History MoodWhiplash / Theatre

* Many of {{Shakespeare}}'s plays do this.

** ''{{Hamlet}}'' can be like this. Interspersed between the dark, angsty, and sometimes violent scenes are scenes that, given the right actor and director, can be utterly hilarious. Act II, scene i, Act III, scene iii and Act IV, scenes ii and iii see Hamlet gleefully and cleverly messing with the minds of, respectively, Polonius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (twice), and Claudius. One of these takes place immediately after Hamlet kills Polonius, another not long after Old Hamlet appears to tell Hamlet of his murder. The second half of the play mostly settles down to dark tragedy (with a break for the comic Gravedigger), but the first half can epitomize this trope.
** ''RomeoAndJuliet'' actually starts off pretty light, despite the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets and the brief mention in the introduction about 'young lovers did take their life'. But then the previously comic Mercutio is mortally wounded, and dies cursing the two families, and Romeo ends up killing Tybalt and being exiled and ... well, [[ItWasHisSled you probably know what happens next]].

** [[MuchAdoAboutNothing Benedick]]: [[CrowningMomentofHeartwarming "Come, bid me do anything for thee."]] Beatrice: "Kill Claudio." It makes a little more sense if you read between the lines--according to Beatrice, she and Benedick had a thing before he dumped/cheated on/mistreated her, so she's mistrustful this time around--but the wrong delivery can cause this (and some nervous laughter) in an audience.

* ''{{Fame}}'' does it more gradually than most, more like a Mood U-Turn than a Whiplash, but once you notice it, it's downright bipolar. For example: the third song is about the comic relief character not being able to keep "it down" whenever he sees a certain girl; the third-to-''last'' song is about [[spoiler:that same girl dying of a cocaine overdose after having her chance at dancing fame utterly crushed]].

** ''{{Othello}}'' starts as an apparent domestic comedy - a couple marrying despite the intentions of the bride's parents, a hopeless young suitor to said woman, and the dock/drinking scenes in Act 2 are all staples of comedy.

** ''TwelfthNight'' does this, too: Malvolio's treatment transforms from simple humiliation to something far less easy-going, as Feste takes an increasingly sadistic pleasure in his imprisonment (and 'treatments') as a supposed 'madman'. Malvolio ends the play planning his revenge on his peers.
** [[MacBeth The Scottish Play]], Act II: Scene III Starts off with an [[RuleOfFunny amusingly]] drunk porter [[LargeHam hamming it up]] while Macduff and Lennox knock to be let in, and ends with Macduff finding King Duncan's dead body, Lady Macbeth passing out "from shock," and the Crown Prince and his brother deciding to flee the country out of fear for their lives.

** [[MuchAdoAboutNothing Benedick]]: [[CrowningMomentofHeartwarming "Come, bid me do anything for thee."]] Beatrice: "Kill Claudio." It makes a little more sense if you read between the lines--according to Beatrice, she and Benedick had a thing before he dumped/cheated on/mistreated her, so she's mistrustful this time around--but the wrong delivery can cause this (and some nervous laughter) in an audience.

* The show is a big fan of this trope. For instance, Melchior is introduced with his signature song "All That's Known", a yearning, hopeful and elegant declaration from Melchior about how he is (of course) terribly sick of all these adults telling him to trust what's written and be quiet and subservient. The next song that immediately follows, from his sexually-frustrated, nervous wreck of a friend Moritz, is a song, ultimately, about how horny they all are. Melchior even joins in eventually, which makes it incredibly awesome and eye-opening about the overall themes of the musical.

** Which picks up right where Act One left off, with Christine and Raoul singing "All i Ask of You" and generally being sweet and adorable young lovers together...followed by the revelation that the Phantom overheard the entire thing. [[FallingChandelierOfDoom He doesn't take it well.]]

* ''{{Elisabeth}}'' features a very tender, moving love song between the titular heroine and her fiance, "Nichts ist schwer", that is abruptly and immediately followed by OminousPipeOrgan and a choral piece predicting the singers' doom... at Elisabeth's ''[[SoundtrackDissonace wedding]].

* MissSaigon has a beautifully subverted version, as we, the knowing audience, already know what's going to happen and are already saddened, whereas Kim, the title character, is blissfully ignorant. She's preparing to reunite with her lost love Chris, dressing in wedding gown, joyfully singing. She rushes to his hotel room. . .only to be greeted by Ellen, Chris' ''wife''. The devastation evident in Kim's entire ''body'' is staggering.

* The ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'' musical has quite a bit of this. In-between the depression, even after CerebusSyndrome kicks in, you have light hearted comedy.

** ''TheWintersTale'' turns from tragedy, to comedy, to uneasy reconciliation.

* ''{{Fame}}'' does it more gradually than most, more like a Mood U-Turn than a Whiplash, but once you notice it, it's downright bipolar. For example: the third song is about the comic relief character not being able to keep "[[IfYouKnowWhatIMean it down]]" whenever he sees a certain girl; the third-to-''last'' song is about [[spoiler:that same girl dying of a cocaine overdose after having her chance at dancing fame utterly crushed]].

** ''{{Othello}}'' starts as an apparent domestic comedy - a couple marrying despite the intentions of the bride's parents, a hopeless young suitor to said woman, and the dock / drinking scenes in Act 2 are all staples of comedy.
** ''A Winter's Tale'' turns from tragedy, to comedy, to uneasy reconciliation.

