History Main / TheShowMustGoWrong

** Taken UpToEleven in the sequel, ''PeterPanGoesWrong''. One of the Lost Boys starts the show in a wheelchair, three different actors take on the role of Peter as their predecessor suffers an AmusingInjury too many, and Tinkerbell gets electrocuted by her own costume.

** Taken UpToEleven in the sequel, ''Peter Pan Goes Wrong''. One of the Lost Boys starts the show in a wheelchair, three different actors take on the role of Peter as their predecessor suffers an AmusingInjury too many, and Tinkerbell gets electrocuted by her own costume.

* The second act of ''{{Gypsy}}'' opens with Louise in "Mme. Rose's Toreadorables," a tacky pastiche of June's turns that degenerates into a parade of flubs. Fortunately, it's only a rehearsal.

* ''The Play That Goes Wrong'' is built entirely around this; according to what we hear about the in-universe group, their shows are generally absolute catastrophes. BadBadActing, mislaid props, miscued sound effects and actors coming on too early are only the ''start'' of it.

* The bumpers for RockyAndBullwinkle have Bullwinkle trying to pull a rabbit out of his hat, and failing each time (though the closest he comes is when he pulls Rocky out).
* In univserse, every episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheNewMrPeabodyAndShermanShow'' is a live show hosted by Mr. Peabody and Sherman. Needless to say, no episode goes as Mr. Peabody planned it. Disruptions had ranged from nosy neighbors (the show is filmed from their apartment building), a malfunctioning elevator, a black hole, an overzealous fan, and a viral outbreak leading to a government quarantine.

A subtrope of ShowWithinAShow, MurphysLaw, and FailureIsTheOnlyOption. Also an application of TheLawOfConservationOfDetail, since let's face it, how boring would it be to watch a show about a show where everything goes smoothly according to plan? The inversion of this is SpringtimeForHitler, when people's attempt to make a show fail results in its success.

A subtrope of ShowWithinAShow, MurphysLaw, and FailureIsTheOnlyOption. Also an application of TheLawOfConservationOfDetail, since let's face it, how boring would it be to watch a show about a show where everything goes smoothly according to plan? The inversion of this is SpringtimeForHitler, when people's attempt to make a show fail results in its success. Not to be confused (however much the players want it to be) with TheShowMustGoOn.

A subtrope of ShowWithinAShow. The inversion of this is SpringtimeForHitler. Not to be confused with TheShowMustGoOn.

A subtrope of ShowWithinAShow. The inversion of this is SpringtimeForHitler.

--> '''Ozpin''': Wait a minute. Aren't you kids all supposed to be in class?

* ''WebAnimation/RWBYChibi'', Team RWBY puts on a play of Little Red Riding Hood. However, Yang keeps upstaging everyone, Blake loathes having been type-cast as the Big Bad Wolf just because she's a faunus and Weiss can't see the point of being the huntsman given that Ruby has written her gun-scythe into the play. When the team realise that Ruby has based the lead role [[HerCodeNameWasMarySue off herself]], the play comes to a crashing halt. At that point, the long-suffering narrator (Professor Ozpin) finally twigs that the kids are truanting from class, forcing the team to abandon the play and flee.

* ''WebAnimation/RWBYChibi'', Team RWBY puts on a play of Little Red Riding Hood. However, Blake hates being typecasted as the Big Bad Wolf, Yang keeps trying to steal the spotlight because she objects to Ruby [[HerCodeNameWasMarySue making herself]] the star of the show, and Weiss just doesn't see why the Huntsman is even needed because Ruby has written her gun-scythe into the story. The play is abandoned as a lost cause when the kids flee from their long-suffering narrator (Professor Ozpin), who suddenly twigs that the kids are truanting from class.

* In ''WebAnimation/RWBYChibi'', Team RWBY puts on a play of Little Red Riding Hood. However, Blake hates being typecasted as the Big Bad Wolf, Yang keeps trying to steal the spotlight, and thanks to Ruby's writing, Weiss just doesn't see why the Huntsman is even needed

* [[Music/FleetwoodMac Christine McVie's video for "Love Will Show Us How".

* Christine McVie's "Love Will Show Us How".

* The closing ceremony of the 2012 UsefulNotes/OlympicGames in London faked this for fun during the "Symphony of British Music" stretch: A HumanCannonball act proving a dud turned out to be the setup for [[Creator/MontyPython Eric Idle]] performing [[Film/LifeOfBrian "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life"]], complete with a new verse about how TheShowMustGoOn. And the hijinks didn't stop there -- midway through the number he had to deal with an intrusion by Bollywood-style dancers!

