History Main / TheShowMustGoOn

* ''Film/{{Birdman}}'': Riggan gets locked outside the theater and his robe stuck on the door. In order to make it to his part in the play, he had to walk around Times Square in his underwear. Once he finally reaches inside the theater, he delivers his lines while in his underwear. The audience find it hilarious and his stint on Times Square becomes viral on the internet.

* Creator/BettyWhite was to have [[https://www.fathomevents.com/events/Betty-White-100-Years-Young an 100th birthday event]] released in theaters on January 17, 2022. However, she died on December 31, 2021. Despite this, Fathom Events, who hosted the event, plans to hold it as scheduled.

* Part of the core conceit to ''WesternAnimation/TheNewMrPeabodyAndShermanShow'', as it's a variety show that the duo are recording live from their apartment, things almost never go as planned but the duo press on, even through things like a black hole opening on set or a flu outbreak causing the set to be quarantined.

** Regular team captain Ian Hislop was suffering from appendicitis during a 1994 episode, and checked himself out of hospital to film one episode because he was determined not to miss a recording. He is noticeably more short-tempered than usual throughout the episode in question, at one point launching into a long rant about how horrible everyone involved in a story about a politician having affairs with a married woman and both of her daughters was, which was only stopped when the host pointed out that nobody had actually given the answer yet.

* When Brian Littrell of the Music/BackstreetBoys underwent surgery to correct a congenital heart defect he had had since birth (it was necessary because the hole in his heart was getting larger), the group initially postponed a couple of dates for the Backstreet's Back Tour, but Littrell was back performing with the group within weeks after the surgery, with oxygen tanks on stand-by in the wings of the stage.

->"''Can anyone here play the drums? I mean someone good!''"

However, in live entertainment, the show must go on at all costs - unlike with a movie or a TV show, a live performance has an audience of potentially ''tens of thousands'' of people, who have all ''paid'' to be there, and are rightfully expecting to get their money's worth. This forces the characters into crazy improvisations, costume changes, awkward stealth to avoid further disrupting the show and any number of desperate things to keep the show going.

-->'''Jimmy''': ''[softly]'' Alright, we’ve still got a game to play.

* In ''VisualNovel/{{Melody}}'', even after the power cuts out at the title character's concert (thanks to Steve, with Bethany’s help), Melody still has to put on an enjoyable performance, especially because it’s her first concert of this magnitude. She manages to hold her own with an audience participation song until the problem is fixed.

* In 1976, Music/BobMarley, his wife and his manager were attacked by gunmen in his home two days before a scheduled concert, "Smile Jamaica," organized by then-Prime Minister of Jamaica, Michael Manley to cool tensions between two rival political factions. Despite being injured in the attack, Marley went right ahead and performed in the concert two days later--"The people who are trying to make this world worse aren’t taking a day off. How can I?"

* ''Series/TheBrittasEmpire'': In the episode "Mums and Dads", the pianoist that had been meant to play has been knocked unconscious by a piano and they need to find a another one in the next half hour to start concert planned that night. Unfortunately, a poor choice of words by Laura leads [[DreadfulMusician Brittas]] to play the piano instead. Cue CringeComedy.

* Similarly, a 2002 performance by Music/CountingCrows in Los Angeles saw drummer Ben Mize fall ill mid-show, requiring his hospitalization. After a brief intermission, the band switched to acoustic instruments and performed several songs without a drummer, before drummers Randy Guss of Toad the Wet Sprocket (their opening band) and Todd Roper of Music/{{Cake}} (who was in the audience) were persuaded to appear onstage to finish the show.

* When Takako's dress is being ripped off in ''VisualNovel/OtobokuMaidensAreFallingForMe'', Mizuho needs to improvise the way to cover her up, and ends up also kissing her.

* In one episode of ''Manga/MermaidMelodyPichiPichiPitch'', there was a play called "The Mermaid Princess", which is based on Creator/HansChristianAndersen's "Literature/TheLittleMermaid", took place in the school. Despite [[TheHero Lucia's]] clumsiness, and a (real) attack from the water demons, the show continued thanks to Rina's quick wit in ad libs. Since part of the ad lib involved the main trio transforming and making a performance (driving away the water demons), the rest of the play had to be improvised.

