Contrived endings are nothing new. In comments, I exchanged observations with John about the contrived endings in some of Moliere's plays. This brings to mind the most "awesome" play ending I've seen, I think: the ending of the Seattle Rep's production of Tartuffe about 20 years ago.
They upgraded to story to modern times, Tartuffe being a TV evangelist. OK, it sort of worked. At the end of the play, you may remember, a messenger suddenly appears to set everything right. Very contrived. (Well, historically, the King demanded it.)
In this production, the messenger appeared wearing the costume of Moliere's era. That is, he looked like he belonged in a traditional production of Moliere! All the characters on stage played this realistically, exchanging glances as if to say, Who the hell let this madman in? This rather poked fun at the forced ending while at the same time giving the "deus ex machina" a comic twist. But this was just the teaser.
End of play, the curtain closes. Almost immediately, it seemed, the curtain opened again for curtain call -- and the entire cast was in 17th century costume! A great gasp from the audience. It was magical (long live Velcro). I don't think I've heard such a gasp from an audience since. Magical, magical.
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