History Main / AtTheOperaTonight

* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': Janet and Jack used to like to attend the opera together with Tim before Janet's death. Tim himself ends up at the Opera House after it's been heavily damaged by the quakes that triggered ''ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand'', attending a vaudeville style production since the abandoned house has been taken over by artsy types who give out free food and let almost anyone perform, from poetry readings, to short plays, piano recitals, and comedy acts.

--->'''[[RebelPrince Sabin]]''': "Huh? Why's everyone singing?"

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' has its famous "Aria di Mezzo Carattere", but it's the only part of the show that we see in detail. The plot actually focuses on the party trying to rig a meeting with Setzer and gaining access to his airship by using Celes as a decoy for the ''real'' opera singer. And then [[GoldfishPoopGang Ultros]] decides to drop in as well...

--->'''[[DumbMuscle Sabin]]''': "Uh. Why's everyone singing?"

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'': Shortly after becoming a Councilor, [[NaiveIdealist Jayce]] is invited to see a concert with the musician playing an instrument that looks like a violin with a tuba coming out the back. There, Mel convinces him the necessity of smoozing and making corrupt deals with the other councilors for his own survival. [[ScienceHero Heimerdinger]] is the only councilor focused on the performance, and he's having a great time.

** UpToEleven, in fact, since in this case the performance isn't even needed except as a pretext to get several characters together; all the relevant scenes happen in the lobby before it even begins.

* ''VisualNovel/{{Melody}} gives the protagonist and title character at a rock opera having some quality bonding time.

* ''Literature/TheThinkingMachine'': In "The Problem of the Opera Box", Van Dyne investigates when a young woman is stabbed to while surrounded by her family in a opera box during a performance of ''Theatre/IlTrovatore''.

* In ''Film/{{Moonstruck}}'', Ronny (Creator/NicholasCage) invites Loretta (Music/{{Cher}}) to see ''Theatre/LaBoheme'' with him, because he loves her and he loves opera so it would be his two favorite things together. She accepts.

* Connor [=MacLeod=] in the second ''Film/HighlanderIITheQuickening'' film attends a performance of ''Theatre/{{Gotterdammerung}}'', during which he has a flashback and introduces an [[FanonDiscontinuity extremely unpopular]] element to the series.

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* ''Shadow of the Templar'' includes a trip to the opera in the fourth novel High Fidelity, [[spoiler:in which Jeremy, Simon, and Team Templar undertake a rescue mission at a performance of ''Theatre/{{Turandot}}'' to save Jeremy's friend Annabelle, who also is his answering service.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' have attended several theatrical performances. Lisa and Marge will be paying attention while Bart and Homer usually get bored. Lisa, being a eight-year-old child, occasionally joins Bart and Homer in their shenanigans (or at least laughs with/at them).
** In the trilogy "Magical History Tour" where Bart plays Wolfgang Theatre/{{Amadeus}} Mozart, Lisa (as Salieri) dopes the Emperor during a Mozart performance so he falls asleep, leading the fops in the audience to follow the Emperor's lead.
** The film "The Poke of Zorro" that the Simpsons [[ShowWithinAShow go to see]] is a [[AnachronismStew Historical Mash-up]] wherein Franchise/{{Zorro}} saves the life of the Myth/KingArthur at the opera house (after fighting Literature/TheThreeMusketeers, Film/TheManInTheIronMask, ninjas, and Literature/TheScarletPimpernel) and is proclaimed the new king of England.
* Used in the Don Bluth movie of ''WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}}'', the Parisian Ballet is used as the setting of a few important revelations and fights -- and the ballet is the [[ShowWithinAShow extremely apt]] ''Cinderella.''