* In the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' manga, during Turnabout Showtime, after Flip Chambers, who plays Twinklestar in the Sparklestar show for Sparkle Land, is stabbed inside his costume, he comes out on stage as scheduled before collapsing and dying. Toward the end of the trial, Phoenix speculates that "Maybe he thought the show must go on. Or maybe he was asking for help."
* In ''Manga/{{Beastars}}'', Louis breaks his leg during a play rehearsal but is so determined to put on a good performance that he [[SecretStabWound hides it]], acting normally until he finally passes out from the pain the second the curtain finally falls on the first night. On the second night, Bill takes his place in the lead role and Legoshi take on Bill's former role but the play goes off the rails when Legoshi attacks Bill for real on stage and Louis has to intervene to get the play back on track without the audience noticing Bill and Legoshi are badly hurt from the fight and make it look like it was AllPartOfTheShow.
* Similar to the ''Manga/MermaidMelodyPichiPichiPitch'' example, ''Anime/YesPrettyCure5'' had an incident early on. Urara is chosen to be the MC for a kid's play, but it turns out that the actress playing the rabbit fell ill. Nozomi, not wanting her friend's big day ruined, takes up the role of the rabbit... despite Rin pointing out that she was ''banned'' from the Drama Club after only 3 days in. Despite this, they go with it and things start out alright... only for Girinma to arrive and summon the MonsterOfTheWeek. The girls are able to blind most everyone to transform and the audience is treated to a Pretty Cure fight... which is a big hit with the crowds. When Urara's manager approaches Urara once more and wants the same thing to happen, the poor girl's left in a bind, while her friends tell the audience their answer.

* It's [=SprouT=]'s first live concert in ''Manga/TheIdolmaster2TheWorldIsAllOne'', and halfway through the lights all go out. The girl's begin to panic but Azusa of fellow idol unit Ryuuguu Komachi immediately begins singing by herself to calm the audience down, followed by the rest of her unit putting on an improved show until everything can get fixed.
* In ''Anime/SDGundamForce'', this is the reason why the [[ShowWithinAShow Zako Zako Hour]] is being held even though the ''Gundamusai'' is being pulled into a crack in the Minov Boundary Sea. The lead host even names this trope.
* This trope is pretty much Rise's motivational speech when preparing for the concert in ''Anime/Persona4GoldenTheAnimation'' when she says that a real pro will always arrive to perform, no matter what. And, [[spoiler:even though she ends up arriving late to the show, Marie takes her words to heart and sings vocals until Rise makes it and they sing together]].
* In one episode of ''Anime/SpiderRiders'', Hunter Steele, Shadow and the Spider Riders end up staring in a play about a legendary hero. Due to a misunderstanding, the villain Grasshop assumed that Hunter and the others would only be observing the play. So he attempted to ambush the heroes, while they were right in the middle of preforming. Hunter decided to stay in character, so he improvised and the play continued.

* A more positive version happen at the end of ''Film/TheGreatestShowman'' when Barnum grant Philip control of the circus so that he can spend more time with is family.
-->'''Phillip''': What will you be doing?
-->'''Barnum''': Watching my girls grow up. [[TheShowMustGoOn The show]] [[PassingTheTorch must go on.]]
* The Creator/MarxBrothers ''Film/ANightAtTheOpera'' where the brothers throw an opera into total chaos and the theatre crew and police still bend over backwards to avoid disrupting the show themselves, even when things are bad enough that logically they might as well simply and openly march out on stage to grab the brothers since it would not make any difference.

* In ''Film/MoulinRouge'', Satine is dying from tuberculosis and everyone's hopes and dreams are falling apart, but they still manage to stage "Spectacular! Spectacular!" [[CoveredUp Guess]] [[Music/{{Queen}} what]] TheSongBeforeTheStorm [[TropeNamers is?]]
* ''Film/TheAdventureOfSherlockHolmesSmarterBrother'': Sigerson Holmes and Professor Moriarty (and their minions) engage in a secret contest behind the scenes of an opera performance to get some important papers. Their shenanigans include dropping sleeping pills into the cups the actors are drinking from, firing guns and breaking into song: the actors try desperately to keep the opera going despite the interruptions.

