History Main / IrrelevantActOpener

* "Cabin Fever" in ''MuppetTreasureIsland". A lavish show-stopping number that [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment has no impact on the plot whatsoever]], and also happens to be an AffectionateParody of this sort of number.

* TheProtomen has an Irrelevant Act Closer, in the form of Due Vendetta at the end of Act I. It's just a [[ListSong list]] of a bunch of MegaMan characters.

'''Examples:'''

* TheProtomen has an Irrelevant Act Closer, in the form of Due Vendetta at the end of Act I. It's just a list of a bunch of MegaMan characters.
----
<<|{{Theater}}|>>

* "Masquerade" from ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' is important thematically, but the scene could function without it.
** Any scene from any musical could function without a song. They don't because they're musicals.
*** Not so in musicals that are sung through, or really any number which advances the plot. In this case, "Masquerade" is notable in Phantom for being one of the very few songs which doesn't advance the plot at all.
*** Masquerade establishes Christine and Raoul's engagement, the Phantom's period of silence, and at the end, introduces the Phantom's finished work, ''Don Juan Triumphant.''
*** All of which are revealed in stylistic breaks from the main song, which only states that they're at a party.
*** It does serve as a bit of a dark BrickJoke when it's played at the end of the show from the music box and the Phantom sings the "hide your face" lines solo.

* "The Farmer and the Cowman" from ''{{Oklahoma}}!'' is really a subversion of this trope. The song is interrupted by a heated argument, then restarts and leads to AnAesop.

* TheProtomen has an Irreverent Act Closer, in the form of Due Vendetta at the end of Act I. It's just a list of a bunch of MegaMan characters.

* "I Don't Wanna Hear About It", the second act opener from the [=TheatreWorks=] Palo Alto and Pasadena Playhouse versions of ''Vanities: The Musical''.

** A recent production this troper saw gave its irrelevance some dramatic weight by superimposing the following scene, in which Jigger seduces Carrie, over it in a sort of theatrical split-screen.

* ''WeWillRockYou'' was already pretty ropily strung together, but the second act opens with "One Vision", possibly just to get the fried chicken line in somewhere.
** This troper might have been reading too much into it, but given the lyrics he thought it was satirical to highlight that Killer Queen's control over the Gaga kids was slipping.

* "I Don't Wanna Hear About It", the second act opener from the [=TheatreWorks=] Palo Alto and Pasadena Playhouse versions of ''Vanities: The Musical''. Also, "Mystery" and its reprises, from the A Contemporary Theatre version in Seattle.

* "I Don't Wanna Hear About It", the second act opener from the [=TheatreWorks=] Palo Alto and Pasadena Playhouse versions of ''Vanities: The Musical''.

* "I Don't Wanna Hear About It", the second act opener from the Pasadena Playhouse version of ''Vanities: The Musical''. The previous production at Theatreworks used a reprise of "Hey There, Beautiful" as the opener instead.

* "I Don't Wanna Hear About It", the second act opener from the Pasadena Playhouse version of ''Vanities: The Musical''. The previous production at Theatreworks used a reprise of "Hey There, Beautiful" as the opener.

* "Steam Heat" from ''The Pajama Game''.

* "Big Dollhouse" from the original Broadway production of ''Hairspray''.

* "I Feel Like I'm Not Out of Bed Yet" at the beginning of ''OnTheTown''. The second act starts with an irrelevant burlesque chorus of "So Long, Baby," though the also irrelevant CutSong "The Intermission's Great" originally preceded this.

* The second act of Humperdinck's opera ''Hänsel und Gretel'' opens with Gretel's folksy song "Ein Männlein steht im Walde," which bears no relation to the action.
** This Humperdinck fella... He wouldn't happen to be a [[ThePrincessBride prince]] of some sort, would he?

Generally, the song is about love, food, drinking... you know, happy stuff, although there are exceptions. This type of song is very common in musicals, although it's starting to become a bit of a DiscreditedTrope. Typically, its purpose is to give the audience a chance to re-adjust their reality filters back into "it is totally normal for everyone to be singing" mode by presenting a scene where it actually ''would'' be normal for the cast to be singing; the fact that the lyrics are irrelevant to the plot also gives the people late back from the bathrooms and refreshment stands a few extra minutes to get to their seats without missing anything important.

You're attending a musical, and you've just gotten back from intermission. You're ready for the tension built up in the first act to be released. The orchestra starts up again, and the curtain opens...

* The second act of ''{{RENT}}'' opens with "Seasons of Love", possibly the best-known song from the show, but the one with the least relevance to its plot. (Though, that said, there's a DarkReprise of "Seasons" later on with the line "how do you measure a year in the life?" replaced with "how do you measure a last year on earth?", which is very relevant indeed.)