History BLAM / Theater

* Act Two of Rick Elice's play ''PeterAndTheStarcatcher'' opens with a ridiculous Ziegfeldian musical number covering how the powerful Starstuff turned fish into mermaids, with everyone (save the Boy) dressed in ludicrous mermaid drag. The only time this song is ever played again is in the playout music.

* 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.

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

* In ''Theater/HarryPotterAndTheCursedChild,'' Albus and Scorpius try to jump off of the Hogwarts Express. Suddenly, the Trolley Witch--a kindly old lady who sells candy, and had been mentioned often in passing in the books--shows up. She reveals that it's her job to keep people from leaving the train, that she's [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld at least 190 years old]] and [[LossOfIdentity can no long remember her own name]]. Then she throws her candy at them, which explodes like a grenade, and transforms her hands into spikes. The pair escape her and this weirdness is never mentioned again.

* King Herod's Song in most versions of ''JesusChristSuperstar''. He shows up for one scene with a court of over-the-top cabaret decadence to sing a jazz number ''at'' a dumbstruck Jesus, without so much as a snippet reprised elsewhere in the show, with the closest thing to a mention after being Pilate asking, "was Herod unimpressed?"

* 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.

* In ''Theater/HarryPotterAndTheCursedChild,'' Albus and Scorpius try to jump off of the Hogwarts Express. Suddenly, the Trolley Witch--a kindly old lady who sells candy, and had been mentioned often in passing in the books--shows up. She reveals that it's her job to keep people from leaving the train, that she's [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld at least 190 years old]] and [[LossOfIdentity can no long remember her own name]]. Then she throws her candy at them, which explode like grenades, and transforms her hands into spikes. The pair escape her and this weirdness is never mentioned again.

* In ''Theatre/ThePiratesOfPenzance'', everyone drops what they're doing for a moment to sing a song about the beauty of poetry.

* 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 disappear and are never referred to again. It seemed 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.

* OlderThanSteam: Shakespeare does a lot of these. It's all basically the RuleOfFunny.

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

* ''SpiderManTurnOffTheDark'' 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.

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

* In the original London production of ''Theatre/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.

* The musical ''{{Memphis}}'' features a BLAM involving an almost-literal alligator. During a broadcast of the protagonist's live TV show, a major supporting character ''named Gator'' suddenly appears wearing an alligator costume to perform his "famous Gator Dance". No mention of his talent for "gator dancing" is made before or after this scene, and the bizarrely comical number is so out-of-nowhere and distracting that, despite the obvious intent to use it as bland background business for an important downstage conversation, this troper had trouble focusing on anything but the Gator Dance.

*** The lightheartedness comes from the fact that it's melodically based on a failed pop song Lloyd Webber wrote a few years previously called "Try It and See" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sjm7y6gcrA] which was a cheerful song about a ManicPixieDreamGirl convincing the object of her affections to give their relationship a shot. This makes its reuse as Herod's song make even ''less'' sense.

*** The lightheartedness comes from the fact that it's melodically based on a failed pop song Lloyd Webber wrote a few years previously called "Try It and See", which was a cheerful song about a ManicPixieDreamGirl convincing the object of her affections to give their relationship a shot. This makes its reuse as Herod's song make even ''less'' sense.

* King Herod's Song in most versions of ''JesusChristSuperstar''. He shows up for one scene with a court of over-the-top decadence to sing a jazz number ''at'' a dumbstruck Jesus, without so much as a snippet reprised elsewhere in the show, with the closest thing to a mention after being Pilate asking, "was Herod unimpressed?"

** It makes sense plot-wise based on Herod's role in [[Literature/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.

* ''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.

** The end of AsYouLikeIt, where the characters are all married by Hymen, god of marriage. In a play with no other supernatural elements, this troper was saying [[FlatWhat what]] several times during that part.

* 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.

** The speech Mercutio gives about Queen Mab in ''RomeoAndJuliet'' is arguably an example of this. Other interpretations include:
*** It was 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 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.

* In the 1938 Rodgers and Hart musical ''Theatre/IMarriedAnAngel'', midway through the second act, at a point where the spirits of the protagonist and audience desperately needed raising, a song and George Balanchine ballet in praise of the Roxy Music Hall was inserted. This gratuitous spectacle blatantly had nothing to do with anything that came before or after it.

* In the Spanish musical ''Hoy No Me Puedo Levantar'', the song about Salvador Dali/Laika in the middle of a MushroomSamba is this.

** ''BillyElliot'' pretty much counts as a straight up [[BizarroEpisode Bizarro Musical]], there are so many BLAM moments scattered throughout. Especially [[WholesomeCrossdresser Michael's]] number about... *ahem* "self expression".
* In GilbertAndSullivan's ''UtopiaLimited'', 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?
** In ''ThePiratesOfPenzance'', everyone drops what they're doing for a moment to sing a song about the beauty of poetry.

*** 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 the spanish musical ''Hoy No Me Puedo Levantar'', the song about Salvador Dali/Laika in the middle of a MushroomSamba is this.

* 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.