* The climax of ''WesternAnimation/MickeyDonaldGoofyTheThreeMusketeers'' takes place at the opera.
** Speaking of, the movie has a RunningGag in which, whenever Pete mentions the opera, the scene cuts to a poster showing the spectacle that was meant to play at the opera, and a fanfare plays. Pete even breaks the forth wall on one occasion:
--> '''Pete:''' "That little ditty's startin' to grow on me!"
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "Sweet and Elite," we see Rarity attending an opera during a musical montage of her mingling with Canterlot's upper crust.
* The ''WesternAnimation/OggyAndTheCockroaches'' episode "A Night at the Opera" features Jack as the headliner of an opera, with Dee Dee attempting to shove his way into the spotlight, all while Oggy stops him, along with Joey and Marky, from ruining his cousin's night from behind the scenes.
* In ''WesternAnimation/MiloMurphysLaw,'' [[BornUnlucky Milo]] and his friends attend the opera for extra credit while his crush, [[ScheduleFanatic Amanda]], does it for fun. Since Amanda mentions that she ''really'' doesn't want anything to go wrong, Milo spends most of the time backstage, trying and failing to prevent all the chaos [[HereditaryCurse Murphy's Law]] [[TheJinx causes during the performance]]. Given that Milo is played by [[Music/WeirdAlYankovic a famous singer]], wanna bet whether or not he's eventually PushedInFrontOfTheAudience?
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' episode "Lights, Camera, Opera" in which Muffy's father plans to take her to see ''Theatre/{{Carmen}}'' but Muffy worries if she can stay awake through it, let alone enjoy it. Features a guest performance by actual opera star Rodney Gilfry.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'', [[ChildProdigy Lisa]] recounts the time when she and [[TheRockStar Luna]] went to the opera, apparently to see ''Die Walkure''. Luna gets bored by Act II and attempts a stage dive into the orchestra pit, causing Brunnhilde to swoon.
** In a later episode, Mr. and Mrs. Loud attempt to make their kids more "well-rounded" by taking them to the opera (this time it's ''Theatre/TheBarberOfSeville''), but Lisa seems to be the only one who is invested.

* Lampooned in ''Literature/TheBaroqueCycle''. Nobody who's anybody in the time of Louis XIV attends an opera to watch the ''actors''; don't be absurd.
* While what's happening on (and behind) the stage in ''Literature/{{Maskerade}}'' is ''very'' important, there is a nod to this trope; Granny observes that most of the audience is there to be ''seen'', not to watch. One significant minor character is a young social-climber who's dragged his mother along, and has also got a booklet that summarises the plot, since he's been told it's unlikely anyone in the audience would figure it out during the show.
* ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'' has Vimes attending a dwarf opera with his wife, along with various other diplomats and dignitaries. He spends more time working out who among the audience is on his suspect list and why, and his main reaction to the opera (which depicts the creation of the stolen coronation artifact, the Scone of Stone) is to wonder which dwarf in the love story is which, as both dwarf sexes traditionally wear chainmail and have beards. The plot, which Sybil knows very well, does play a key role in the book's climax.

* ''Literature/TheScarletPimpernel'' has a people-socialising-at-the-opera scene.
* ''Exit Strategy'' book 1 of the Nadia Stratford series by Kelley Armstrong, has a large sequence revolving around an opera performance. Montage revolving around getting ready? Check. Montage of pretty people in pretty opera-attending clothing? Check. Everyone absolutely ignoring the performance, instead watching the rest of the crowd? TRIPLE-check.
* In ''Literature/{{Overenskommelser}}'' by Creator/SimonaAhrnstedt, protagonists Beatrice and Seth first meet each other during an evening at the Stockholm Opera.

* In the ''Literature/YoungBond'' novel ''Literature/ByRoyalCommand'', with the noise from the opera masking his work, Wrangel picks up Gräfin Frieda von Schlick in her box, breaks her neck, and throws her over the balcony, making it seem that she died from the fall.
* The protagonist, AmateurSleuth priests of ''Literature/SmallerAndSmallerCircles'' go one night to the Cultural Centre of the Philippines—ostensibly for a Mozart concerto, but actually to meet a head of the foundation funding their forensic research. This being the Philippines, a lot of high-society figures are also seen visibly milling about, showing off their baroque finery and judging others'. [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure NBI Director Lastimosa]] and his family are also in attendance, as is the SinisterMinister Cardinal Meneses.
** UpToEleven, in fact, since in this case the performance isn't even needed except as a pretext to get several characters together; all the relevant scenes happen in the lobby before it even begins.
** Setting up the scene in such a way that the performance was never actually depicted had a very practical benefit in the film adaptation, as it saved the production crew the whole expense of awaiting or staging an entire performance just for the sake of the movie.

* ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'' uses this for one episode. The titular character attends a performance (benefiting world hunger), and runs into a patient.
* In ''Series/MyWifeAndKids'', leaving the opera early means the father catches the son trying to get it on with his girlfriend.
* In one season three episode of ''Series/SexAndTheCity'', Carrie accompanies Charlotte to an opera, only to spot Big there, with the typical drama between them ensuing.
* In ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' episode "[[Recap/CheersS4E22 Diane Chambers Day]]", Diane takes some of the other characters along. They all, Diane included, end up sound asleep.
* Happened on an episode of ''Series/WillAndGrace'', when Grace confronts Karen by tracking her down in her box at the opera.
-->'''Patron:''' Shh!
-->'''Grace:''' Oh, come on, it's ''Madame Butterfly''. You know how it ends. [GRACE MAKES A KNIFING MOTION] Aah-aah-aah!

* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' had an episode at the opera. [[SeinfeldianConversation It focused on how The Maestro kept his pants creased.]]
** There was also the one where they get tickets for the opera but spend the whole night paranoid about Crazy Joe Davola.

* An episode of ''Series/SisterSister'' has Ray and Lisa go to a performance of ''Theatre/LaBoheme'' with Ray's limo clients. Usually Ray is the cultured one and Lisa is the uncultured one, but HilarityEnsues to make it seem like [[MenAreUncultured Ray is the uncivilized one]].

* In the 2002 miniseries ''Napoleon'', Napoleon Bonaparte goes to the opera and other public events in Paris so his enemies, the Austrians and Russians, won't expect his "Grand Armee" as it secretly marches across Europe without him.
* Audrey in ''Series/RulesOfEngagement'' accidentally finds out that [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Russel]] is secretly a [[HiddenDepths theatre/musical enthusiast]].
%%* The ''Series/HumanTarget'' episode "Imbroglio."
* ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'' had an episode where [[SternTeacher Mr. Feeny]] takes [[TheDitz Eric]] to the opera in an attempt to instill an appreciation for culture in him. Eric is bored out of his mind, but just as he's about to give up and leave, "Music/RideOfTheValkyries" begins to play, which he recognizes as [[WesternAnimation/WhatsOperaDoc "Kill Da Wabbit."]] From that point on, he's utterly enthralled, to Feeny's exasperation.
* In the first episode of ''Series/ThePalace'', Prince Richard and Prince George weasel out of a [[Music/RichardWagner Wagnerian]] opera to go clubbing -- but they do end up at the opera house later that night, after [[PlotTriggeringDeath their father dies unexpectedly]].
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' TV movie, we first meet "Amazing Grace" Holloway in the audience of ''Theatre/{{Madame Butterfly}}'' when she gets paged to operate on the Doctor.
* The pilot for ''Series/MurderSheWrote'' has Jessica watching the rehearsal of a murder mystery play, and giving away who the killer is before the first act was up. Some later episodes have her attending plays(occasionally based on her own works) and ballet productions, and inevitably helping solve murders that take place at these events. In one episode, she tells a detective, "There are three things in life that you can never have enough of, Lieutenant; friends, chocolate and theater."
* On ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'' one of their few outings involves this. They attend a ballet in "The Erotic Dreams of Mrs Slocombe." Appropriately enough ...
--> '''Nurse:''' What ballet you are going to see?
-->'''Cpt Peacock:''' ''TheNutcracker [[DoubleEntendre Suite.]]''
* The pilot for ''Harlots'' has Margaret taking her daughter Lucy to the opera...so that the men in the audience can bid on her virginity.
* One episode of Series/CupcakeWars was about the LA Opera's revival of Theatre/LaBoheme.

* Music/ANightAtTheOpera by Music/{{Queen}} references going to a opera for a night too.

