AIBU to think you don't sing along in the theatre??

[OtraCosaMariposa]

Went to see Mamma Mia last night with DD. Packed theatre, and it's the sort of show where everyone knows all of the songs.

Had the misfortune to sit directly in front of a group of about 5 women who seemed to think it was a karaoke or singalong performance. By the time we'd got to "Thank you for the Music" I was ready for strangling them lot of them. Few hard stares from me, DD and other people around us finally shut them up.

But AIBU to think that when you pay to see a professional cast, it's the cast you want to hear sing, not randomers?

(Apart from the show's finale though where everyone is up and belting out Waterloo)

If you think it's acceptable to sing along in any theatre, regardless of the show, then something fundamental is missing from either your empathy gene or your upbringing.

Yes depends on the volume i mouth along at musicals not out loud-its not a singa long theres plenty of those one at the o2 at the moment she should go there

Yes. I'm sure the professionals on stage are thrilled that the audience is singing along on non-participation nights.

Makes all the years of training and hours of rehearsal so worthwhile.

YABU.

At Mamma Mia it is encouraged. If you're going to see Les Mis then you don't expect people to sing along but at Mamma Mia we were told to sing and dance.

I unfortunately (I hate Abba but it was free) went to see it and people sang along, not very loudly though, just nicely. I didn't mind that, but an annoying drunk group would pee me off.

We paid £50 each for our tickets. Not as expensive as west end shows, but still not "cheap".

It was not branded as a singalong version, just the regular touring production. Very few people in the theatre were singing, except at the finale where it's positively encouraged. The woman playing Donna had a superb voice and I wanted to hear her sing the songs, not some pissed up woman behind me. I don't really think that's unreasonable, is it? I heard a woman in the row in front of me remind her child before the start "remember if you want to sing along, do it inside your head".

Also the whole "it's not Madam Butterfly" thing, well obviously it's not. But there's a certain snobbery in that comment too.

I haven’t been to the theatre in ages but I would absolutely hate this. Yanbu.

YABU. Completely depends on the show. Went to see Rocky Horror recently and there was loads of singing and yelling obscenities, all part of the fun 😂😂

Tbf, no one at Hamilton sung along the evening I went. There was some anticipatory leaning in to some of the key moments, but nothing audible. Although the dick sitting next to me did check his Apple watch every eight minutes, which was distracting if not out of tune.

Mamma Mia is...more prone to singing along, I would guess. That said, terrible theatre behavior..

At a music festival this weekend and hating the acts who can't sing one song without splitting the audience into two and getting them to sing along - could have saved myself a trip if I wanted karaoke. Still have no idea what some performers sound like and I'm not motivated to find out.

My DM does this - for everything. She just HAS to sing along, and loudly and dramatically. Went on holiday recently and SF showed me the video of her singing over the top of the live singer. She's very narcissistic though so, maybe that's why.

Yanbu. They weren’t at a concert!

I took DM to see Mamma Mia back in the early 2000’s as a treat, and the couple in front of us got up dancing (this was even before the interval!)

DM did politely ask them to sit down as our view was obscured - they did calm down a bit, but not sure what they did in the second act as we moved seats (the theatre was not full).

I remember everyone singing at the end which was fine, but the theatre is expensive and it’s not nice to have your experience ruined.

YANBU, We had this at Joseph last month, until a staff member asked the tuneless wonder in front of us to save her voice until the singalong at the end. The ‘singer’ had decided she’d belt out Close Every Door at the same time as Joseph.

YANBU, when we were in New York we went to a Broadway Frankie Valli musical, which was ruined for us by six drunken British women immediately behind us, singing loudly to every song and talking throughout. The theatre was packed so we couldn't move seats. Very annoying and spoilt the evening.

I always thought mama Mia was one that the audience did sing along to.

It certainly was when my family went. Everyone was up dancing and singing.

My Nan took my dd(6) to see mama Mia a few months ago.

She was singing along

It’s mama Mia! Every one should sing

I will positively kill anyone who sings along when I see Hamilton next week.

It is a relatively new thing though, when I saw mamma Mia originally - no one did it, however when I saw it in Glasgow at the beginning of the year, it was bloody awful - I won’t go again.

I also saw the jersey boys in Glasgow, and the show was stopped during the first half, as fighting broke out in the stalls, which I suspect was due to singing.

I think Rocky Horror is a bit different to be honest, it’s well known that everyone gets dressed up to go and sings along. Not my cup of tea at all but we’re all different! A standard production of Mamma Mia or whatever else I don’t think people should be singing along.

But then I think the whole thing has changed now... watching Strictly with dd last night and I get so annoyed when almost as soon as the music starts everyone starts clapping along in time with the beat. Can hardly hear the actual music! Drives me insane but then I am probably in the minority, others seem to enjoy that “group participation” aspect of many things.

We saw Les Mis in concert a few weeks ago - we’d spent a fair wedge on tickets as a once-in-a-lifetime sort of thing and there was a chap behind us singing along. I can’t work out if he didn’t realise he could be heard or if he was genuinely arrogant enough to think he had the right to inflict it on everyone else. It’s a mystery to me.

Was in Edinburgh? Had same issue at Jersey Boys. I complained and they admitted there had been several problems. Please complain or else it will only get worse......

I've found this is worse in touring productions than in the West end, we've moved a little further from London and thought we'd go to a local theatre last year, it was a nightmare, sing alongs, noisy children, I'm not sure if it's the audience or that the staff in the West end shut down any nonsense quicker. I also think you're more likely to get it in productions with popular songs eg mamma mia, Motown, the queen one etc. Less likely if you're seeing phantom.

I've seen Mama Mia twice and people definitely weren't singing along.

For those of you who do it, why in the world do you think people would pay a chunk of money to watch professionals if all they're going to be able to hear is the cringy caterwauling of other people?

I went to see the stage version of Bat out of Hell a few times last year. There were signs all over the theatre reminding people that they shouldn’t singalong until the encore. Perhaps more theatres should adopt that policy. They also staged several performances that were specifically for joining in. I went to one on NYE and it was good fun but most of the time if I’ve paid to see a live show I want to hear the cast not some tuneless git behind me.

Saw bat out of hell in a London and they told you at the start, No singing which I thought at first , what absoloutely killjoys!
but turned out was a good thing because we could hear the cast I was singing along in my head! We saw some people escorted out which might have been for singing
I do love a singalong just back from greatest showman one in Glasgow they should definitely have theatre sing a longs too! So yanbu keep it till the end and then everyone can have a last song singalong!