History Main / HeyLetsPutOnAShow

-->-- '''[[Creator/JudyGarland Patsy Barton]]''', ''Babes in Arms''

* ''Film/BabesInArms'', with Creator/JudyGarland and MickeyRooney, of course. And it's hardly the only one they did. In fact, one of the ''That's Entertainment!'' films did a FullyAutomaticClipShow where Rooney's characters from his films suggested they put on a show.

* ''Film/TheYoungOnes'', the 1961 [[Music/CliffRichard Cliff Richard]] movie, had exactly this plot, except they were trying to save a youth club.

* The ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'' put on a show to get money to save the Catholic orphanage. However, they were already a successful and good band before the orphanage needed saving, were forced to blackmail their manager to actually get a gig on such short notice, and let's not even get into how much trouble PuttingTheBandBackTogether was...

* ''Film/WhiteChristmas'' was like this, but for their old Army commander's ski lodge.
* This forms the basis for ''Film/ItsAVeryMerryMuppetChristmasMovie'' and ''[[Film/TheMuppets The Muppets]]''. Sure, they had two TV shows about putting on a show, but in these films they're doing it to save the theater.

* In ''Nunsense'' (1985), the Little Sisters of Hoboken, having fallen on hard times put on a show to pay for a series of funerals. [[spoiler: Most of the congregation fell victim to a tainted vichyssoisse, due to a lack of funds several of the bodies are still in the freezer.]]

* In ''Series/{{One Day at a Time|1974}}'' the cast saved their building and in following seasons put on a show as a charitable gesture meant to entertain the people at the local Senior Citizens' center every New Year's Eve.

* In ''Series/OneDayAtATime'' the cast saved their building and in following seasons put on a show as a charitable gesture meant to entertain the people at the local Senior Citizens' center every New Year's Eve.

* In ''Franchise/LoveLive'', the school the main characters go to didn't have enough prospective students coming in and was going close, so Honoka made an idol group in order to draw people to their school since school idols were popular.

* In ''Nunsense'' (1985), the Little Sisters of Hoboken, having fallen on hard times put on a show to pay for a sries of funerals. [spoiler: Most of the congregation fell victim to a tainted vichyssoisse, due to a lack of funds several of the bodies are still in the freezer.]

-->-- '''[[Creator/JudyGarland Patsy Barton]]''', ''Babes In Arms''

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

[[folder: Fanfiction ]]

[[folder: Films -- Animated ]]

[[folder: Films -- Live-Action ]]

* Film/BabesInArms, with Creator/JudyGarland and MickeyRooney, of course. And it's hardly the only one they did.
** In fact, one of the ''That's Entertainment!'' films did a FullyAutomaticClipShow where Rooney's characters from his films suggested they put on a show.

* A form of...er...show is the one that forms the end of ''Film/TheFullMonty''...

* In ''Film/{{Hamlet 2}}'' the titular play is put on to save the drama class from budget cuts.

* The main plot of the ''HannahMontana'' movie.

[[folder: Literature ]]

* The ''[[Literature/AnneOfGreenGables Anne of Avonlea]]'' miniseries.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* ''Series/TheBradyBunch'' did this more than once, including the episode in which the family stages "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" in the backyard to raise money for a gift for a teacher.
** They basically did this in TheMovie too.

** This was a popular trope in the Land of Norman Lear. ''Series/GoodTimes'' and ''Series/{{Maude}}'' did similar charity amateur-hour episodes.
* ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'' did this quite a few times, usually for Mr. Grace's birthday.
** In later seasons they seemed to happen more often, seemingly as an excuse to get Mrs Slocombe and Mr Humphries into ridiculous outfits and flamboyant dresses, even if it made no sense in context of the show.

[[folder: Music ]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

[[folder: Theatre ]]

* ''{{Babes in Arms}}''. Note that, although it shares this trope with the Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney movie it inspired, it's got a completely different score, plot and set of characters.

[[folder: Web Original ]]

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* Done in ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'', but they weren't trying to save anything. Mr. Krabs just wanted to earn even more money.

