that the scene was, in fact, a last-minute addition by someone else, or demanded by someone else, as it has nothing to do with the rest of the story.

** The Baz Lurmann version depicts it as Meructio having a drug-induced rant. It makes about as much sense as it can.
** Mercutio is reprimanding Romeo for his superstitiousness and dreaminess. given that he's been in love/lust with this new girl (Rosaline) for a week and is seen crying in the dawn over her, Mercutio actually does this on no less than three occasions. In this case, however, M just goes way too far, and we instead learn about HIS flaws and excesses. It's actually an important moment of character development for both of them, one the dreamer and the other the madman.

* The stage adaptation of ''ChittyChittyBangBang'' features one toward the end where the King, Queen and everyone else in the palace of Vulgaria break into a dance called "The Brazillian Samba" which was not featured in the film (or the book it was very loosely based on). Still, it was the King's birthday, but aside from that it has nothing to do with the plot.

* The second scene of the third act of GeorgeBernardShaw's ''{{Man and Superman}}'', ''Don Juan in Hell'',is a dream sequence where DonJuan and the devil argue about life and the afterlife. It's usually removed from productions of ''Man and Superman'' because it's fundamentally a very long BigLippedAlligatorMoment, but it can be performed as a stand-alone one-act play without confusing the audience more than the material itself already might.

** ''BillyElliot'' pretty much counts as a straight up [[BLAMEpiode BLAM Musical]], there are so many BLAM moments scattered throughout. Especially [[WholesomeCrossdresser Michael's]] number about... *ahem* "self expression".
* In {{Gilbert and Sullivan}}'s ''[[UtopiaLimited Utopia, Limited]]'', the second act opens on Zara and Captain Fitzbattleaxe, the young couple in love, and Fitzbattleaxe... sings a song about how he's much too much in love to sing romantic ballads effectively, as his voice keeps breaking in the high notes, complete with intentional flubbing of the high notes. In an opera. Fourth Wall? What Fourth Wall?

* ''{{Spiderman}}: Turn Off The Dark'' is basically made of this trope. But the shining example? In the second act Arachne (the figure from Greek Myth) Sings a song about how awesome Shoes are with her Spider-Furies. This includes what is basically an 8 legged Burlesque act complete with what seems to be on-stage masturbation.

* ''SweetCharity'' has the IrreleventActOpener "Rhythm of Life" when Oscar and Charity go to church for their first date. The movie attempts to give it some relevance by showing Oscar get over some of his neuroses while hiding from the cops after the number is over, but the play has no such scene. Charity and Oscar simply appear after the number is over say 'Where did you find those people?' and leave. It's still awesome.
* ''TheAddamsFamily'' musical had a ballet in which Uncle Fester dances with the moon. It's never mentioned before that, and since the rest of the musical is staged pretty realistically, the DisneyAcidSequence that is Fester dancing with the moon seems thrown in just to show off.

* In the original London production of ''LesMiserables'', the song 'Little People' came pretty much out of nowhere, stopped the plot and had no further bearing on what went on. It has since been edited and put in a place where it makes more sense, and is no longer a Big Lipped Alligator Moment. But it WAS.

[EXEUNT, purused by [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment BIG LIPPED ALLIGATOR]] ]

* In ''AvenueQ'', Brian's song "I'm Not Wearing Underwear Today". He's not opening a comedian. It's not an open-mic-night. He's opening for [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Lucy The Slut]], who sings a very different kind of song.

* See also Shakespeare's {{The Winter's Tale}}, specifically the infamous {{Exit, Pursued by a Bear}} moment, which inspired a BLAM-esque trope of its own.

* See also Shakespeare's TheWinter'sTale, specifically the infamous Exit,PursuedbyaBear moment, which inspired a BLAM-esque trope of its own.

* ''Theatre/TheBookOfMormon'' has one crazy nightmare sequence called the "Spooky Mormon Hell Dream". Elder Price, the good egg, has this while hoping to transfer to another assignment [[spoiler: somewhere in Orlando]], but then it turns into a [[spoiler: rude awakening of Satanic proportions. It involves appearances from Jesus, who only appears to call him a "dick," Adolf Hitler, Jeffrey Dahmer, Genghis Khan, Johnny Cochran, and two giant dancing cups of coffee. Oh, and there's also a Satanic guitar solo.]] And once this is over, it is never reprised.

* Any number of musical comedies have at least one or two {{BLAM}}s. There are an incredibly large amount of examples in the genre.
** As noted in a couple of examples above, sometimes this is to allow for a costume/scene change, sometimes because the songwriters wanted to insert a "catchy" song (and plot be damned), and in a few cases because it makes a part more attractive to "name" actors... which doesn't hurt the box office.
** [[{{Blackadder}} Argh! Hot potatoes, orchestra stalls, Puck will make amends! Ngh!]]

