Police called to theatre after audience sang over cast

[SnottyLottie]

According to this news article, 2 people were evicted by security and there was a “mini riot” after the show was stopped 10 minutes before the end (and ultimately cancelled) because a handful of the audience were singing over the cast. Police were called (riot vans included).

https://news.sky.com/story/police-called-to-disturbance-at-manchester-palace-theatre-during-the-bodyguard-musical-after-audience-tried-to-sing-over-cast-12852504

What do we think? Over reaction or perfectly reasonable response? I’d be furious to have the show stopped and cancelled 10 minutes before the end because of a handful of disrespectful idiots!

There was a similar thread last week about a family who did a sad face article in the paper about not being allowed to sing at Annie.

People just don't know how to behave appropriately in the theatre.

Well, the audience howlers were clearly wrong.
Ultimately, if they haven't listened to requests by theatre staff, then the theatre staff are stuck. Massive waste of police resources, but what else could they do?
The howlers should be ashamed of themselves for ruining everyone's night.

However, there is more and more of this. It is becoming more and more regular that people go to the theatre without any concept of how to behave.

It wasn't as if KC was even there!

Your enjoyment of the show should never ruin others - there is a difference between a small amount of singing and dancing quietly along at points and clearly standing and drowning out the leads

I don’t understand why they couldn’t finish the show???? I’d be pissed off paying all that money and not seeing the last 10 minutes of the show.

The riot van sounds a bit overkill but they should have been thrown out! I'm sorry for the people in the audience who saved up and were looking forward to their night out for it to be ruined.

Don't theatres make it clear when audience participation is expected? Shows that are ok with singalongs are marked as such. People singing otherwise are idiots.

As is fairly clear from other threads on here, a significant subset of people who go to West End or touring musicals never otherwise go to the theatre and have absolutely no idea how to behave appropriately.

I love theatre and go ad often as I can. Behaviour in theatres has been getting progressively worse for years and whereas people singing/eating loudly/talking/looking at phones/getting up and down was an occasional annoyance, it now seems to happen pretty much every time I go to the theatre.

If I've paid up to £100 to go to see a show, I want to hear the professionals, not some dickhead a row in front of me saying the lines, singing the lines, going for their umpteenth loo break, talking loudly to the person next to them.

I think possibly it needed to come to this for something to be done about it, but it is beyond annoying for those of us who want to sit and be immersed in a performance!

We once had a riot van at our house... it was the nearest police vehicle with capacity for the issue (a drunken person needing an ambulance). If it was dealing with several drunk people, it could be appropriate... and reading between the lines, it probably was drunk idiots being threatening towards staff, not just singing along.

Bat out of Hell in London was stopped last week due to singing / disruptive audience, too:
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/mar/31/bat-out-of-hell-musical-stopped-due-to-disruptive-audience-member

I suspect it took a long time. With Annie they will be child actors with strict rules about hours of work and times so maybe completion would exceed that. It might seem a one off but I suppose that could happen again for different reasons such as problems with the set of music and you have multiple breaches of the rules.

Such idiots spoiling the show.
There should be those come and sing versions in cinemas. big signs stating no singing/standing during performance in theatres. Ultimately would need police.

That group were adamant they were just mimimg! I saw a sad face article on FB about it haha I bet they were singing!

I sat beside a guy who sang all through rock of ages. Very badly. It was so bad and so fucking annoying I wish I did report him.

The fact that people had already been made to leave in the first act and then other audience members still treated it as a karaoke performance is absolutely ridiculous. I'd be furious if I'd paid money to go and hear trained and rehearsed performers and was subjected to pissed up people in the circle singing. It's so disrespectful to the cast and crew as well as everyone else. If the theatre had just let them stay then they probably would have been hit with a load of refund claims from everyone else.

It's not billed as a singalong version, so if you want to sing along watch the film at home or a singalong screening.

One of the actors tweeted

"We wanted to carry on but it had become a major incident. I'm really sorry to what was 99.9% a brilliant audience that a few badly behaved individuals ruined it."

I guess once audiencebehaviour gets to a certain level the damage has been done and it just needs shutting down?

I am totally prepared to admit to being a snob on this subject, but with more and more shows based on pop songs, audiences treat it as a concert rather than a musical. They behave as they would in a 75000 capacity arena rather than a 750 capacity theatre

It's good that theatres are starting to take action on these idiots and remove them. Normally the show would continue but I think this one was almost at the end anyway. The actress was being heckled by them. The theatre had signs everywhere saying "don't sing along"

I have also noticed that people's behaviour at theatres and cinemas is getting worse. People eating loudly, singing loudly, talking to each other, looking at their phones, kids kicking the back of your seat. None of that is acceptable behaviour at a performance/film. If you don't want to watch it then why are you even there?

We are going to see The Mousetrap in Glasgow next month. If there is anyone speaking the lines along with the actors there might just be a real murder.

People need to just keep their mouths quiet and enjoy the show, unless it is stated at the start that you are welcome to sing along. If you can't watch a performance without singing, don't go. People's behaviour is definitely getting worse, some have no idea how to behave.

People are frankly absolutely thoughtless selfish fuckwits more often than not. Fine do what you like at home but ...

... what the fuck has happened to the notion of public spaces? where one moderates one's behaviour so as to cause least disturbance to others? Shared, public space. Tossers.

It is infuriating having somebody singing along in a theatre show.
Years ago (when I was pregnant) there was a young lady behind me singing along (loudly and badly) at Wicked, and when I turned round to give her a look she responded with “what you looking at fatty”. Nice. She did shut up though.

There was a hen party when I went to see Moulin Rouge and I think they didn’t realise it was actually a serious musical and not a cabaret as they all turned up in feather boas and were most put out when they were told to be quiet.

From the sounds it also descended into a bit of a fight thats also why police got involved.

The comments on the articles however are worrying. So many saying how if people pay that money they should be allowed to sing along if they want and because its musical they also should be able to snd anyone saying otherwise is miserable. No!!!! Some you can..at the end if say you can..again! A tribute..different. This..no!

Standards do seem to be on the decline imo. Years ago for instance, most people would make an effort with their attire when going to see a show. Now I notice some people turning up looking like they just were popping out to the local supermarket.

This article is a bit more informative
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/astonishing-moment-audience-member-screams-26658204

When the people got kicked out there was a commotion (screaming and shouting) and people were chanting “out, out, out!” to the point that even the cast went silent and were looking to see what was going on. It sounds awful!

Apparently there were also a lot of signs around the theatre advising people not to sing along.

No. Just no. There is no amount of “a small amount of quiet singing and dancing along” that is acceptable. Ever. Unless it’s a sing-along audience participation show, the audience listens and watches and the performers sing and dance and speak. That is what people pay their hard-earned cash for, to hear professional people do their jobs, no-one wants to watch the woman in front doing jazz hands and the man behind banging his foot to the beat and the person next to them breathily half singing the words and jigging about.