History WhamLine / Theatre

* In Creator/AynRand's play ''Night of January 16th'', Karen Andre, accused of murdering Bjorn Faulkner, is nearing the end of her testimony, when the SurpriseWitness barges into the courtroom. Karen frantically tries to prevent him from saying anything, but he tells her, "Your sacrifice is useless: Bjorn Faulkner is dead." Karen faints from this revelation, and the curtain falls on the second act.

* ''Theatre/BlackFriday'' another Starkid production, has every adult going into a homicidal rage over the hottest toy of the Christmas season, Tickle-Me Wiggly. The mall where they're selling the doll quickly descends into murder and chaos, and it's eventually revealed that the doll is actually a ''vessel'' for the real Wiggly, an EldritchAbomination that lives in a place called "the Black and White" and is intent on invading our world. When Tom, a widower who's been trying to buy the doll for his son Tim in hopes of cheering him up in the wake of his mother's death, finally gets his hands on a doll and almost succumbs to its power, his former student, Lex, asks him the question that finally snaps him out of it.

--> ''"At 8:46 there's been a terrorist action"''

* From ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'': 'You have no real power,' as well as a wham moment when Glinda shows the Wizard Elphaba's keepsake, identifying him as her father, moments after having had her murdered.

* ''{{Theatre/Hamilton}}'' is practically a Wham ''Show'', but a notable line is in "The World Was Wide Enough," said by Burr pre-duel:

** In "Tomorrow There'll Be More Of Us":

** From Javert's Suicide

* ''Theatre/InTheHeights'': "Let everybody know: Abuela Claudia passed away at noon today." It's ''quite'' the Mood Whiplash.
** A more minor example: after "96,000" explored what each of the characters would do with the winning lottery ticket, "Pacencia and Fe" revealed who won (Abuela Claudia) with a single line: "What shall I do with this winning ticket?"

* ''Theatre/NextToNormal'': At the end of the song "It's Gonna Be Good", Gabe casually walks off the set right before his family, along with his sister's new boyfriend, are supossed to be having dinner. A few seconds later, it's revealed that Gabe was never sitting there at all.

** From an [[MoodWhiplash otherwise comic song]] about a man falling in love with a monkey:

* ''Theatre/ComeFromAway'': from near the end of "Me And The Sky"

* ''Theatre/{{Six}}'': The musical focuses on a competition between the six wives of UsefulNotes/HenryVIII to see who had the worst time married to him. However, a spoken line during the "I Don't Need Your Love" segment reveals that the queens may have had a different motive in mind.
-->''"Yeah, 'cause then if we had realized we could've done something else...like maybe a fake competition to show everyone how messed up comparing us is."''

--> '''''And the one thing I loved more than anything was used as the bomb.'''''

** ''Theatre/BlackFriday'' another Starkid production, has every adult going into a homicidal rage over the hottest toy of the Christmas season, Tickle-Men Wiggly. The mall where they're selling the doll quickly descends into murder and chaos, and it's eventually revealed that the doll is actually a ''vessel'' for the real Wiggly, an EldritchAbomination that lives in a place called "the Black and White" and is intent on invading our world. When Tom, a widower who's been trying to buy the doll for his son Tim in hopes of cheering him up in the wake of his mother's death, finally gets his hands on a doll and almost succumbs to its power, his former student, Lex, asks him the question that finally snaps him out of it.

** Azucena manages to get two, which are somehow the same thing. The first time, she tells Manrico that she threw her own child onto the pyre that Ferrando found the half-burned skeleton on. Then, after the new Count has ordered Manrico dead (or, in some productions, killed him himself), she reveals to the new Count that Manrico was his brother.

** First, when [[CrazySurvivalist Professor Higgins]], who had been sheltering the gang from the hive, abruptly knocks out Emma and Ted, ties them to chairs, and reveals his true loyalties.
--->'''Higgins:''' My first love was always... ''[uncovers piano with a flourish]'' MUSICAL THEATRE.\\

** "Jefferson has my vote!" in "The Election of 1800," spoken by Jefferson's long-time enemy, UsefulNotes/AlexanderHamilton, over his friend UsefulNotes/AaronBurr. This sets off the chain of letters to their DuelToTheDeath.[[note]]In RealLife it took a ''second'' race where Hamilton scorched Burr (this time for governor of New York) to push Burr over the edge, but 1800 certainly contributed to it.[[/note]]

-->'''Jeremy:''' Get out of my way. [walks away] ''[[ArcWords Loser.]]''

-->'''Natasha:''' [[LoveConfession I will love you,]] [[YourCheatingHeart Anatole.]]

