History Main / OurActsAreDifferent

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

* ''Trouble in Tahiti'' by LeonardBernstein, which was later incorporated into the second act of its full-length sequel, ''A Quiet Place''.

* ''TheLastFiveYears''

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

* ''Theatre/{{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.

* Creator/CirqueDuSoleil tours are usually two act affairs (two-and-a-half hours with intermission), but their non-touring 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 ''Theatre/NouvelleExperience'' and ''Theatre/{{Alegria}}'' were adapted for casinos, they lost their intermissions and at least one acrobatic setpiece in order to achieve 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.

* ''The Student Prince'' is in four acts, eliding the first two acts of the original five-act play ''Old Heidelberg''.

* Puccini's opera ''Madama Butterfly'' was originally supposed to be in two acts, with a long stage silence in the middle of the second act. (The Belasco play it was based on was in only one act, but was considerably shorter, starting at the point where the opera's second act begins.) 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.

* ''No, No, Nanette'' has always been a three-act musical.

* Many stage versions of ''Cinderella'' are in three acts, with the second act taking place at the ball (which is also true of ''Die Fledermaus'').

* Puccini's opera ''Theatre/MButterfly'' was originally supposed to be in two acts, with a long stage silence in the middle of the second act. (The Belasco play it was based on was in only one act, but was considerably shorter, starting at the point where the opera's second act begins.) 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.

* Many stage versions of ''Cinderella'' are in three acts, with the second act taking place at the ball.

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 due 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.

* "Perestroika", the second part of Tony Kushner's ''AngelsInAmerica'', is in five acts. It is worth noting that, uncut, "Perestroika" is even longer than "Millenium Approaches", but it is virtually always cut down slightly, and Kushner wrote notes in the published script as to what could reasonably be cut.

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

* Many Kaufman and Hart plays, including ''YouCantTakeItWithYou'' and ''OnceInALifetime''.
* "Millenium Approaches", the first part of Tony Kushner's ''AngelsInAmerica'' is divided into three acts, and as "Millenium Approaches" is three hours long, it's not unreasonable to assume most productions take an intermission after each act.

* Puccini's opera ''MadameButterfly'' was originally supposed to be in two acts, with a long stage silence in the middle of the second act. (The Belasco play it was based on was in only one act, but was considerably shorter, starting at the point where the opera's second act begins.) 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.

* ''{{Edmond}}''

* ''{{Pippin}}'' was originally written in one act, but most regional productions insert an intermission.

* Jean-Paul Sartre's ''NoExit''.

* ''AmericanIdiot''.

* The 1970s revival of ''{{Candide}}'', with a new book by Hugh Wheeler, compressed the action into one act. The "Opera House Version" expanded it back into two acts.

* Anton Chekhov's ''TheSeagull'' and ''The Three Sisters'', both of which usually break after Act 2.

* Eugene O'Neill's ''LongDaysJourneyIntoNight'' is four acts.

* ''LadyWindermeresFan'' by OscarWilde is in four acts, with an intermission usually placed between Acts 2 and 3.

* ''TheImportanceOfBeingEarnest'', Oscar Wilde's most famous play, is in three acts (though [[ExecutiveMeddling it was originally in four]]), with breaks usually taken between each.
** 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.

* Puccini's opera ''MadameButterfly'' 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.
* ''PorgyAndBess'' is in three acts, though some productions have reduced it to two. The source play ''Porgy'' was in four acts, the middle two of which were simply put together.
* ''RosencrantzAndGuildensternAreDead'' is written in three acts: traveling to Elsinore (though they arrive just before the end of the act), Elsinore itself (where most of the direct overlap with ''{{Hamlet}}'' lies), and the boat to England.

* ''ManOfLaMancha''

* American expressionist plays tended to be one-act dramas. Eugene O'Neill's ''The Hairy Ape'', Elmer Rice's ''The Adding Machine'' and Sophie Treadwell's ''Machinal'' each presented 7-9 scenes without intermission. TheMusical of ''Adding Machine'' is also in one act.