** ''{{Hamlet}}'' can be like this. Interspersed between the dark, angsty, and sometimes violent scenes are scenes that, given the right actor and director, can be utterly hilarious. Act II, scene i, Act III, scene iii and Act IV, scenes ii and iii see Hamlet gleefully and cleverly messing with the minds of, respectively, Polonius, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (twice) and Claudius. One of these takes place immediately after Hamlet kills Polonius, another not long after Old Hamlet appears to tell Hamlet of his murder. The second half of the play mostly settles down to dark tragedy (with a break for the comic Gravedigger), but the first half can epitomize this trope.
** ''{{Romeo and Juliet}}'' actually starts off pretty light, despite the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets and the brief mention in the introduction about 'young lovers did take their life'. But then the previously comic Mercutio is mortally wounded, and dies cursing the two families, and Romeo ends up killing Tybalt and being exiled and ... well, [[ItWasHisSled you probably know what happens next]].

* The radio play ''All Is Calm'', being about the Christmas Truce of 1914 during WorldWarOne, feels like nothing ''but'' this trope. It goes from some painful parts to some ''hilarious'' parts at breakneck speed and right back 'round again. High points include a {{tearjerker}} Christmas radio broadcast that's propaganda, supposedly a singalong from the soldiers in the trenches telling their family that they're all just glad to be there doing their noble duty, being drowned out by a hilarious LastMinuteWordSwitch BawdySong, and a scandalised-sounding German officer's account of playing a game of football against Scottish soldiers and discovering exactly what was being worn under their kilts being read in much too close proximity to another reader talking about everyone heading off into No-Man's-Land to bury their dead friends from back in November. The worst part of it is, all the material is real.
* In ''{{The King and I}}'', the King becomes closer than ever to Anna when he learns to dance with her. He is eagerly leading an encore of "Shall We Dance?" when Kralahome bursts in and announces the arrest of Tuptim. Anna's sympathies obviously lie with the fugitive, and so the King is "now miles away from her" (according to the stage direction). The confrontation that follows is the most serious part of the play.

* ''Fame'' does it more gradually than most, more like a Mood U-Turn than a Whiplash, but once you notice it, it's downright bipolar. For example: the third song is about the comic relief character not being able to keep "[[IfYouKnowWhatIMean it down]]" whenever he sees a certain girl; the third-to-''last'' song is about [[spoiler:that same girl dying of a cocaine overdose after having her chance at dancing fame utterly crushed]].

* ''Hair'' is, at first, a fairly lighthearted musical. Then the second act happens. [[spoiler: Claude goes on a horrifying bad trip then, despite all the attempts of the tribe to save him, is sent off to fight in Vietnam and promptly killed]]. Then he starts singing [[TearJerker The Flesh Failures/Let the Sunshine in]] and the audience is reduced to tears. Total DownerEnding.

* Anything by Martin McDonagh; "The Lieutenant of Inishmore" switches from two Irish yokels [[spoiler: dismembering corpses at gunpoint]] to the same two finishing an earlier argument over whether or not a cat will eat corn flakes.

* CyranoDeBergerac: Given this play is a blend between {{Farce}} and {{Tragedy}}, there first three acts are more of a comedy with some dramatic elements, and the two last acts are more of a drama with comedic elements, but in all acts the contrasting elements resonate against each other.
* LittleShopOfHorrors fits the bill quite nicely.
* In the second act of {{Spring Awakening}}, the show goes from the heartbreaking scenes of [[spoiler: Moritz's suicide and funeral]] to the fast-paced song, [[CrowningMomentofAwesome "Totally F***ed"]], basically going from a scene of [[spoiler: depression and mourning]] to one big, energetic "eff you".
* ''Snoopy! the Musical'' has the heartwarming song ''Poor Sweet Baby'', in which Peppermint Patty sings to Charlie Brown the way he wishes that a girl would sing to him. When the song is over, we get this:

** The strip the song was based on obviously didn't have a song at all, just Charlie wanting to be called "poor sweet baby", so the punchline was a ''lot'' less abrupt.

* The ''{{Wicked}}'' musical has quite a bit of this. In-between the depression, even after CerebusSyndrome kicks in, you have light hearted comedy.

** The strip the song was based on obviously didn't have a song at all, just Charlie wanting to be called "poor sweet baby", so the punchline was a ''lot'' less abrupt.

The strip the song was based on obviously didn't have a song at all, just Charlie wanting to be called "poor sweet baby", so the punchline was a ''lot'' less abrupt.

* In the second act of {{Spring Awakening}}, the show goes from the heartbreaking scenes of [[spoiler: Moritz's suicide and funeral]] to the fast-paced song, [[CrowningMomentofAwesome "Totally F***ed"]], basically going from a scene of [[spoiler: depression and mourning]] to one big, energetic "eff you".

* LittleShopOfHorrors fits the bill quite nicely.

*** Mercutio's death scene itself is a narrower example of this trope. His fight with Tybalt initially appears to be an inconsequential skirmish, with both duelers walking away. The other characters on stage even berate Mercutio for his overdramatic (as ever) reaction to a seemingly minor injury. Half a minute later, the charismatic character is dead.

* CyranoDeBergerac: Given this play is a blend between Farce and Tragedy, there first three acts are more of a comedy with some dramatic elements, and the two last acts are more of a drama with comedic elements, but in all acts the contrasting elements resonate against each other.

* Quilters - it goes from sweet courting stories to prairie fires and windmills to miscarriages without much transition at all. It's a great play. Not what I expected at all though.

* The concluding sextet from Mozart's ''Don Giovanni'' is often omitted in production, since its lightheartedness clashes with the intensely melodramatic preceding scene in which Don Giovanni is DraggedOffToHell.

** ''Hair'' is, at first, a fairly lighthearted musical. Then the second act happens. [[spoiler: Claude goes on a horrifying bad trip then, despite all the attempts of the tribe to save him, is sent off to fight in Vietnam and promptly killed]]. Then he starts singing [[TearJerker The Flesh Failures/Let the Sunshine in]] and the audience is reduced to tears. Total DownerEnding.