-->Otto Titsling, inventor and kraut
-->Had nothing to get very worked up about
-->His inventions were failures, his future seemed bleak
-->He fled to the opera at least twice a week

* In ''Dream Girl'', Clark asks Georgina out to the opening night of a production of ''Theatre/{{The Merchant of Venice}}'' where an old college friend of hers is playing Portia. Georgina also claims to have played Portia in high school, back when she wanted to be an actress, and takes over the role from the actress in a DreamSequence.
* In ''Manga/BlackButler the Musical II: A Thousand Souls and a Fallen Shinigami'', the antagonists' big plan is set to be enacted at an operatic performance, and all of the characters are invited and dress up for it. The program includes Olympia's aria from Les Contes d'Hoffmann, and Ciel comments that at least Viscount Druitt has good taste in music.
* In the stage adaptation of ''Theatre/{{Anastasia}}'', all the main characters' plots converge at a performance of ''Swan Lake''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Painkiller}}'' has the Opera House level, which involves samurai, ninja and beetle-things trying to kill Daniel - and him killing them.
* ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve'' begins with the heroine attending an opera, where the audience gets killed and the opera singer turns into a monster. [[BookEnds The final scene]] is an IronicEcho of this.
* The ''VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney'' level "Curtains Down" takes place in an opera house where one of your targets was in a rehearsal of ''Theatre/{{Tosca}}''. The other target was watching the other guy do the rehearsal of ''Tosca''.

* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'' sets its first mission in a revival performance of ''The Beggar's Opera'' in the 1750s.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* The GrandFinale of ''Anime/BloodPlus'' has the characters heading down to the Opera House to try to stop Diva from carrying out her plan to turn the world into [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Chiropterants]] via song.
* Done to a very small extent near the beginning of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'', where Zechs debriefs Treize whilst the latter is at what appears to be an opera.

* Episode 11 of ''Anime/NinetyOneDays'' takes place in the brand new playhouse that Vincent Vanetti has spent years and a fortune to build. [[spoiler: Avilio brings down the house when he assassinates Don Galassia in the middle of the performance, causing the Galassias to believe that the Vanettis have betrayed them and sparking off a massive MobWar.]]
* ''Anime/{{Cyborg 009}}'': 009 and 003 go to the ballet early on in episode 34 of the 1979 series. As they watch a performance of ''Theatre/{{Giselle}}'', 003, herself a ballerina, imagines herself in the role.

* ''ComicBook/BatmanHush'': Bruce, Selina, Dr. Thomkins and Dr. Elliot are attacked by Harley Quinn while attending an opera at the Gotham Opera House.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

* Set in December 2009, ''Roleplay/AbsitOmen'' featured a wizarding Winter Opera in which all the in-character attention was focused on those observing the event from the box seats, with the play described only in brief snippets...until the critical moment when the night took a turn for the worse.

[[folder:Film]]

* In ''Film/PrettyWoman'', Edward takes Vivian to see ''Theatre/LaTraviata'', in the "cultured Gentleman introduces an uncultured woman to the fine things of life" version. She is, of course, enraptured.
* In ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', Anakin and Palpatine have a key conversation while attending...a SpaceOpera.
* In ''Film/TheUntouchables1987'', UsefulNotes/AlCapone is seen attending an opera when Frank Nitti comes up and whispers the news that [[spoiler:Jim Malone has been killed]].
* ''Film/TheConstantNymph'': Lewis' new piece ''Tomorrow'' plays in a London opera house, but he doesn't really want to be there since he has left his love, Tessa, back home.
* Film/JamesBond:
** In ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'', Bond meets his contact Saunders during a concert in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. He is assigned to aid the defection of a KGB officer, General Koskov, covering his escape from the concert hall during the orchestra's intermission.
** ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' has a memorable sequence during a performance of ''Theatre/{{Tosca}}''.
* In ''Film/GuardingTess'', they went to the opera. She falls asleep, and Doug accidentally knocks her over instead of waking her up.
* The TropeNamer is ''Film/RepoTheGeneticOpera''. There are several performances, but only two of them are shown, and then only because plot-relevent things occur during them; throughout the event, the main focus is what goes on backstage and in the audience. "At The Opera Tonight" is the name of the song leading up to the climax, sung by seven different characters all separately preparing to use the Genetic Opera as a stage to settle their grievances - exactly ''none'' of them are planning to just watch the show.
* In a very unsettling subversion of the trope, ''Birth'' has Nicole Kidman's character visiting the opera, and has the camera focus on her face alone for ''three full minutes'' while she seemingly undergoes a [[HeroicBSOD complete moral breakdown]].

