Line #46 Main/AllKnowingSingingNarrator


1	%%
2	%% The examples on this page have been sorted alphabetically. Please add new ones in order. Thank you!
3	%%
4	%% Zero-context examples are not allowed on wiki pages. All such examples have been commented out.
5	%% Please add proper context before uncommenting them. A good example explains how it's an example.
6	%%
7	''[[SelfDemonstratingArticle And a one, and a two, and a one-two-three-four!]]''
8
9	''There goes Bob and Alice, their mortgage is way past due. There goes Bob and Alice, and soon their day shall be misconstrued. There goes Bob and Alice, General Dusk is watchin' you! There goes Bob and Alice'' — why hello! I was just doin' a number, a musical number, yessiree!
10
11	Y' see, I may be a narrator but I am also a talented vocalist, a singer if you will. Now, if you biddly-boppers pay heed to the Trope Title, then you oughta know that I’m aware of everything that's going to happen in the plot. And what better for me (though not necessarily all the time) to step in for a musical; what good is a musical if the guy tellin' the story ain't singin' along?
12
13	Say, baby, if you gon' be lookin' for the singin' narrator ''ensemble'', then go 'head and check out GreekChorus. For a more general, how do ya put it, categorization of folks with an awareness of the work's fictionality, why don't you go on and take a look at FourthWallObserver. Anyway, back to my mel-o-dee!
14
15	''There goes Bob and Alice, I know everything they're gonna do. There goes Bob and Alice, I play didgeridoo. There goes Bob and Alice, they'll never make it up to you! OW!!!''
16	----
17	!!Examples:
18
19	[[foldercontrol]]
20
21	%%[[folder:Comic Books]]
22	%%* ''ComicBook/AdventureTimeTheFlipSide'': Slim Strings in the CowboyEpisode section.
23	%%[[/folder]]
24
25	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
26	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'': The Muses start their takeover for the original narrator, who they say is too boring, by launching into a gospel musical number describing Zeus overthrowing the Titans.
27	* ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney'': Clopin opens the movie with the story of how Frollo killed Quasimodo's mother and "adopted" Quasi -- despite the fact that Clopin wasn't even ''there'' at the time, and the two men (or possibly more, if you count the staring masonry) who were certainly wouldn't have told anyone about what happened. However, for the rest of the film he's just a standard character who knows no more than anyone else. In the Berlin musical production based on this film, Clopin stays the narrator throughout.
28	* ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973'': Alan-a-Dale, the rooster minstrel, [[PlayingWithATrope plays with this trope]] because he becomes a character in the story who appears in several scenes.
29	%%* ''WesternAnimation/TerkelInTrouble'': Arne.
30	[[/folder]]
31
32	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
33	%%* ''Film/CatBallou'': Stubby Kaye and Nat King Cole.
34	* ''Film/RanchoNotorious'': The ballad "The Legend of Chuck-a-Luck" is heard during the opening credits and throughout the film, using the lyrics as narration. According to the American Film Institute, this is the first American film to use a song in this manner.
35	* ''Film/RepoTheGeneticOpera'': The Grave Robber. Of course, [[LampshadeHanging he's reading a newspaper about the events of the Opera]], so even though he wasn't there, he still knows about certain events. Unfortunately, however, they don't do the same when explaining how he knows all about Blind Mag's contract problems. He actually hands off the newspaper to Shilo while Mag's rival is ''standing right there'' at the time.
36	* ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'': The Criminologist. Of course, he doesn't actually sing (but he does do spoken word accompaniment during the Time Warp song.)
37	* ''Film/TheStoryOfRobinHoodAndHisMerrieMen'': Alan-a-Dale wanders through the early parts of the film singing about events that have just taken place. Even after he joins the Merrie Men, he plays no real part in the action.
38	%%* ''Film/TheWarriors'': In a non-musical version, the Radio DJ mostly fits into this category.%%How?
39	[[/folder]]
40
41	[[folder:Literature]]
42	* A book of Myth/ClassicalMythology features a script-version of the story of Achilles. "Chorus" is described as the "Narrator who knows everything".
43	[[/folder]]
44
45	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
46	%%* ''Series/DoctorWho'': "The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon" in "The Gunfighters".
47	%%* ''Series/FTroop'': Used (and {{lampshade\|Hanging}}d) in "The Day They Shot Agarn".
48	* ''Series/{{Galavant}}'': Jester knows all the plot threads during his summation songs, even if they contain events he was not present for nor could have been informed of.
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:Music]]
52	* ''Music/SchweigtStillePlaudertNicht'': {{Exaggerated\|Trope}}. The narrator has no part in the story apart from narration, and since it's an opera, all he does is sing.
53	[[/folder]]
54
55	[[folder:Theater]]
56	%%* ''Theatre/TheAddamsFamily'': Fester.
57	* ''Theatre/{{Assassins}}'': The Balladeer goes over the three successful attempts we see on stage and, in "Another National Anthem", tries to get the Assassins to be more polite. He fails, and they [[spoiler: turn him into Lee Harvey Oswald.]] One can also count the Proprietor as this as well, as he gives inspiration for the Assassins to start trying to kill their targets, and even interacts with them in some versions of the play.