--> '''Veronica:''' [[OhCrap ...Ram? You're just unconscious, right Ram?]] ''[[PleaseWakeUp Ram? RAM!?]]''

--> '''Sweeney Todd:''' [[DarkReprise There's a whole in the world like a great black pit and it's filled with people who are filled with shit and the vermin of the world inhabit it...]] [[VillainousBreakdown But not for long!]] [[PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery THEY ALL DESERVE TO DIE!]]

* From ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'': "...you knew she lived. From the moment I first entered your shop, YOU KNEW MY LUCY LIVED!"

--->'''Paul:''' ''[singing]'' Emma... I'm sorry... [[TheBadGuyWins You lost]]...

** Then, when the ElevenOClockNumber, "Let It Out," happens, with Paul going to blow up the meteor that brought the invasion to Earth. Bear in mind, up until now, Paul is the only character who has not sung a ''single note'' in the entire show, and has been consistently AboveTheInfluence. Until he gets to close to the source of the apotheosis...
--->'''Hive:''' ''[singing]'' Just let it out, let it out, let it out--\\

-->"The police don't."

** Throughout the show, Diana has been trying to get better, and pretty much eveyone has been trying to help her get better. Near the end of the play, she says "So, anyway, I'm leaving." Implying that she's about to kill herself despite everything.

-->'''Dan''': Why didn't you go with her?

* In ''Theatre/{{Assassins}}'', [[VillainSong "The Ballad of Booth"]] frames John Wilkes Booth as [[VillainHasAPoint having a legitimate grievance]] against Abraham Lincoln. Then, as the song dips more into MotiveRant territory, it all changes with a single word that shows why Booth is really angry at the President: "How the Union can never recover from that vulgar, high and mighty, NIGGER-LOVER!"

** from a [[MoodWhiplash otherwise comic song]] about a man falling in love with a monkey:

** The Act 1 finale, reprising [[VillainSong Tomorrow Belongs to Me]], where ''nearly every guest'' at the engagement party for a goyish woman and a Jewish man begins singing along- they're all either Nazis or sympathetic to the cause.

* In ''Theatre/TheMousetrap, there is such a line near the end. In keeping with the tradition of not revealing the play's ending, however, the line is presented here (as it is on the play's page) without context.

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* In ''Theatre/GlengarryGlenRoss'', Williamson suddenly realizes, thanks to a very long TheReasonYouSuckSpeech by Levene, who robbed the office: [[spoiler:none other than Levene himself. Levene called Williamson out on a lie about cashing Lingk's check, which Levene only could have known if he'd robbed the office, since it was the one time in Williamson's career that he didn't take the checks down to the bank]]. Williamson later confronts the thief, and asks him a very simple question: "How did you know I made it all up?"

* From ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'': 'You have no real power,' as well as a wham moment when Glinda shows the Wizard Elphaba's keepsake, [[spoiler: identifying him as her father, moments after having had her murdered.]]
** Another one takes place at the end, at the site where Elphaba made her last stand. [[spoiler: The Scarecrow comes on stage, knocks on the floor]], and says two words: [[spoiler:"It worked!" Elphaba, alive and well, comes up through a trap door and reunites with her beloved Fiyero before they make plans to flee Oz.]]
* In ''Theatre/{{Urinetown}}'', [[AllKnowingSingingNarrator Little Sally asks Officer Lockstock]] what Urinetown is like. In the interest of [[MediumAwareness maintaining dramatic tension]], Lockstock ''tries'' to avoid answering the question, telling her "Look, its power depends on mystery. I can't just blurt it out, like '[[spoiler:There is no Urinetown! We just kill people!]]'"
* ''Theatre/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' ends with a Wham Song, the TriumphantReprise of "It Must Be Believed to Be Seen". The reprise reveals first that [[spoiler: the tramp at the dump whom Charlie befriended was Willy Wonka in disguise which means he rigged his own Golden Ticket contest and was secretly on the boy's side all along]], and second that [[spoiler: Mr. Wonka's retiring from running the factory so he can pursue new dreams in the audience's world, which he can travel to, and does simply by way of an ImaginationBasedSuperpower]]. While hints to the first revelation are there for viewers, the second revelation is a definite surprise.
* ''Theatre/SpringAwakening'': Frau Bergman speaking to Wendla after taking her to the doctor, [[spoiler: "You're going to have a child.]]" Another example is when Melchior is waiting for Wendla in the church graveyard, [[spoiler: "My God, all these little tombs... And here, a fresh one... Here Rests in God, Wendla Berg- No?! Born the.. Died- ?! Of anemia??]]"
* ''Theatre/DearEvanHansen'': Directly after Good For You, Evan has a "confrontation" with [[spoiler:"Connor" (really just a manifestation of himself)]] in which [[spoiler: Evan wants to tell the truth about what he's done, and "Connor" talks him out of it. This results in an altercation in which "Connor" repeatedly asks Evan how he broke his arm, culminating in this:]]
-->'''Connor:''' [[spoiler:How’d you break your arm? How’d you break your arm, Evan]]?\\
'''Evan:''' [[spoiler:I fell]].\\
'''Connor:''' [[spoiler:Really? Is that what happened]]?\\
'''Evan:''' [[spoiler:[[SuddenlyShouting YES!]] I was- I lost my grip and then I just- I fell, so]]]...\\
'''Connor:''' [[spoiler:Did you fall? [[BungledSuicide Or did you let go]]]]?

