History BLAM / Theater

* 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.

* ''{{Spider-Man}}: 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.

** Adler and Ross, the songwriting team of ''Pajama Game'', included a completely pointless song in their other show (''DamnYankees'') as well, "Who's Got the Pain?"

* In ''ByeByeBirdie'', the song ''Put on a Happy Face'' features the male protagonist stopping the plot entirely in order to cheer up a random girl before getting into an extended dance sequence. The song added nothing to the plot and was only added last-minute to help put some spark into the show. It worked, and it's now considered by many to be the best song in the show.

** ''BillyElliot'' pretty much counts as a straight up [[BLAMEpisode BLAM Musical]], there are so many BLAM moments scattered throughout. Especially [[WholesomeCrossdresser Michael's]] number about... *ahem* "self expression".

* There's a part of the [[BigApplesauce "NYC"]] number in the musical ''Theatre/{{Annie}}'' where a young woman (listed in the script 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 is never seen or mentioned again. The 1999 TV movie adaptation handled this bit by presenting it as part of a fluffy Broadway show Annie and Warbucks go to see during their whirlwind tour of the city, with the Star To Be (played by Andrea [=McArdle]], the original Broadway Annie) the show's leading lady.

* There's a part of the [[BigApplesauce "NYC"]] number in the musical ''Theatre/{{Annie}}'' where a young woman (listed in the script 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 is never seen or mentioned again. The 1999 TV movie adaptation took the BLAM out of this bit by presenting it as part of a fluffy Broadway show Annie and Warbucks go to see during their whirlwind tour of the city with the Star To Be the show's leading lady [[hottip:*: and played by the actress who originated the role of Annie on Broadway in 1977]].

* There's a part of the [[BigApplesauce "NYC"]] number in the musical ''Theatre/{{Annie}}'' where a young woman (listed in the script 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 is never seen or mentioned again. The 1999 TV movie adaptation handled this bit by presenting it as part of a fluffy Broadway show Annie and Warbucks go to see during their whirlwind tour of the city, and as a bonus, the Star To Be (the show's leading lady) was played by Andrea [=McArdle=], who originated the role of Annie on Broadway in 1977.

* There's a part of the [[BigApplesauce "NYC"]] number in the musical ''Theatre/{{Annie}}'' where a young woman (listed in the script 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 is never seen or mentioned again.

* "Brush Up Your Shakespeare", from ''KissMeKate''. The two gangsters have [[spoiler:found out that the debt doesn't have to be paid]], Kate's actress has [[spoiler:decided that she loves her ex-husband after all]], and the gangsters are leaving the theatre after a day's work... when the FourthWall comes crashing down, the pair are in front of a curtain, and they start tapdancing and singing about the virtues of Shakespeare as used in the seduction of women.

* In GilbertAndSullivan'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?

** It makes sense plot-wise based on Herod's role in [[TheBible the source material]] sometime, but the song is still jarringly lighthearted compared to the tone of the show. Since angsty musicals ''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.

In theater, a BigLippedAlligatorMoment may occur to allow for a costume/scene change, because the songwriters wanted to insert a "catchy" song (and plot be damned), or because it makes a part more attractive to "name" actors... which doesn't hurt the box office.

** There's another scene in ''{{Macbeth}}'' 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 really 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 speech Mercutio gives about Queen Mab in ''RomeoAndJuliet'' is arguably an example of this. Other interpretations include:

* The play ''{{My Name Is Rachel Corrie}}'' is about a young woman by that name who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer demolishing a Palestinian family's house which she was attempting to protect. The play opens with her apparently reading a journal entry which describes a bizarre, seemingly schizophrenic hallucination. Then the play goes on as a monologue narrating her life and thoughts leading up to her death. At no point is the opening scene explained or referred to again, and she never shows any other signs of mental illness or hallucination.

