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11->''"No, just, 11 o'clock is a significant time. If we were in a musical, this is where I would perform my big 11 o'clock number. [...] An 11 o'clock number is a big showstopping number with some sort of thematic revelation, and it usually happens around 11:00 p.m., because shows used to start at 8:30, but now they start earlier for some reason."''
12-->-- '''Rebecca''', ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend''
13
14So you're almost at the end of the show, and things are looking very uncertain, but you know the show's about to end. That's when you know this trope is about to kick in. The Eleven O'Clock Number is a song in [[TheMusical a musical]] placed near the end of the second act, before the plot's loose ends are tied up. The song usually represents an emotional turning point or revelation for the main character(s) and is almost always the last number in the show that isn't a reprise of an earlier song or the absolute final song.
15
16The term is [[ArtifactName a holdover]] from the days when all musicals started at 8:30 PM and had to have a climactic song around 11:00, because it was preferable to have audiences out shortly afterwards. In an exception to the anti-rule that musical numbers don't have to be, and usually aren't, written in the order in which they appear in the show, the 11:00 number is very often the last one added to the show.
17
18Largely a {{Theater}} trope. Seen in musicals and works that follow the musical format, as well as the odd ConceptAlbum. Compare and contrast ClimacticMusic. Not to be confused with TheSongBeforeTheStorm, which is sung ''before'' the climax begins, not to initiate it, or BigFinaleCrowdSong which is usually ''at'' the end of the musical, rather than close to the end.
19
20----
21!!Examples:
22[[foldercontrol]]
23* [[Theatre/TheElevenOClockNumber Theatre]]
24[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
25* ''WesternAnimation/ArloTheAlligatorBoy'' has "Something's Missing", as Arlo meets up with Ansel at the Met Gala and tries one last time to reach out to him and accept him as he is, while the latter has mixed thoughts over how long he should keep his true self suppressed. This is but mere moments before Arlo is captured by Ruff and Stucky, and Ansel reveals his true image as a birdman.
26* ''Franchise/{{Barbie}}'' films:
27%% ** The DarkReprise of "How Can I Refuse?" from ''WesternAnimation/BarbieAsThePrincessAndThePauper''.
28%% ** "Always More" from ''WesternAnimation/BarbieAsTheIslandPrincess''.
29** "Believe" from ''WesternAnimation/BarbieAndTheDiamondCastle'', which is the key to reveal the Diamond Castle.
30** Tori's version of "Here I Am" from ''WesternAnimation/BarbieAsThePrincessAndThePopstar'', as Keira is escaping the castle just before the two confront Seymore.
31%% ** The finale mashup from ''WesternAnimation/BarbieInRockNRoyals''.
32%% * "Show Yourself" for Elsa and "The Next Right Thing" for Anna from ''WesternAnimation/FrozenII''.
33%% * "A Guy Like You" from ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}''.
34* ''WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}'' has "I Am Moana (Song of the Ancestors)" when the title character recovers from her HeroicBSOD at the DarkestHour.
35* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'':
36** The first film has "This Is Our Big Night (Reprise)" during the final dance before Twilight has to return to Equestria due to [[WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve the portal closing at midnight]].
37** ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks Rainbow Rocks]]'' has "Welcome to the Show" for the climactic BattleOfTheBands between the Rainbooms and the Dazzlings.
38** ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsFriendshipGames Friendship Games]]'' has "Unleash the Magic" leading up to human Twilight's transformation into [[MeaningfulName Midnight]] [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Sparkle]].
39** ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsLegendOfEverfree Legend of Everfree]]'' has "Legend You Were Meant to Be", performed by the Rainbooms at the Crystal Gala.
40%% * "Poor Jack" from ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas''.
41* The titular song from ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'', as the three good fairies are putting the castle to sleep.
42%% * "A Boy Needs a Dog (Reprise)" from the film of ''WesternAnimation/TeachersPet''
43* "When You Believe" from ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'', as Miriam, Zipporah and the freed Hebrew slaves marvel at the power of the divinity of God, but also of the strength of the human spirit.
44* [[TriumphantReprise "This Wish (reprise)"]] from ''WesternAnimation/Wish2023''.
45[[/folder]]
46
47[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
48%% * ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'': "Rose Tint My World" or "I'm Going Home".