-->[[spoiler: "I had only one thought before the slaughter: ''this man will not make an orphan of my daughter.'']]

** If you don't know the show going in, then Burr's line "And me? I'm the damn fool who shot him" at the end of the opening song certainly qualifies (the fact that the narrator is Aaron Burr isn't revealed until this point -- it's something of a [[FirstEpisodeSpoiler First Song Spoiler]]).

--->'''Eliza''': "No. [[spoiler:It's from his father.]]
--->'''Alexander''': "[[spoiler:His father?]]"

-->'''Mother's Younger Brother:''' [[spoiler:[[FaceHeelTurn I know how to blow things up!]]]]

-->'''Natasha:''' [[LoveConfession I will love you,]] [[spoiler:[[YourCheatingHeart Anatole.]]]]

** Similarly, the scene after [[spoiler: Eponine dies]], where the revolutionaries seem to realize what's happening and tell all the women and people with families to leave.
** From [[spoiler: Javert's Suicide]]

* ''Theatre/InTheHeights'': "Let everybody know: [[spoiler:Abuela Claudia passed away at noon today.]]" It's ''quite'' the Mood Whiplash.
** A more minor example: after "96,000" explored what each of the characters would do with the winning lottery ticket, "Pacencia and Fe" revealed who won ([[spoiler:Abuela Claudia]]) with a single line: "What shall I do with this winning ticket?"

* ''Theatre/NextToNormal'': At the end of the song "It's Gonna Be Good", Gabe casually walks off the set right before his family, along with his sister's new boyfriend, are supossed to be having dinner. A few seconds later, it's revealed that Gabe [[spoiler:was never sitting there at all]].

'''Natalie:''' [[spoiler:I don't. He died before I was born]].

-->'''Claire:''' [[spoiler:She asks why you are wearing her mother's necklace.]]

* The majority of ''Theatre/{{Ebenezer}}'' is built up as a story Dickens tells Scrooge to get him to realize the truth about his past. [[spoiler:Then it's revealed Scrooge knew it from the start.]]
-->'''Scrooge:''' You must think me a simpleton, sir. [[spoiler:Don't you think I've known about everything from the start? Don't you think I've known about Marley's motives all along?]]

-->'''Emcee''': "But if you could see her through my eyes, [[spoiler: she wouldn't look Jewish at all!]]
** The Act 1 finale, reprising [[VillainSong Tomorrow Belongs to Me]], where [[spoiler: ''nearly every guest'' at the engagement party for a goyish woman and a Jewish man begins singing along- they're all either Nazis or sympathetic to the cause]].

* Theatre/{{Cabaret}}:

** Another one takes place at the end, at the site where Elphaba made her last stand. [[spoiler: The Scarecrow comes on stage, knocks on the floor]], and says two words: [[spoiler:"It worked!" Elphaba, alive and well, comes up through a trap door and reunites with her beloved Fiyero before they make plans to flee to Earth.]]

* ''Theatre/DearEvanHansen'': Directly after Good For You, Evan has a "confrontation" with [[spoiler:"Connor" (really just a manifestation of himself)]] in which [[spoiler: Evan wants to tell the truth about what he's done, and "Connor" talks him out of it. Evan says that he just wants everything "be done with it", which begins an altercation in which "Connor" repeatedly asks Evan how he broke his arm, culminating in this:]]
-->'''Connor''': [[spoiler: Did you fall?]]
-->'''Evan''': [[spoiler: Mmm-hmm.]]
-->'''Connor''': [[spoiler: Or did you let go?]]

* ''Theatre/InTheHeights'': "Let everybody know: [[spoiler:Abuela Claudia]] passed away at noon today." It's ''quite'' the Mood Whiplash.