* A more tragic case in ''Film/StageDoor''; on opening night of her debut, Terry finds out Kay, an actress she was friends with, had her heart set on the part Terry was about to play, and when she didn't get the part, [[spoiler: committed suicide]]. Upon hearing this, Terry is heartbroken and refuses to go on; Ann Luther, her acting coach, gives a variation of this speech to get Terry to perform.
* In ''Film/HenrysCrime'', Henry goes back on stage and continues his role as if nothing's wrong, immediately after [[spoiler: getting shot in the leg.]] Justified because if he hadn't, it would have aroused suspicion.
* Cosmo invokes this trope for Don Lockwood in ''Film/SinginInTheRain'' before breaking into "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SND3v0i9uhE Make 'Em Laugh]]".

* ''Film/MeetTheFeebles''. More and more of the muppet-like variety show's cast and crew end up missing, incapacitated, or dead on the night of their live TV debut, but the show lurches on even when performers accidentally die on stage. By the end the director is reduced to performing a musical number that he was expressly forbidden ever to do, ever, under an circumstances by the producer.
* ''Film/RockStar'': In the very beginning of the first song in his first concert with [[FakeBand Steel Dragon]], [[AscendedFanboy Chris Cole]] slips and falls down the stairs (they were tring to do a GrandStaircaseEntrance). Despite a nasty head wound and possible concussion, Chris rallies and finishes the song and the concert.

* ''Film/BlackAndTan'': "Keep the show on!", cries the MC after Fredi has a heart attack while dancing onstage. He hustles the dancing girls onstage, but the curtain falls soon after anyway.
* In ''Film/{{Birdman}}'', Riggan gets locked outside the theater and his robe stuck on the door. In order to make it to his part in the play, he had to walk around Times Square in his underwear. Once he finally reaches inside the theater, he delivers his lines while in his underwear. The audience find it hilarious and his stint on Times Square becomes viral on the internet.
* ''Film/BewareOfTheCar'': Yuri is both a member of an amateur acting troupe, and an amateur car thief. What's more, Maxim, the detective who finally catches him, is a member of the same acting troupe. Eventually Yuri gets arrested, but Maxim has him taken to the theater, under police guard, so that the acting troupe can put on their production of ''Hamlet''.
* In ''Film/ALeagueOfTheirOwn'', a Western Union delivery man shows up at the door of the locker room right before a game with a telegram for [[spoiler:Betty]] informing her that her husband was killed in action in World War II. After the team chaperon takes her aside, Jimmy has to get the rest of the team to focus.
-->'''Jimmy''': ''[softly]'' Alright, we’ve still got a game to play.

* Shortly before ''Theatre/SeventeenSeventySix'' opened on Broadway in 1969, Howard da Silva, the actor playing UsefulNotes/BenjaminFranklin, suffered a heart attack. Back then, journalists were invited to three or four different "opening day" performances for their write-ups. Da Silva told no one, performed all three shows, and then skipped the cast party to check himself into the hospital. His understudy, Rex Everheart, had to perform Franklin for the Original Broadway Cast soundtrack.

* In 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic forced the ''Series/EurovisionSongContest'' to cancel for the first time since its inception in 1956. The producers were determined that the show would not miss another year even if it meant having everyone perform remotely for safety. For the 2021 contest the EBU settled on "Scenario B", a near-perfect final with most of the contestants performing live[[note]]Australia's delegation were unable to travel to Europe due to restrictions and two members of the Iceland's Music/DadiFreyr tested positive for the virus forcing them to isolate. Pre-taped performances were shown for both acts[[/note]] and a reduced audience in the arena.

* It was revealed only after his death that [[Creator/ChadwickBoseman Chadwick Boseman]] was fighting Stage 3 followed by Stage 4 Colon Cancer during his entire run in the Marvel Cinema Universe.

[[MurphysLaw Accidents happen]]. Sometimes, a catastrophe occurs during the production of a creative work that forces it to a halt - the writer quits, the union goes on strike, or an actor gets injured or [[AuthorExistenceFailure suffers critical existence failure.]] In recorded works intended for later consumption, this can be remedied relatively easily - scenes can be rewritten or reshot, actors can be replaced, shooting can be put on hiatus.