49%% * ''Film/RepoTheGeneticOpera'' has "I Didn't Know I'd Love You So Much".
50* "I Will Always Love You", as Miss Mona declares to Ed that she's breaking up with him, but for his own good, from ''Film/TheBestLittleWhorehouseInTexas''.
51%% * "I'll Begin Again" from ''Film/Scrooge1970''.
52* ''Film/ChuckECheeseInTheGalaxy5000'': "I Know I Can", sung between Chuck E. and his teammates and the villainous X-Team, during the climatic final race of the Galaxy 5000 [[GainingConfidenceSong as Chuck E. learns to gain enough confidence to believe in himself and know he can win.]]
53* ''Film/{{Descendants}}'' series:
54** The a capella rendition of "Be Our Guest" from the first film, sung during Family Day just before the coronation scene which coincides with the battle against Maleficent. Also "If Only" where Mal realizes that she's starting to genuinely fall in love with Ben.
55** "It's Goin' Down" from the second film, sung during the scene Mal is tricking Uma so she can save Ben which later on results in the pirates attacking.
56** "My Once Upon a Time" from the third film, sung right before Audrey has Celia held hostage and Mal turns into her dragon form which leads into the FinalBattle.
57%% * "Listen" from the film version of ''Theatre/{{Dreamgirls}}''. Perhaps "I Miss You Old Friend" from the original musical. It's in the stage version as well, but that's not the eleven o'clock number, and for that matter, neither is "I Miss You Old Friend." Everyone knows it's "One Night Only".
58%% * "I Confess" from ''Film/{{Footloose}}''.
59 * ''Film/BoBurnhamInside'' has "Goodbye", which reprises multiple previous songs and represents Bo's attempts to finally resolve the depression and loneliness that's absorbed him.
60%% * From the Disney movie ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'' there's the song "So Close".
61%% * The ''Film/HighSchoolMusical'' series had:
62%% ** "Breaking Free" from the first film.
63%% ** "Bet On It" and "Everyday" from the second film, though the latter would be most accurate.
64%% ** The third film has the cast's SchoolPlay, which is a medley of nearly all the songs featured in the movie.
65* ''Film/JourneyToBethlehem'' has "The Nativity Song" a mashup of "Silent Night"/"O Holy Night"/"Mother To A Savior And King" when Mary delivers Jesus, as the light of God shines over all of Judea, and Gabriel and the Angels declare Him Emmanuel, the Savior and King of the world.
66%% * "Duel Duet" from ''Film/ShockTreatment''.
67%% * "Within You" from ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}''. Technically the Thirteen O'clock Number.
68* "The Show Must Go On" from ''Film/MoulinRouge'', which also doubles as TheSongBeforeTheStorm. Appropriately, it is both [[Music/{{Queen}} operatic]] and [[{{Foreshadowing}} rather]] [[DownerEnding funereal]]. From the Musical "El Tango Roxanne" takes this place.
69%% * "Once and For All" from ''Film/{{Newsies}}''.
70%% * "Step In Time" from ''Film/MaryPoppins'', and "Anything Can Happen" from the ScreenToStageAdaptation. The reprise of "The Place the Lost Things Go" serves as this in ''Film/MaryPoppinsReturns''
71* The live action ''[[Film/Aladdin2019 Aladdin]]'' has "Speechless Part 2", as Jasmine finally learns to take a stand for herself.
72* For the live action ''[[Film/BeautyAndTheBeast2017 Beauty and the Beast]]'', the Beast's "Evermore", as the Beast, while watching Belle ride away, realizes how she has changed him, both for the better, and now that she's leaving, for the worst.
73* ''Film/Zombies2018'':
74%% ** The first film has "Stand" and the cheer competition reprise of "Fired Up".
75** The sequel, ''Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 2'', had Zed and Addison's SofterAndSlowerCover of "Someday" during their DanceOfRomance.
76* "I'm Going To Go Back There Someday" from ''Film/TheMuppetMovie'', as Gonzo contemplates on how little we actually spend on this earth, and in the grand design there's something greater beyond that.
77[[/folder]]
78
79[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
80* "Something to Sing About" from the "Once More With Feeling" episode of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. Buffy reveals that ever since she was forcibly brought back to life, she's felt empty inside.
