Definition of "transformation-scene" []

• Theat., a scene which changes in sight of the audience; specifically, a gorgeous scene at the conclusion of the burlesque of a pantomime, in which the principal characters are supposed to be transformed into the chief actors in the immediately following harlequinade. (noun)

The Century Dictionary (Public Domain)

• "The dusk was falling, and the snow beginning to lie thick, as he entered the dark gorge of the Clough; but to him darkness and light were alike, and as for the snow, it was more than a transformation-scene is to the petted child of a jaded civilization."
• "The change from broad daylight, in which every outline and detail of the landscape was accented strongly, to the dim, mystic and diffused radiance of the moon and stars was like an episode in a transformation-scene at the theatre."
• "It represented popes and emperors tumbling headlong into a terrible abyss, while the world's benefactors were ascending in a sort of theatrical transformation-scene."