* Due to budget and time constraints, the Classic era of ''Series/DoctorWho'' is riddled with this, with individual mishaps ranging from Creator/WilliamHartnell flubbing his lines to Creator/TomBaker breaking his shoulder to Creator/SylvesterMcCoy [[RealityEnsues burning his back while]] [[UnflinchingWalk walking away from an explosion]].

** During the episode "Filli Vanilli", Big Mac loses his voice, and Fluttershy, whos' terrified of singing publically, decides to down a potion made from poison joke to make her have a deep baritone, and sing his lines backstage while he lip-synchs, just so The ponytones will sing at her fundraiser.
** Coloratura says this word-for-word after her manager quits in "The Mane Attraction". [[GilliganCut Next shot is her pacing and panicking while Rarity tries to get her dressed for the show.]]

* Reportedly, when recording "The Show Must Go On" (mentioned above), Freddie Mercury was in seriously bad shape because of his battle with AIDS. One of the other band members approached him and asked him if he wanted to take a break. What Mercury did was down a glass of vodka and say "I'll fucking do it, darling!" before proceeding to nail the song in ''one take'' in what Brian May considers one of Freddie's [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome greatest]] [[DyingMomentOfAwesome performances]].

* In 1986 James Hetfield of Music/{{Metallica}} broke his wrist in a skateboarding accident, rendering him unable to play rythym guitar. Hetfield's guitar tech, John Marshall, filled in on rythym guitar until the injury healed (James still sang, being the band's lead vocalist in addition to the rythym guitarist). This incident prompted Hetfield's record company to include a clause in his contract forbidding him from riding a skateboard while the band was on tour.

* While on tour to promote the band's latest album, ''Animals'', Music/PinkFloyd's Music/RogerWaters was suffering from what he though was stomach cramps (it later turned out to be hepatitis), so the band doctor injected him with a powerful muscle relaxant so he could go onstage. He said that he could have played through the pain, but whatever the doctor injected him with caused him to be barely able to lift his arm, causing him to go through "the longest two hours of my life" playing that concert. This experience inspired the classic song "Comfortably Numb."

* In 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic forced the ''Series/EurovisionSongContest'' to cancel for the first time since its inception in 1956. The producers were determined that the show would not miss another year even if it meant having everyone perform remotely for safety. The EBU eventually settled on "Scenario B", a near-perfect final with most of the contestants performing live[[note]]Australia's delegation were unable to travel to Europe due to restrictions and two members of the Iceland's Music/DadiFreyr tested positive for the virus forcing them to isolate. Pre-taped performances were shown for both acts[[/note]] and a reduced audience in the arena.

* In ''Manga/{{Beastars}}'', Louis breaks his leg during a play rehearsal but is so determined to put on a good performance that he [[SecretStabWound hides it]], acting normally until he finally passes out from the pain the second the curtain finally falls on the first night.

* In 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic forced the ''Series/EurovisionSongContest'' to cancel for the first time since its inception in 1956. The producers were determined that the show would not miss another year even if it meant having everyone perform remotely from their national studios for safety. The EBU eventually settled on "Scenario B", a near-perfect final with most of the contestants performing live[[note]]Australia's delegation were unable to travel to Europe due to restrictions and members of the Iceland's Music/DadiFreyr tested positive for the virus forcing them to isolate. Pre-taped performances were shown for both acts[[/note]] and reduced audience in the arena.

[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
* The WWF suffered this trope in 1999 during their ''Over The Edge'' pay-per-view event, due to the death of Wrestling/OwenHart happening as he was making his ring entrance. Fortunately, the incident occurred while viewers were watching a pre-recorded segment, so they never saw it; when the live broadcast resumed, all they saw were the ring announcers discussing what had happened. After a brief delay, the broadcast continued, which garnered the organization some criticism later.

* The WWE continued to create ''WWE RAW'' and ''[=SmackDown=]'' during the 2020 coronavirus outbreak, holding all their events at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, all without an audience.
** Wrestling/WrestleMania 36 was initially scheduled to take place in the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The logo for the even is even similar to the logo of [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the local NFL team]]. But the coronavirus outbreak put a stop to those plans, moving instead to the WWE Performance Center as well. It will be the first WWE pay-per-view without a live audience.