Big No/Theatre

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Examples of Big No in Theatre include:

  • Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? features one of the best Big Nos of all time, when Martha cries out "Nooooooooo!" after George finally announces their fictional son is dead. Elizabeth Taylor in the film version makes a magnificent cry that has to be seen to be believed.
  • In The Phantom of the Opera, it is fairly common to hear one when the Phantom snaps during the "All I Ask of You" reprise. Depending on the actor, this can be a literal Big No, several small ones, and/or an inarticulate cry of rage.
  • When Mimi dies of consumption at the end of La Boheme, her boyfriend Rodolfo rushes to her side sobbing and crying her name.
  • At the end of Rent, when it appears that Mimi is dying, Roger sings out a rather long "NOOOOOOOO!" to segue into "Your Eyes". Thus adding insult to injury.
  • Bill Francouer's Babes in Toyland gives the Big No to Barnaby and his henchmen, the villains of the show, shortly after their defeat sequence.
  • In the musical version of Ragtime, Coalhouse Walker does a ridiculous big NOOOOOOO! when he finds out Sarah died, followed by a nice long angry reprise.
  • Some versions of Miss Saigon actually go out on this trope, with Chris cradling Kim's corpse and letting out a great big "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" which continues for a few seconds after the curtain falls. Other versions thankfully replace this with an actual closing number.
  • In the version of Hamlet in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, the scene where Hamlet kills Polonius involves Polonious, in 'slow motion', saying, "NOOOOOOO, iiiit wiiiill huuuurt, ow, Iiiii toooold yoooou."
  • In Parade, in "That's What he Said," in which a man makes a vivid (and false) testimony about the lead raping and murdering a 13-year-old girl.

Conley: He said no, no, and his eyes were wild and his face was red he said NOOOOOOOO!"
Leo: NOOOOOOOO!

  • Lucy has one of these in 13 when Brett asks Kendra out.
  • Parodied in Urinetown.
  • Also parodied in Bat Boy: The Musical.
  • In Spring Awakening some Melchiors have been known to pull out this trope in the graveyard upon finding Wendla's grave, and off-Broadway Melchior used to have one in the reformatory after learning that Wendla is pregnant.

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