* An episode of ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'' has the school hosting a production of Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet, with Spender and Suzie playing the title roles. Ned and Cookie try to get Spencer out of the way so Ned can kiss Mose during the balcony scene, but stage manager Mose, assigned to make sure that "the show must go on", foils their every attempt. Eventually, Spencer is injured, and Ned gets to be Romeo after all... but unfortunately, Suzie is also injured, and Cookie has to play Juliet.

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* ''SlingsAndArrows''' third-season production of ''Theatre/KingLear'' is like this. [[spoiler:It ends with the lead actor dying and everyone else involved in the production being fired.]]

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* One of GordonKorman's books, [[MacdonaldHall ''Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood'']], concerns a movie being filmed on a school campus. Bruno, a prankster, interferes with the filming. His attempts to befriend the movie star even get them stranded in the wilderness at one point.
* The [[SchoolPlay Christmas play]] in ''Bless Me, Ultima''. Two of the kid actors got into a fight, another urinated himself, and in the commotion the baby Jesus was decapitated.
* In ''Discworld/{{Maskerade}}'' this is the mantra of the Ankh-Morpork Opera House, holding to it when the lead singer dropped dead just before the first act, when a [[Discworld/GuardsGuards dragon]] was perching on the roof, during a civil war, as a mysterious Ghost murders people, and ignoring said Ghost being chased from one box via the chandelier by a cat transformed into a human, showering the audience with glass ornaments. It eventually stops when a hostage situation breaks out on stage, and even then the orchestra continues to provide musical stings.
** The bledlows of Unseen University also determinedly follow their ancient and utterly meaningless rituals such as the Ceremony of the Keys (a simple exchange of keys added to over time until shouting "Oops! They were in my jacket pocket the whole time! Forget me own head next!" at the top of their lungs is an honored part of the procedure) while ignoring storm, [[EldritchAbomination great big things with tentacles]], harpies, dragons, and faculty members who scream at them things like "Keep it down! What's the bloody ''point''?".
* The one and only attempt [[Literature/HarryPotter Hogwarts]] ever made at a SchoolPlay, as detailed by Dumbledore in his commentary on ''Literature/TheTalesOfBeedleTheBard''. The two leads had been dating until an hour or so before curtain-call, at which point the boy dumped the girl for one of the other actresses. The resulting disaster led to school plays being banned rather than just dropped.

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* ''TheWall'', more specifically "In the Flesh." It's more visible in the 1980-81 tours: before this song, the "MC: Atmos" prologue that kicked off the show was done a second time, ''but'' the MC looked and acted like a zombie the second time around (a consequence of the wall's completion). Also, the FaceOfTheBand has suffered a fugue state, and isn't singing the words that he probably ''should'' be singing within the context of the show/album.

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* In ''[[{{Peanuts}} It's Christmas Time Again Charlie Brown]],'' the school Christmas play goes wrong when Peppermint Patty, playing a sheep, first drowns out Franklin with her baa-ing, and then forgets what sound sheep make ("Meow! Woof! Moo! Whatever."). And it goes bad again when Sally screws up ''her'' one line, saying "hockey stick" instead of "hark".

* In univserse, every episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheNewMrPeabodyAndShermanShow'' is a live show hosted by Mr. Peabody and Sherman. Needless to say, no episode goes as Mr. Peabody planned it.

* An episode of ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'' has the school hosting a production of Theater/RomeoAndJuliet, with Spender and Suzie playing the title roles. Ned and Cookie try to get Spencer out of the way so Ned can kiss Mose during the balcony scene, but stage manager Mose, assigned to make sure that "the show must go on", foils their every attempt. Eventually, Spencer is injured, and Ned gets to be Romeo after all... but unfortunately, Suzie is also injured, and Cookie has to play Juliet.

* The plays put on by the [[OneHundredAndEight Stars of Destiny]] in ''VideoGame/SuikodenIII'' '''can''' be played straight... but it's [[RuleOfFunny much more entertaining]] to, say, cast ''RomeoAndJuliet'' with [[BadBadActing not-so-talented actors]]. Or ninjas. Or ducks. Or an all-dog cast. ''Then'' there's the performances of ''William Tell'': guess what can happen when '''those''' go awry.

* A number of [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Warner Bros.]] cartoons have a show gone hilariously wrong. In "WesternAnimation/ShowBizBugs," Bugs can seemingly do no wrong while everything Daffy does is a full-fledged FEMA candidate. Bugs puts Elmer on the spot in "Stage Door Cartoon," and it happens to Bugs himself in "Rhapsody Rabbit."

* The closing ceremony of the 2012 OlympicGames in London faked this for fun during the "Symphony of British Music" stretch: A HumanCannonball act proving a dud turned out to be the setup for [[Creator/MontyPython Eric Idle]] performing [[Film/LifeOfBrian "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life"]], complete with a new verse about how TheShowMustGoOn. And the hijinks didn't stop there -- midway through the number he had to deal with an intrusion by Bollywood-style dancers!