History BreakingTheFourthWall / Theatre

* Due to ''PeterPan'' being the TropeNamer for ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve, the theater production of course does this. After Tinkerbell takes poison that was meant for Peter, he looks out into the audience and asks them if they believe in fairies. Then he tells them to clap their hands if they do believe in fairies in order to save Tinkerbell.

* The opera ''Gianni Schicchi'' ends with the title character turning to the audience and imploring them to clap their hands if they believe he deserves a better fate than what he got according to Dante (whose ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'' found him in the eighth circle of hell). He starts the applause himself.

* Done wonderfully in ''{{Hair}}''. The actors run through the audience, hand out flyers and flowers, and ask for spare change. At one point, Claude even says "Mother, the audience!"

* Used for both humorous and chilling effect in the StephenSondheim musical ''The Frogs''.

* Used to great effect in the 2017 Broadway adaptation of ''1984'', which uses live, projected video to make the audience complicit in the torture sequence in Room 101, even bringing up the house lights so Winston can address the "people"

--> Oh, look! It's like I'm in a storybook!

* Pretty much non-existant in The Play That Goes Wrong, where the actors within the play-within-a-play will frequently acknowledge the audience, "crew members" (cast playing crew members) will ask audience members for help, even inviting them on stage to assist with maintenance, etc.
* Used to great effect in the 2017 Broadway adaptation of 1984, which uses live, projected video to make the audience complicit in the torture sequence in Room 101, even bringing up the house lights so Winston can address the "people"

* Occasionally, a production of TheMikado will have the Lord High Executioner sing (in The List song), something akin to "There's the orchestra conductor who just now has lost his place." It substitutes for a line that is (almost) invariably [[{{Bowdlerize}} changed]] due to UnfortunateImplications in the original.

* This is used in ''AVeryPotterMusical'', when Ron enters and tells Harry that he'd been hanging out with Hagrid backstage.

* ''TheGlassMenagerie'' opens with one of the characters explaining to the audience that this is a play based on his memories. The script comes with very detailed instructions for how to make the play appear as if it's being told through memories, although they're not always followed.
* ''FiddlerOnTheRoof'''s Tevye speaks to the audience quite often, either to explain why he and his family are like a fiddler on a roof or to battle with his principles when his daughters break various traditions.

* In ''Theatre/{{RENT}}'', Maureen asks the audience to [[AudienceParticipationSong moo with her]] near the end of her protest. Prior to that, during her first entrance, she asks "which way is the stage?".

* In the ScreenToStageAdaptation of ''HighSchoolMusical 2'', Sharpay asks the actual orchestra drummer to "play her a beat".

* The Narrator of ''OurTown'' doesn't so much break the fourth wall as completely ignore it. The rest of the cast is entirely unaware that they're in a play or that what's happening isn't real, but the Narrator talks to the audience throughout the entire show. In between narration, he inserts himself into the action by picking up different bit parts, such as the owner of the soda shop, and interacting with the characters as one of them.

* In ''{{RENT}}'', Maureen asks the audience to [[AudienceParticipationSong moo with her]] near the end of her protest. Prior to that, during her first entrance, she asks "which way is the stage?".
* In ''TitleOfShow'' during a blackout in a scene where Susan isn't supposed to hear Jeff's dialogue, she calls him out for eating her turkey burger.

* The opera ''Gianni Schicchi'' ends with the title character turning to the audience and imploring them to clap their hands if they believe he deserves a better fate than what he got according to Dante (whose ''DivineComedy'' found him in the eighth circle of hell). He starts the applause himself.

** This is directly from the original. {{Aristophanes}}' ancient Greek comedy, ''Frogs'', opens with Dionysus' servant Xanthius asking (per the Paul Roche translation), "Hey, boss, like me to perk things up a bit with one of those corny cracks that always get the audience laughing?"

* In the live-action play version of the TylerPerry film ''I Can Do Bad All By Myself'', Perry's character Madea is asked to leave the living room so a private conversation can be had. A couple minutes later she makes a comment and is asked why she didn't go to her room. Her response?

* AFunnyThingHappenedOnTheWayToTheForum opens and closes with the song "Comedy Tonight", in which the actors directly address the audience, telling about the show they're about to see (or have just finished seeing).

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*** It also deserves a secondary mention for the continuous breaking of the fourth (fifth?) wall in the Pyramus and Thisbe second. Frequently the action stops so Bottom can reply to the characters watching the play. Plus the prologues. Oh, the prologues.

* In ''Theatre/Urinetown'', Officer Lockstock and Sally directly reference the fact that they're in a play, such as at the beginning when Sally asks [[spoiler: Is this where you tell the audience about the water shortage?" Officer Lockstock tells Sally that the audience will hear more about the water shortage in the next scene.]] There are other lines late in the play such as when Officer Lockstock turns to the audience [[spoiler: and tells them that "there is no Urinetown, we just kill people."]]