** Go read [[TheBible the source material]] sometime. It makes sense.
** The musical's pretty angsty and not at all lighthearted, which is ''not'' something that Broadway audiences were accustomed to in 1971. Herod's number was most likely thrown in just so the audience would have ''something'' they could relate to.

* Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark is basically made of this trope. But the shining example? In the second act Arachne (the figure from Greek Myth) Sings a song about how awesome Shoes are with her Spider-Furies. This includes what is basically an 8 legged Burlesque act complete with what seems to be on-stage masturbation.

* ''[[Theatre/TheBookOfMormon The Book of Mormon]]'' has one crazy nightmare sequence called the "Spooky Mormon Hell Dream". Elder Price, the good egg, has this while hoping to transfer to another assignment [[spoiler: somewhere in Orlando]], but then it turns into a [[spoiler: rude awakening of Satanic proportions. It involves appearances from Jesus, who only appears to call him a "dick," Adolf Hitler, Jeffrey Dahmer, Genghis Khan, Johnny Cochran, and two giant dancing cups of coffee. Oh, and there's also a Satanic guitar solo.]] And once this is over, it is never reprised.
* SweetCharity has the IreleventActOpener "Rhythem of Life" when Oscar and Charity go to church for their first date. THe movie attempts to give it some relevance by showing Oscar get over some of his nerosis while hiding from the cops after the number is over, but the play has no such scene. Charity and Oscar simply appear after the number is over say 'Where did you find those people?' and leave. It's still awesome.
* TheAddamsFamily musical had a ballet in which Uncle Fester dances with the moon. It's never mentioned before that, and since the rest of the musical is staged pretty realistically, the DisneyAcidSequence that is Fester dancing with the moon seems thrown in just to show off.
* {{Hair}}'s second act starts out with a literal acid trip, where Claude sees such figures as Ullyses S. Grant and Scarlett O'Hara, nuns kill Buddhist monks, Buddhist monks set themselves on fire, Abraham Lincoln sings a song, but is played by a black woman...and other weird things. Claude wakes up from his acid trip, says 'where did you GET that shit?' and we move on with the plot, such as it is.
* The revival of IntoTheWoods had one when during 'Hello Little Girl' a song sung by the Big Bad Wolf to Little Red Riding hood, another wolf appeared and began chasing the Three Little Pigs. The pigs dissapear and are never referred to again. It seemd to have been done because Cinderella's prince plays a wolf (to emphasize his predatory nature) and the director wanted both princes to play wolves. It was still odd.
* In the original London production of LesMiserables, the song 'Little People' came pretty much out of nowhere, stopped the plot and had no further bareing on what went on. It has since been edited and put in a place where it makes more snes, and is no longer a Big Lipped Alligator Moment. But it WAS.
* Light In The Piazza had one when during an emotional scene sung entierly in Italian, Fabrizio's mother, a charecter who does not speak English, turns to the audience and begins explaining what's going on. This device is never used again.
* In AvenueQ, Brian's song "I'm Not Wearing Underwear Today". He's not opening a comedian. It's not an open-mic-night. He's opening for [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Lucy The Slut]], who sings a very different kind of song.
* In Hemet - a small town in Riverside County, California - there is an annual dramatization of Helen Hunt Jackson's Old Western melodrama ''Ramona'' held outdoors, with the front of a house serving as a Spanish rancho and the existing hills and wilderness around the ampitheater filling in for the Indian backcountry. The play is about as corny as you'd expect a work based on a 19th-century popular novel to be, with some embarrassing MoodWhiplash (lines recited in "wacky" frontier dialect being followed soon afterward by one of the main characters showing up and screaming [[YouKilledMyFather "THEY SHOT MY FATHER!"]]) - but the most jarring sequence has to be when the plot of the play stops entirely so that a traditional Indian dance can be presented, and then this dance goes on for several minutes. (The plot was actually pretty simple and not at all hard to follow, but it was still odd to see it interrupted.)

* The stage adaptation of ''ChittyChittyBangBang'' features one toward the end where the King, Queen and everyone else in the palace of Vulgaria break into a dance called "The Brazillian Samba" which was not featured in the film (and very probably not the book). Still, it was the King's birthday, but aside from that it has nothing to do with the plot.
** If it happens ''before'' Music Box/Truly Scrumptious, it's probably to allow Caracticus and Truly to change into their doll costumes and makeup.
** It certainly does not occur in the book. The ''Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'' movie is as much (or more) of a {{In Name Only}} as ''The Jungle Book'', bears only the faintest resemblance to the book, and can come across as something of an acid trip past about the first third of the movie action to a person who has only read the book previously. The author of the book, Ian Fleming, was the same man who created James Bond. Give it a try -- you won't even recognize the main plot. It's rather nifty.