* In ''Film/Catwoman2004'', villain George Hedare takes his mistress to a Creator/CirqueDuSoleil-style performance; the latter is bored and leaves...just in time for the heroine to take her place in the private box and confront him. She dodges the security officers by jumping onto the stage and scrambling up the back wall; the audience thinks she's AllPartOfTheShow and applauds.

* A portion of ''Film/SherlockHolmesAGameOfShadows'' sees Holmes attempt to stop a plot from going off at an opera production of ''Theatre/DonGiovanni'', with portions of DG's score even written into Music/HansZimmer's movie score. The entire opera plot ends up being a RedHerring, however, as when Holmes finds his way to the centerpiece of the plot, he finds a [[ChessMotifs chess piece]] left there by Moriarty, who gives him a gloating nod from his box. The real plot was elsewhere.
* The final scene of ''Film/TheGodfatherPartIII''. Anthony Corleone makes his debut in ''Cavalleria Rusticana'', while Michael and Kay seem to be reconciling and ready to start again. This is quickly overshadowed by the several deaths after his performance, including that of his daughter Mary, which is what finally breaks Michael's spirit.

* In ''Film/{{Moonstruck}}'', Ronny (Nicholas Cage) invites Loretta (Cher) to see ''Theatre/LaBoheme'' with him, because he loves her and he loves opera so it would be his two favorite things together. She accepts.
* ''Film/BatmanBegins'' eschews sending the Wayne family to the usual movie (Tyrone Power in ''Franchise/{{Zorro}}'') and instead has Thomas and Martha Wayne mugged and killed leaving the opera early. (The opera in question is ''Mefistofele'' by Arrigo Boito, which shows thought from the writers: a lazy writer would probably have gone with ''Theatre/DieFledermaus'' for the name, but ''Mefistofele'' is much more thematically appropriate.)
* Like the title says, ''Film/ANightAtTheOpera'' features an opera, namely Verdi's ''Il Trovatore.'' The Creator/MarxBrothers show up and HilarityEnsues, including a baseball game in the orchestra pit.
* In either of the Hitchcock films ''Film/TheManWhoKnewTooMuch'', the climax of the plot takes place in the Royal Albert Hall during an orchestra's concert.

* Connor [=MacLeod=] in the second ''Film/HighlanderIITheQuickening'' film attends a performance of ''Gotterdammerung'', during which he has a flashback and introduces an [[FanonDiscontinuity extremely unpopular]] element to the series.
* The Polish film ''Sala Samobojcow'', or ''Suicide Room'', begins and ends at the opera. It opens with Dominik's family watching a performance. Later in the story, when they visit again, [[spoiler: Dominik has a breakdown, tells his parents he is gay and promptly begins making out with a marble bust.]] In a sad sort of symmetry, the story ends at the opera [[spoiler: after Dominik's suicide]] with his parents sitting in separate boxes. [[spoiler: They are now divorced.]]
* ''Film/{{Amadeus}}'' naturally has several opera scenes: over the course of the film, we see bits of performances of ''The Abduction from the Seraglio'', ''Theatre/TheMarriageOfFigaro'', ''Theatre/TheMagicFlute'', and ''Theatre/DonGiovanni'' by Mozart, as well as the finale of Salieri's ''Axur, Re d'Ormus''. For the central characters--Salieri and Mozart--these are work, but the character of the 18th-century Viennese opera night is expressed rather well--that is to say, rich people in fancy dress chatting and drinking and only half-paying attention to the action onstage, with the ones who had their own boxes getting dinner served and sometimes drunkenly tossing orange peels and other refuse onto the audience below.
* The Creator/ChevyChase suspense-comedy ''Film/FoulPlay'' ends with [[spoiler: a plot to assassinate the Pope at a performance of ''Theatre/TheMikado''.]]
* ''Film/MissionImpossibleRogueNation'': A big chunk of the second act takes place during a performance of ''Theatre/{{Turandot}}'' at the Vienna Opera.
* ''Film/TheClimax'' centres around the opera, and the climax takes place during the opening night of an operetta that has not be staged for 10 years.

* This is done early in ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'' with people paying more attention to who's in the other boxes (one of whom is the mysterious count himself) than to anything happening on the stage. A bit of TruthInTelevision - at the time that the story is set, the opera itself was often incidental to the social act of simply being there and being seen (though the Count is very much there for the music).

