History Main / HeyLetsPutOnAShow

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. Subtrope of ShowWithinAShow.

* An InUniverse example comes in Music/AesopRock and Music/RobSonic's ''Bestiary'', their second album as Hail Mary Mallon. Interspersed between songs are dialogue blurbs telling of a bowling alley whose closure is imminent, and Aesop and Rob's efforts to hold a fundraiser concert to keep the alley from going belly-up for good. In the end, [[spoiler:it turns out that the bowling alley had ''already'' been closed since ''1995''[[note]]Nineteen years before the album's release[[/note]], and the two had garnered $211 for unwittingly false purposes. [[AllForNothing Whoops]].]]

* An InUniverse example comes in Music/AesopRock and Music/RobSonic's ''Bestiary'', their second album as Hail Mary Mallon. Interspersed between songs are dialogue blurbs telling of a bowling alley whose closure is imminent, and Aesop and Rob's efforts to hold a fundraiser concert to keep the alley from going belly-up for good. In the end, [[spoiler:it turns out that the bowling alley had ''already'' been closed since ''1995''[[note]]Nineteen years before the album's release[[/note]], and the two had garnered $211 for unwittingly false purposes. Whoops.]]

* An InUniverse example comes in Music/AesopRock and Rob Sonic's ''Bestiary'', their second album as Hail Mary Mallon. Interspersed between songs are dialogue blurbs telling of a bowling alley whose closure is imminent, and Aesop and Rob's efforts to hold a fundraiser concert to keep the alley from going belly-up for good. In the end, [[spoiler:it turns out that the bowling alley had ''already'' been closed since ''1995''[[note]]Nineteen years before the album's release[[/note]], and the two had garnered $211 for unwittingly false purposes. Whoops.]]

* ''Anime/ActionHeroineCheerFruits'' has this as the show's basic premise. Set in a Japanese town with a failing economy, the StudentCouncilPresident (who's also the mayor's niece) joins with a group of her classmates to put on {{Tokusatsu}} stage shows and become the town's mascots; their goal is to revive the town's dying tourist trade within six months and save it from being absorbed by a nearby city.

* ''Series/QuePasaUSA'': Teenage daughter Carmen is running "Noche Cubana", a talent show centered on Cuban-American culture. She manages to rope her grandmother into doing costumes; her grandfather and father also get [[GotVolunteered drafted to help]]. The show features Violeta doing a dramatic piece with an English partner, Sharon as a last minute substitute for an ill cha-cha dancer, Juana succumbing to stage fright, and finally, Carmen and Joe dueting on a song they wrote together with lyrics in English and Spanish about their heritage.

* In ''Theatre/{{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, and due to a lack of funds several of the bodies are still in the freezer.]]

* This forms the basis for both ''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.

* An InUniverse example comes in Music/AesopRock and Rob Sonic's ''Bestiary'', their second album as Hail Mary Mallon. Interspersed between songs are dialogue blurbs telling of a bowling alley whose closure is imminent, and Aesop and Rob's efforts to hold a fundraiser concert to keep the alley from going belly-up for good. In the end, [[spoiler:it turns out that the bowling alley had ''already'' been closed since ''1995'', and the two had garnered $211 for unwittingly false purposes. Whoops.]]

* 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.

* Parodied in the ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' episode "My Life in Four Cameras", in which JD treats a former writer of the sitcom ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' and [[ImagineSpot imagines]] what life would be like as a sitcom. One subplot had Dr. Cox try to keep Dr. Kelso from firing NiceGuy Kenny, the newest employee, since the hospital couldn't afford to keep him. There turns out to be a talent show [[ContrivedCoincidence and the prize money is the exact amount of money needed]]. Kenny ([[CastTheExpert played by Clay Aiken]]) is a talented singer and wins the talent show. In the real world, [[RealityEnsues Kenny just got fired.]]

* In ''Franchise/LoveLive'', the storied (read: old) Otonokizaka High School is unable to compete with newer, fancier schools for prospective students. To prevent their school from being shut down, Honoka and her friends form a School Idol group to attract new students to their school.

* In ''Film/Hamlet2'' the titular play is put on to save the drama class from budget cuts.

* In ''Manga/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 [[TransformationSequence when she transforms]], while Miia ends up playing the villain, much to her resentment.

* In the ''Anime/YuGiOh'' fanfiction ''FanFic/DecksFallEveryoneDies'', the characters put on a show that is meant to convince people to start dueling again. This is because [[WorldGoneMad life has gone downhill]] after the fall of dueling and the rise of dice games.

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* ''Film/ShakespeareInLove'' at some points seems to invoke this trope as a WholePlotReference to the above-mentioned Mickey Rooney / Creator/JudyGarland musicals. Notably in one scene where Shakespeare's production of ''RomeoAndJuliet'' seems doomed(the Master of the Revels orders the Rose Theater closed for casting a woman in the lead role), and a surprise benefactor saves the play(Richard Burbage offers the use of his Curtain Theater) for the stated reason that TheShowMustGoOn.

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

* ''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.
* 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, and due to a lack of funds several of the bodies are still in the freezer.]]