* Parodied heavily in an article at ''TheOnion'', in which a ragtag bunch of kids band together to save their clubhouse by putting on an incredibly dark, sexual, [[TrueArtIsAngsty angsty]] and [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible incomprehensible]] avant-garde art play, including a "whore" squatting out filthy young and pre-teen boys nude with body-painted penises.

So [[SavingTheOrphanage the orphanage is in trouble]]. Big, costly trouble. How are those orphans going to raise all that money? It's simple: put on a show! We'll use the modest singing talents of the secretary corps, and we can put a stage in that old barn out back, and surely it won't be too hard to rig up a spotlight or two...

This trope causes ''no end'' of frustration for those who work in theater, especially when they have to explain just how long it takes and how much it costs to "just put on a show."

* Ciel and crew from ''BlackButler'' hire some actors to put on a play for a bunch of orphans (for publicity rather than money, they already have plenty of that). When the actors get delayed, guess who has to fill in the cast...
* In ''DailyLifeWithMonsterGirl'' Miia and Rachnera help [[PunnyName Ils Nineta]] the ninetailed fox put on a super sentai show to help draw visitors to the shrine where she works. Rachnee uses her webs to provide Ils with some WireFu and new clothes when she transforms, while Miia ends up playing the villain, much to her resentment.

Often overlaps with ThatRemindsMeOfASong, in that said show may involve an excuse for musical numbers that aren't tied to the plot or character development.

[[AC:{{Anime and Manga}}]]

[[AC: ComicBooks]]
* In the ''ComicBook/JimmyOlsen'' story "The Boy Olympics", [[NiceGuy Jimmy]] is bothered by how it will affect the staff if a rival newspaper folds and comes up with the idea of a show to raise money.

[[AC: {{Fanfiction}}]]

[[AC:Films -- Animated]]

[[AC:Films -- Live-Action]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:{{Music}}]]

[[AC:TabletopGames]]

[[AC:Theatre]]

[[AC:WebOriginal]]

[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBrakShow'': Brak and his family put on a presentation of "Psychoklahoma" to save Señor Science from the disastrous results of his latest science experiment. By the time they get the money together, he's managed to save himself. This is Señor Science's SOP; every episode of his show-within-a-show ends with him desperately needing funds from the audience if he is ever to survive. Just send cash, check, or money order to...

* [[WesternAnimation/TheBrakShow Brak]] and his family put on a presentation of "Psychoklahoma" to save Señor Science from the disastrous results of his latest science experiment. By the time they get the money together, he's managed to save himself. This is Señor Science's SOP; every episode of his show-within-a-show ends with him desperately needing funds from the audience if he is ever to survive. Just send cash, check, or money order to...

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/Madagascar3EuropesMostWanted'', it's a case of "Let's put on a ''better'' show" to save the circus and boy, do they ''ever''!

* ''WesternAnimation/CatsDontDance'' does this with its finale number "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now", a BatmanGambit pulled off by Danny in an attempt to finally show that animals can be just as awesome as humans on stage and they show it with flair... and a little help with [[BigBad Darla Dimple's]] FantasticRacism.

* A form of...er...show is the one that forms the end of ''TheFullMonty''...

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}} 3'', it's a case of "Let's put on a ''better'' show" to save the circus and boy, do they ''ever''!

** This was a popular trope in the Land of Norman Lear. ''GoodTimes'' and ''Series/{{Maude}}'' did similar charity amateur-hour episodes.

* ''TheDrewCareyShow'' did an epsiode that parodied ''TheFullMonty'' where the boys decide to put on a strip show in order to raise money to replace a pedigree dog they accidentally had neutered.

* Done in ''SpongebobSquarepants'', but they weren't trying to save anything. Mr. Krabs just wanted to earn even more money.

This trope was made popular by Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney in the 1930s, but saving the unfortunate through musical theater is a surprisingly resilient Stock Plot. It can even work when there's no orphanage to save, as ''Series/{{Taxi}}'' demonstrated by giving a whole show, in which the main cast performed song and dance numbers.

* TheLittleRascals did it all the time.

* One of the possible plot examples given in ''AdeptusEvangelion'' is to put on a show, either a dance contest or an advert ...