History Main / OurActsAreDifferent

* Eugene O'Neill's ''Strange Interlude'' is in nine acts, and runs twice as long as most plays.

* The musical adaptation of ''{{Giant}}'' by Michael John [=LaChiusa=] and Sybille Pearson is one of very few musicals to be in three acts.

* ''TheDrowsyChaperone'' lacks an intermission, despite [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis claiming to be]] a restoration and revival of what was clearly a two-act musical

* All Neoclassical plays. Strict rules and regulations were put into place to mimic the ideal Greek/Roman theatre, including the five act structure that Aristotle outlined in his Poetics. Any work that did not fit these guidelines was considered to be a horrible play, even if it was wildly popular among play-goers (as was the case with Corneille's The Cid). These rules were not absolved in France until Hugo's Hernani and elsewhere until counter movements (like the German Romantic movement) began.

* Eugene O'Neill's ''Long Day's Journey Into Night'' is four acts.

* Puccini's opera ''MadamaButterfly'' was originally supposed to be in two acts, with a long stage silence (similar to the Belasco play it was based on) in the middle of the second act. After the premiere, many changes were made, including the division of the second act into two parts, with the curtain is lowered in between; the second part is sometimes billed as the third act.

* Puccini's opera ''Madama Butterfly'' was originally supposed to be in two acts, with a long stage silence (similar to the Belasco play it was based on) in the middle of the second act. After the premiere, many changes were made, including the division of the second act into two parts, with the curtain is lowered in between; the second part is sometimes billed as the third act.

* The modern musical version of PeterPan.

* Many Kaufman and Hart plays, including ''YouCantTakeItWithYou'' and ''Once in a Lifetime''.

** Of course, part II, ''Perestroika'', is divided into SEVEN acts, so whatever, Tony Kushner.

** The three-act ''OurTown'' usually follows the same format as Earnest, as does Thorton Wilder's other famous work ''TheSkinOfOurTeeth''. However, ''TheMatchmaker'' is in four acts, and its ([[AdaptationDisplacement much better-known adaptation]]), ''HelloDolly'', is in two.

** The three-act ''OurTown'' usually follows the same format as Earnest, as does Thorton Wilder's other famous work ''TheSkinOfOurTeeth''. However, ''TheMatchmaker'' is in four acts, and its ([[AdaptationDisplacement much better-known adaptation]], ''HelloDolly'', is in two.

Partially due to the addition of much more elaborate sets, the former standard of five-act plays gradually reduced to three acts. This formed its own long-standing convention until finally being largely replaced by two-act plays. Three-act musicals were fairly common until the 1920s, when multiple sets in each act started to become the rule. However, a three-act play generally doesn't have any good way to make do with only one intermission, and an extra half-hour intermission tends to draw out the performance time, which is probably one of the reasons they aren't as common anymore.

* Both Moises Kaufman's ''TheLaramieProject'' and ''GrossIndecency'' are in three acts.

* ''Edmond''

Now might be a good time to discuss scenes: The modern convention, and also that used by a lot of older writers, is that a scene change is only marked when there's a change in location, or the time frame moves forwards a significant amount. However, particularly around 1700, during the period known as the Restoration, you get plays such as William Congreve's five-act ''The Way of the World'', where each act takes place in a single location, but every time a character joins or leaves a conversation, a new scene is declared and numbered. This can be very, very confusing if you're used to the more standard model.

* ''TheCrucible'' by Arthur Miller is in four acts. While it normally has an intermission after Act II, there is an additional (sometimes cut) scene, "Act 2, Scene 2", much shorter in length and only including Proctor and Abigail. When included, it often follows the intermission.

Partially due to the addition of much more elaborate sets, the former standard of five-act plays gradually reduced to three acts. This formed its own long-standing convention until finally being largely replaced by two-act plays. However, a three-act play generally doesn't have any good way to make do with only one intermission, and an extra half-hour intermission tends to draw out the performance time, which is probably one of the reasons they aren't as common anymore.