* In ''Literature/{{Evelina}}'' by Frances Burney, there's an opera scene mainly to show off how uncultured most of the other characters are.
* ''Literature/TheSevenPerCentSolution'' includes a trip to the Vienna Opera by Holmes, Watson, and UsefulNotes/SigmundFreud. The opera itself only matters insofar as Watson and Freud are terrifically bored by it--more important is who else is attending that night...
* The beginning of Edith Wharton's ''Literature/TheAgeOfInnocence'' is a long look of this trope and a chance to get to know the setting. This setting is revisited a few times. Also, Wharton discusses how the crowd chatters as a matter of course during certain songs, but remain obediently quiet for the important songs.
* In Libba Bray's ''[[Literature/GemmaDoyle Rebel Angels]]'' Felicity, Gemma, Pippa, and Ann all go to the opera. The important plot point there actually happens in the powder room, and in the lobby later all are focused on who's accompanied them and not the opera itself.
* Balzac used this trope to extremes. In almost every episode of ''Comédie Humaine'', the characters go to the opera for flirting or to make a scandal about their screwed up marriages and liaisons. The performances are unimportant, but usually some Rossini. Also, ''A Harlot High And Low'' opens with an opera ball.

* The TropeNamer is ''Film/RepoTheGeneticOpera''. There are several performances, but only two of them are shown, and then only because plot-relevent things occur during them; throughout the event, the main focus is what goes on backstage and in the audience. ''At The Opera Tonight'' is the name of the song leading up to the climax, sung by seven different characters all separately preparing to use the Genetic Opera as a stage to settle their grievances - exactly ''none'' of them are planning to just watch the show.

* In ''Film/TheUntouchables'', Robert [=DeNiro=] as Al Capone is seen attending an opera when Frank Nitti comes up and whispers the news that [[spoiler:Jim Malone had been killed]].

* ''Manga/VictorianRomanceEmma'', being set in 1890s London, has several upper-class characters spend time at the opera. It's one of William and Eleanor's first dates.

* In ''Guarding Tess'', they went to the opera. She falls asleep, and Doug accidentally knocks her over instead of waking her up.

* The TropeNamer is ''Film/RepoTheGeneticOpera''. There are several performances, but only two of them are shown, and then only because plot-relevent things occur during them; throughout the event the main focus is what goes on backstage/in the audience. The line is from a song wherein several characters prepare to attend.

* In ''Film/{{Catwoman}}'', villain George Hedare takes his mistress to a Creator/CirqueDuSoleil-style performance; the latter is bored and leaves...just in time for the heroine to take her place in the private box and confront him. She dodges the security officers by jumping onto the stage and scrambling up the back wall; the audience thinks she's AllPartOfTheShow and applauds.

* This is done early in ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'' with people paying more attention to who's in the other boxes (one of whom is the mysterious count himself) than to anything happening on the stage. A bit of TruthInTelevision - at the time that the story is set, the opera itself was often incidental to the social act of simply being there and being seen.

* In ''Series/{{Angel}}'''s "Waiting in the Wings", the characters went to the ballet and incidentally showed the world that Creator/SummerGlau could act.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' has its famous "Aria de Mezzo Caraterre", but it's the only part of the show that we see in detail. The plot actually focuses on the party trying to rig a meeting with Setzer and gaining access to his airship by using Celes as a decoy for the ''real'' opera singer. And then [[GoldfishPoopGang Ultros]] decides to drop in as well...

* While what's happening on (and behind) the stage in ''Discworld/{{Maskerade}}'' is ''very'' important, there is a nod to this trope; Granny observes that most of the audience is there to be ''seen'', not to watch. One significant minor character is a young social-climber who's dragged his mother along, and has also got a booklet that summarises the plot, since he's been told it's unlikely anyone in the audience would figure it out during the show.
* ''Discworld/TheFifthElephant'' has Vimes attending a dwarf opera with his wife, along with various other diplomats and dignitaries. He spends more time working out who among the audience is on his suspect list and why, and his main reaction to the opera (which depicts the creation of the stolen coronation artifact, the Scone of Stone) is to wonder which dwarf in the love story is which, as both dwarf sexes traditionally wear chainmail and have beards. The plot, which Sybil knows very well, does play a key role in the book's climax.