History Main / AllKnowingSingingNarrator

''And a one, and a two, and a one-two-three-four!''

%%* ''Music/{{Evita}}'': The revolutionary narrator, who is sometimes called [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything "Che"]].

%%* ''Theatre/IntoTheWoods'': The Narrator. [[spoiler:Things get considerably worse when [[InteractiveNarrator he dies]].]]

%%* ''Theatre/NatashaPierreAndTheGreatCometOf1812'': Basically everyone.

%%* ''Theatre/{{Urinetown}}'': Officer Lockstock and Little Sally.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': Parodied in "[[Recap/ArthurS3E1BustersBackTheBalladOfBusterBaxter The Ballad of Buster Baxter]]": "Mom, there's a singing moose in front of the house!"

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* Slim Strings in the CowboyEpisode section of ''ComicBook/AdventureTimeTheFlipSide''.
[[/folder]]

* Clopin in the beginning of ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'', considering he opens it with the story of how Frollo killed Quasimodo's mother and "adopted" Quasi -- despite the fact that Clopin wasn't even ''there'' at the time, and the two men (or possibly more, if you count the staring masonry) who were certainly wouldn't have told anyone about what happened. However, for the rest of the film he's just a standard character who knows no more than anyone else. In the Berlin musical production based on this film, Clopin stays the narrator throughout.
* Alan-a-Dale, the rooster minstrel in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973'', [[PlayingWithATrope plays with this trope]] because he becomes a character in the story who appears in several scenes.
%%* Arne in ''WesternAnimation/TerkelInTrouble''.
* The Muses of ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'', starting their takeover for the original narrator, who they say is too boring.

* The Grave Robber from ''Film/RepoTheGeneticOpera''. Of course, [[LampshadeHanging he's reading a newspaper about the events of the Opera]], so even though he wasn't there, he still knows about certain events. Unfortunately, however, they don't do the same when explaining how he knows all about Blind Mag's contract problems. He actually hands off the newspaper to Shilo while Mag's rival is ''standing right there'' at the time.
* The Criminologist in ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow''. Of course, he doesn't actually sing (but he does do spoken word accompaniment during the Time Warp song.)
* In a non-musical version, the Radio DJ from ''Film/TheWarriors'' mostly fits into this category.
* Stubby Kaye and Nat King Cole in ''Film/CatBallou''.
* In ''Film/RanchoNotorious'', the ballad "The Legend of Chuck-a-Luck" is heard during the opening credits and throughout the film, using the lyrics as narration. According to the American Film Institute, this is the first American film to use a song in this manner.

* A book of Myth/ClassicalMythology featured a script-version of the story of Achilles. "Chorus" is described as the "Narrator who knows everything".

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': "The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon" in "The Gunfighters".
* Used (and [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]]) in "The Day They Shot Agarn" episode of ''Series/FTroop''.

* {{Exaggerated|Trope}} in ''Music/SchweigtStillePlaudertNicht''. The narrator has no part in the story apart from narration, and since it's an opera, all he does is sing.

* The revolutionary narrator from ''Music/{{Evita}}'', who is sometimes called [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything "Che"]].
* The Narrator in ''Theatre/IntoTheWoods''. [[spoiler:Things get considerably worse when [[InteractiveNarrator he dies]].]]
* The Narrator in ''Theatre/JosephAndTheAmazingTechnicolorDreamcoat''.
* Officer Lockstock and Little Sally in ''Theatre/{{Urinetown}}''
* The urchins/Ronettes in the musical version of ''Theatre/LittleShopOfHorrors''.
* The Balladeer from ''Theatre/{{Assassins}}'', who goes over the three successful attempts we see on stage and, in "Another National Anthem", tries to get the Assassins to be more polite. He fails, and they [[spoiler: turn him into Lee Harvey Oswald.]] One can also count the Proprietor as this as well, as he gives inspiration for the Assassins to start trying to kill their targets, and even interacts with them in some versions of the play.
* The Leading Player from the musical ''Theatre/{{Pippin}}''.
* A non-singing example: the Stage Manager from ''Theatre/OurTown''.
* Pseudolus, the main character of Stephen Sondheim's ''Theatre/AFunnyThingHappenedOnTheWayToTheForum''.
* The Reciter in ''Theatre/PacificOvertures'' sings of Japan's feudal ways and the country's modernization and encounters with the West.
* The Cat in the Hat from ''Theatre/{{Seussical}} the Musical''.
* The Lecturer in the musical adaptation of ''Film/ReeferMadness''.
* The Narrator in ''Theatre/BloodBrothers''.
* Lonny from the jukebox musical ''Theatre/RockOfAges''.
* Bert in the musical adaptation of ''Theatre/MaryPoppins''.
* The Narrator in ''AudioPlay/TheDollsOfNewAlbion: A Steampunk Opera''.
* Aaron Burr in ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}''. Played with in that there are several noticeable blind spots from where Historians has no knowledge. Most tellingly, he starts narrating the facts about [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton–Reynolds_affair the Hamilton-Reynolds affair]] only to just shrug and let Hamilton take over narration a few lines in. We then cut to a description from (the historical) Hamilton's own highly biased writings.
* The Narrator from the musical ''Theatre/MurderBallad''.
* Basically everyone in ''Theatre/NatashaPierreAndTheGreatCometOf1812''.
* Fester in the musical ''Theatre/TheAddamsFamily''.
* Bridget in ''Theatre/{{Lizzie}}''.
* Luigi Lucheni in ''Theatre/{{Elisabeth}}''. He's also an InteractiveNarrator, particularly in the Takarazuka version where, at minimum, he takes pictures of the audience so Sisi can collect images of the great beauties. Sometimes accompanied by a ShoutOut if there happens to be any (current or former) Takarasienne in attendance.
* Hermes in ''Theatre/{{Hadestown}}''. Originally his role was just to narrate the show and give Orpheus the directions to the back way into Hadestown, but as the show evolved he's become more and more of a character (such as being responsible for introducing Orpheus and Eurydice in the first place). "Road to Hell (Reprise)" implies that, as a god, Hermes always knew the end of the story was inevitable but was compelled to play his role in it anyway.
* Ladahlord in the musical adaptation of ''Literature/JamesAndTheGiantPeach''.
* Pierre Gringoire in ''Theatre/NotreDameDeParis''.

A welcome visitor would soon stop by...''
--> '''Ichabod''': ''(happily)'' Really? Who?
--> '''Diedrich''': What? Oh, I don't know.

* Parodied in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' episode "The Ballad of Buster Baxter": "Mom, there's a singing moose in front of the house!"
* ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'': Pinky does this briefly in "Brainy Jack", until Brain tells him to stop in a LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn moment.
* Birdie in ''WesternAnimation/CentralPark'' is a busker who also serves as the show's narrator. He explains to the audience there are certain rules to being a "narrator": the main one being that despite [[FourthWallObserver being an actual character in the show]], he isn't allowed to be a narrator of the [[InteractiveNarrator interactive variety]] and directly interfere with the plot. He actually gets briefly replaced in the episode "Rival Busker" after he breaks this rule by impatiently blurting out plot details to Paige.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': "The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon" in "The Gunfighters".

%%* Alan-a-Dale the rooster minstrel in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood''.