Oh, yes, and some genres of theatre keep to older conventions: Operas generally have between three and five acts, though a few use the two-act structure. The GilbertAndSullivan operas are probably the most important of these, given they're still very widely performed, and since their major role in the birth of the musical is probably the main reason musicals follow the two-act convention.

* ''Theatre/TrialByJury'', a one-act GilbertAndSullivan opera, originally written to be performed before Offenbach's ''La Perichole'', though, in the end, it proved more popular. Today, it is often performed before one of their shorter two-act pieces (it was first revived at the Savoy in 1884 with a revised version of ''The Sorcerer''), or alongside one or more of the one-act operas Sullivan wrote with other librettists, ''Cox and Box'' and ''The Zoo''.

* Most of GilbertAndSullivan's operas use the basic two-act structure. ''Princess Ida'' does not, and since the second act is the longest one by a good bit, there's no good way to use a single intermission.

* The play of ''TheOddCouple'' is written in three acts, mainly to facilitate a massive set change when Felix joins Oscar's household and cleans the place up.

* CirqueDuSoleil tours are usually two act affairs (two-and-a-half hours with intermission), but their "resident" productions (the various Las Vegas shows, ''Theatre/LaNouba'', etc.) usually have runtimes of 90 to 105 minutes with no intermission. This allows for two performances a night/ten performances a week and doesn't try the patience of audiences who would also like to gamble, etc. When the tours ''Nouvelle Experience'' and ''Alegria'' were adapted for casinos, they lost their intermissions and at least one acrobatic setpiece to reach a 90-minute runtime. In fact, editing "legit" shows has long been common practice in Las Vegas; ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', ''Theatre/AvenueQ'', ''{{Spamalot}}'', and ''Film/TheProducers'' were all cut to 90-or-so minutes either when they opened or later in the run, dropping their intermissions among other things.

* CirqueDuSoleil tours are usually two act affairs (two-and-a-half hours with intermission), but their "resident" productions (the various Las Vegas shows, ''LaNouba'', etc.) usually have runtimes of 90 to 105 minutes with no intermission. This allows for two performances a night/ten performances a week and doesn't try the patience of audiences who would also like to gamble, etc. When the tours ''NouvelleExperience'' and ''{{Alegria}}'' were adapted for casinos, they lost their intermissions and at least one acrobatic setpiece to reach a 90-minute runtime. In fact, editing "legit" shows has long been common practice in Las Vegas; ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', ''Theatre/AvenueQ'', ''{{Spamalot}}'', and ''Film/TheProducers'' were all cut to 90-or-so minutes either when they opened or later in the run, dropping their intermissions among other things.

* ''Theatre/TrialByJury'', a one-act GilbertAndSullivan opera, originally written to be performed before Offenbach's ''La Perichole'', though, in the end, it proved more popular. Today, it is often performed before one of their shorter two-act pieces, or alongside one or more of the one-act operas Sullivan wrote with other librettists, ''Cox and Box'' and ''The Zoo''.

* ''TrialByJury'', a one-act GilbertAndSullivan opera, originally written to be performed before Offenbach's ''La Perichole'', though, in the end, it proved more popular. Today, it is often performed before one of their shorter two-act pieces, or alongside one or more of the one-act operas Sullivan wrote with other librettists, ''Cox and Box'' and ''The Zoo''.

* CirqueDuSoleil tours are usually two act affairs (two-and-a-half hours with intermission), but their "resident" productions (the various Las Vegas shows, ''LaNouba'', etc.) usually have runtimes of 90 to 105 minutes with no intermission. This allows for two performances a night/ten performances a week and doesn't try the patience of audiences who would also like to gamble, etc. When the tours ''NouvelleExperience'' and ''{{Alegria}}'' were adapted for casinos, they lost their intermissions and at least one acrobatic setpiece to reach a 90-minute runtime. In fact, editing "legit" shows has long been common practice in Las Vegas; ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', ''AvenueQ'', ''{{Spamalot}}'', and ''Film/TheProducers'' were all cut to 90-or-so minutes either when they opened or later in the run, dropping their intermissions among other things.

* ''{{Follies}}'' was originally presented in one act because an intermission would probably make an awkward interruption in the action. The awkward interruption is now usual.

* ''AChorusLine''