* The Cole Porter musical ''{{Something for the Boys}}'', now obscure though a hit in 1943, had a number called "By the Mississinewah," in which the show's two leading ladies dressed as squaws, the costumes being BraidsBeadsAndBuckskins at their campiest, singing about living a bigamous life in Indiana. The song is ludicrously corny, totally unlike the smart songwriting Cole Porter is best remembered for, and the lyrics go into GratuitousFrench for no reason.
* The second scene of the third act of Creator/GeorgeBernardShaw's ''Theatre/{{Man and Superman}}'', ''Don Juan in Hell'', is a dream sequence where Don Juan 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.

* The new ''BillyElliot'' musical has one, a biggie. There's this quite serious and slightly depressing moment, then a break and then... There's suddenly something, something christmas and Margaret Thatcher and... that whole ordeal lasts about 10 minutes before the musical returns to 'normal'. In the meantime, you'll just sit there and wonder what the hell just happened... And that state will hold on for a good bit after the moment.

* In GilbertAndSullivan'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?

* ''SweetCharity'' has the IrrelevantActOpener "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.

* 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. Naturally, his fiancee is displeased.
* 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 amphitheater 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.)
* In ''{{Aida}}'', Princess Amneris sings a song about how style and fashion is the only thing that she's good at in life. Then, there's about a three minute-long fashion show of just models walking down a "runway" in extravagant dresses. Complete with flashing lights.

* 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.

* Speaking of Shakespeare: the Porter Scene in [[TheScottishTrope The Scottish Play]] is either a welcome bit of comic relief in the middle of a harrowing story, or else a completely incongruous digression possibly thrown in by some other writer who preferred fart jokes to serious theatre. Either way, that makes this one OlderThanSteam.
** Shakespeare does a lot of these. It's all basically the RuleOfFunny.
** The scene also serves to cover the actor's costume change. Without the interlude Macbeth has two lines in which to wash off the blood from the murder.
** It's also political commentary on the then recent "Gunpowder Plot". The Porter is the Porter at the Gates of Hell and the people he admits were participants or suspects in same.
** 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 speech Mercutio gives about Queen Mab in ''RomeoAndJuliet'' is arguably an example of this.
** It can also be played as simply {{Metaphorgotten}} on Mercutio's part.
** The Baz Lurmann version depicts it as Mercutio 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.
* See also Shakespeare's ''Theatre/TheWintersTale'', specifically the infamous ExitPursuedByABear moment, which inspired a BLAM-esque trope of its own.

* 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.]])
* "Who Will Buy," from Oliver!. Even more so in the movie, which is 13 minutes long, and has almost no singing.

* 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 is never seen or mentioned again.

* "Who Will Buy," from {{Oliver}}. Even more so in the movie, which is 13 minutes long, and has almost no singing.

* "Who Will Buy," from {{Oliver!}}. Even more so in the movie, which is 13 minutes long, and has almost no singing.

* "Who Will Buy," from theatre/Oliver!. Even more so in the movie, which is 13 minutes long, and has almost no singing.

* "Who Will Buy," from [[theatre/Oliver!]]. Even more so in the movie, which is 13 minutes long, and has almost no singing.

* "Who Will Buy," from [[OliverTwist Oliver!]]. Even more so in the movie, which is 13 minutes long, and has almost no singing.

* "Who Will Buy," from {{Oliver!}}. Even more so in [[film/Oliver the movie]], which is 13 minutes long, and has almost no singing.

[[[ExeuntPursuedByABear EXEUNT]], pursued by [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment BIG LIPPED ALLIGATOR]] ]

* In ''[[Aida]]'', Princess Amneris sings a song about how style and fashion is the only thing that she's good at in life. Then, there's about a three minute-long fashion show of just models walking down a "runway" in extravagant dresses. Complete with flashing lights.

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

* See also Shakespeare's ''TheWintersTale'', specifically the infamous ExitPursuedByABear moment, which inspired a BLAM-esque trope of its own.

* In the musical ''ThePajamaGame'', the opening of Act 2 called "Steam Heat", a quirky song and dance routine introduced into the show as a union morale-booster. The song was a pop hit in the 1950s, and the dance did a lot to advance the career of Bob Fosse, but it's still weird.