** In ''{{Macbeth}}'', there's a scene that is cut out of most film versions, where Hecate herself comes to the Weird Sisters and yells at them for giving Macbeth this information instead of her. This scene does not alter the plot as it does not result in the witches trying to correct their mistake or even doing anything about it. in fact, there's even a fairly common hypothesis that the scene was, in fact, a last-minute addition by someone else, or demanded by someone else, as it has nothing to do with the rest of the story. Which makes this OlderThanSteam.

* In AvenueQ, Brian's song "I'm Not Wearing Underwear Today". He's not opening a comedian. It's not an open-mic-night. He's opening for [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Lucy The Slut]], who seems a very different kind of song.

* [[ Hair ]]'s second act starts out with a literal acid trip, where Claude sees such figures as Ullyses S. Grant and Scarlett O'Hara, nuns kill Buddhist monks, Buddhist monks set themselves on fire, Abraham Lincoln sings a song, but is played by a black woman...and other weird things. Claude wakes up from his acid trip, says 'where did you GET that shit?' and we move on with the plot, such as it is.

*

* SweetCharity has the IrreleventActOpener "Rhythem of Life" when Oscar and Charity go to church for their first date. THe movie attempts to give it some relevance by showing Oscar get over some of his nerosis while hiding from the cops after the number is over, but the play has no such scene. Charity and Oscar simply appear after the number is over say 'Where did you find those people?' and leave. It's still awesome.

* [[Hair]]'s second act starts out with a literal acid trip, where Claude sees such figures as Ullyses S. Grant and Scarlett O'Hara, nuns kill Buddhist monks, Buddhist monks set themselves on fire, Abraham Lincoln sings a song, but is played by a black woman...and other weird things. Claude wakes up from his acid trip, says 'where did you GET that shit?' and we move on with the plot, such as it is.

* LightInThePiazza had one when during an emotional scene sung entierly in Italian, Fabrizio's mother, a charecter who does not speak English, turns to the audience and begins explaining what's going on. This device is never used again.

[EXEUNT, purused by [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment Big Lipped Alligator.]]

* PLAYZONE 2009 starts as a perfectly fine self aware musical. Then someones phone rings. Cut to a minute later wherein half the cast is yodeling around the stage dressed as cowboys singing about Cellphone Heaven. And mechanical horses.

* Contact in Rent, where the cast basically has a staged orgy under a sheet during a dream sequence.

* Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark is basically made of this trope. But the shining example? In the second act Arachne (the figure from Greek Myth) Sings a song about how awesome Shoes are with her Spider-Furies. This includes what is basically an 8 legged Burlesque act complete with what seems to be on-stage masturbation.

** Also from ''KissMeKate'' is "It's Too Darn Hot". While it is an extremely catchy song, nothing happens besides dancing.
*** That's a musical convention: The opening of the second act rarely forwards the plot any significant amount, since you have to get the audience back into the spirit of things after the intermission. Sometimes, you get a recap; sometimes, it's a BLAM; and some, very rare times, the plot actually moves ahead a bit.

* There's a part of the [[BigApplesauce "NYC"]] number in the musical [[{{Annie}} Annie]] where a young woman only known as "Star To Be" sings about how she just arrived from out of town and plans to make it on Broadway. She leaves before the number is over and we never find out what happens to her.

* The Renaissance Festival comedic swordfighting group [[http://www.periodproductions.com Fight School]] has a bonus fight sequence on their DVD of ''Fight School II: Reloaded'', where two of the Fight Schoolers, Hamish Stuart and Captain Romero, fight each other with daggers while the other two (Nymblewicke and Dash Rippington) follow them around observing. The fight (which was specially filmed for the DVD) takes them all over the grounds of the Maryland Renaissance Festival, and in the middle of it, they stop to rest at the Dragon Inn. There, they are suddenly confronted with a zombie bartender, and a trio of zombies. Hamish and Romero team up to face the zombies (Nymblewyke instructs them to do in the zombies by snapping their necks), and soon overcome these [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere unexpected opponents]]. Afterwards, Hamish and Romero resume their dagger fight, leaving the Dragon Inn followed once again by Nymblewicke and Dash, and more or less go on as if the strange zombie incident never happened.