81* "You're Going to Be Okay", where the doctors assure their patient that they will be with her every step of the way, from [[MusicalEpisode "My Musical"]] in ''Series/{{Scrubs}}''.
82* The song "Hold on Me" at the end of episode 13 of ''Series/{{Backstage}}'' resolves Bianca's HiddenDepths storyline, but sets up the finale's two major conflicts: the growing tension between Miles and Alya, and [[spoiler:Vanessa's CareerEndingInjury.]]
83* Discussed in ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend'''s GrandFinale. Musical theater superfan Rebecca talks about how how the eleven o'clock number came to be and then sings about her journey so far in a song full of callbacks aptly titled "Eleven O'Clock". The callbacks are in the form of dresses on mannequins, and at one point she [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/shesthecrazyexgirlfriend/images/8/8f/11_O%27Clock.jpeg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/340?cb=20190405002612 forms an eleven-o'clock]] with her body.
84** "The Darkness" is a slow but climactic love ballad that sums up Rebecca's drive to obsess over different men, thus answering the dramatic question that kicked off the entire series. "Love's Not a Game" is a giant, zany, high-energy number that gives all the side characters outside of the LoveDodecahedron one last chance to show off before the plot turns squarely back to Rebecca.
85** “After Everything I’ve Done For You (That You Didn’t Ask For)” is the eleven o’clock number of season one.
86%% * "The Fight Song" from the ''Series/HenryDanger'' MusicalEpisode.
87* From ''Series/{{Smash}}'' the shows within the show has "Hang the Moon", in which Marylin envisions having a loving conversation with her dying mother, for "Bombshell" and "The Love I Meant to Say", Jesse declares his love for Amanda/Dina before she dies in his arms, for "Hit List".
88* On ''Series/{{Roundhouse}}'' this is known as the "third act ballad", the song that sums up the episode's themes, typically an AwardBaitSong.
89* "We Are One" on the ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'' MusicalEpisode "Subspace Rhapsody" is PatrickStewartSpeech as CrowdSong and, because of the rules of the [[MusicalWorldHypothesis Musical Alternate Universe]], it ''literally'' resolves the plot.
90[[/folder]]
91
92[[folder:Music]]
93%% * A ConceptAlbum example: "Blind Curve" from ''Music/MisplacedChildhood'' by Music/{{Marillion}}.
94%% ** Another example: "Reptile" from "Music/TheDownwardSpiral" by Music/NineInchNails
95%% * "Stop" from ''Music/TheWall''. In the film, the song serves the same purpose, but it is sung very quietly and a bit hard to discern.
96%% * "This Christmas Day" from Music/TransSiberianOrchestra's ''Christmas Eve and Other Stories'', although the argument could be made for "Old City Bar". There are a few other songs in the album following these two, but they're mostly bonus tracks.
97* "First Dance" in Music/SteeleyeSpan's ConceptAlbum of ''Literature/{{Wintersmith}}''. It's the point in the book where Tiffany turns the tables on the wintersmith. After that on the album, there's an instrumental of the Dark Morris itself, a celebratory song about the Summer Lady's return, and two thematic epilogues, one about A'Tuin and one about [[Creator/TerryPratchett Sir Terry]]. But the story itself is resolved.
98* ConceptAlbum ''Music/GhostQuartet'' has "Hero."
99[[/folder]]
100
101[[folder:Western Animation]]
102%% * The "Reprise Remix" from ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents: WesternAnimation/SchoolsOutTheMusical''.
103* "It Won't Be Long" in the ''WesternAnimation/LittlestPetShop2012'' season finale "[[Recap/LittlestPetShop2012S1E26SummertimeBlues Summertime Blues]]", sung as a farewell song for Blythe leaving over the summer.
104* "On the Last Night" from ''WesternAnimation/TheLionGuard'' Season 3 premiere "Battle for the Pride Lands", as Kion and the Guard prepare to face off against Scar for the final time.
105* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': The episode "See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey" had "Freedom Beef," a song sung by Professor Utonium where he tells the girls that there is still evil in the world because the gnome has robbed the people of their free will and encourages them to fight for freedom.
106* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': The episode "Mr. Greg" had "Both of You", a song sung by Steven to help Pearl and Greg make up.
107[[/folder]]

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