58	%%* ''Theatre/BloodBrothers'': The Narrator.
59	%%* ''AudioPlay/TheDollsOfNewAlbion: A Steampunk Opera'': The Narrator.
60	%%* ''Theatre/{{Elisabeth}}'': Luigi Lucheni. He's also an InteractiveNarrator, particularly in the Takarazuka version where, at minimum, he takes pictures of the audience so Sisi can collect images of the great beauties. Sometimes accompanied by a ShoutOut if there happens to be any (current or former) Takarasienne in attendance.%%Sure, but how is he an example of this trope?
61	* ''Music/{{Evita}}'': Sometimes he's UsefulNotes/CheGuevara and sometimes he's just a random everyman, but he serves as both narrator of Evita's life and one of her harshest critics.
62	%%* ''Theatre/AFunnyThingHappenedOnTheWayToTheForum'': Pseudolus, the main character.
63	* ''Theatre/{{Hadestown}}'': Hermes. Originally his role was just to narrate the show and give Orpheus the directions to the back way into Hadestown, but as the show evolved he's become more and more of a character (such as being responsible for introducing Orpheus and Eurydice in the first place). "Road to Hell (Reprise)" implies that, as a god, Hermes always knew the end of the story was inevitable but was compelled to play his role in it anyway.
64	* ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'': Aaron Burr. Played with in that there are several noticeable blind spots from where Historians has no knowledge. Most tellingly, he starts narrating the facts about [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton–Reynolds_affair the Hamilton-Reynolds affair]] only to just shrug and let Hamilton take over narration a few lines in. We then cut to a description from (the historical) Hamilton's own highly biased writings.
65	* ''Theatre/IntoTheWoods'': The Narrator is all-knowing, since he has a book that tells how every story is meant to end. [[spoiler:Things get considerably worse when [[InteractiveNarrator he dies]].]]
66	%%* ''Literature/JamesAndTheGiantPeach'': Ladahlord in the musical adaptation.
67	%%* ''Theatre/JosephAndTheAmazingTechnicolorDreamcoat'': The Narrator.
68	%%* ''Theatre/LittleShopOfHorrors'': The urchins/Ronettes in the musical version.
69	%%* ''Theatre/{{Lizzie}}'': Bridget.
70	%%* ''Theatre/MaryPoppins'': Bert in the musical adaptation.
71	%%* ''Theatre/MurderBallad'': The Narrator.
72	* ''Theatre/NatashaPierreAndTheGreatCometOf1812'': Everyone gets a turn narrating their own actions or the actions of others from the third person.
73	%%* ''Theatre/NotreDameDeParis'': Pierre Gringoire.
74	%%* ''Theatre/OurTown'': A non-singing example: the Stage Manager.
75	* ''Theatre/PacificOvertures'': The Reciter sings of Japan's feudal ways and the country's modernization and encounters with the West.
76	%%* ''Theatre/{{Pippin}}'': The Leading Player.
77	%%* ''Film/ReeferMadness'': The Lecturer in the musical adaptation.
78	%%* ''Theatre/RockOfAges'': Lonny.
79	%%* ''Theatre/{{Seussical}} the Musical'': The Cat in the Hat.
80	* ''Theatre/{{Urinetown}}'': Officer Lockstock is not only very knowledgeable about the lives of the people in the city he patrols, but also about the [[NoFourthWall tropes and tricks of the musical theatre genre]].
81	[[/folder]]
82
83	[[folder:Web Video]]
84	* ''WebVideo/HeadlessASleepyHollowStory'': Downplayed with Diedrich Knickerbocker. While he does sing his narration of Ichabod's story to the audience and appears to be only seen and heard by Ichabod, he is not entirely all-knowing -- there are a few instances where he sings that something is about to happen, but doesn't actually know what it is. He's more NarratingThePresent in this sense.
85	-->'''Diedrich''': ''(singing)'' ''But before he could start to sob and cry\
86	A welcome visitor would soon stop by...''\
87	''Ichabod''': ''(happily)'' Really? Who?\
88	'''Diedrich''': What? Oh, I don't know.
89	[[/folder]]
90
91	[[folder:Western Animation]]
92	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': Parodied in "[[Recap/ArthurS3E1BustersBackTheBalladOfBusterBaxter The Ballad of Buster Baxter]]": "Mom, there's a singing moose in front of the house!" (Said singing moose is no less than [[Music/SimonAndGarfunkel Art Garfunkel]].)
93	* ''WesternAnimation/CentralPark'': Birdie is a busker who also serves as the show's narrator. He explains to the audience there are certain rules to being a "narrator": the main one being that despite [[FourthWallObserver being an actual character in the show]], he isn't allowed to be a narrator of the [[InteractiveNarrator interactive variety]] and directly interfere with the plot. He actually gets briefly replaced in the episode "Rival Busker" after he breaks this rule by impatiently blurting out plot details to Paige.
94	* ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'': Pinky does this briefly in "[[Recap/PinkyAndTheBrainS3E18 Brainy Jack]]", until Brain tells him to stop in a LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn moment.
95	[[/folder]]

Context Main / AllKnowingSingingNarrator