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AIBU?

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Original poster

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

216 replies

OtraCosaMariposa · 22/09/2019 09:36

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)

OP posts:
Pangur2 · 22/09/2019 11:07

Oh you lot will love my tale of woe. One of my friends tried to sing along loudly with Bill Bailey once. In harmony. I wanted to fucking die of embarrassment.

SistersOfPercy · 22/09/2019 11:08

@EggysMom our local theatre has a tiny, 3 seat box that slightly overhangs the stage. For this reason, and the fact the view is ever so slightly compromised, it's a lot cheaper than the rest of the theatre.
I think people assume box = big money but it's actually brilliant.

My first choice of seat that.

SinkGirl · 22/09/2019 11:11

Is it even possible to watch Hamilton without singing along to You’ll Be Back?

Da da da da da daaaah...

Just kidding. I wouldn’t really.

(Had I seen the original cast and anyone had dared sing over Groff I’d have been very cross).

angeldumottschunard · 22/09/2019 11:12

YANBU. At all. I’m Shock at the amount of posters saying it’s expected at Mamma Mia. It’s really not. At the end, when everyone’s encouraged to stand up and sing and dance, fine, but not throughout the whole show. It’s a musical, not a concert. If I’ve paid £75 for a ticket the only noise I want to hear is that from the stage.

MrsFezziwig · 22/09/2019 11:15

Please keep complaining, everyone, and let’s stamp out this behaviour! It’s just another manifestation of the entitlement that some people have to think that their enjoyment comes above everyone else’s (like PP’s mum who thinks she has paid for her ticket so is entitled to do what she wants - so what if I am sitting next to her and think I am entitled to do what I want, i.e. listen to the professionally trained cast rather than her caterwauling).

I paid over £100 for my Hamilton ticket - absolutely worth it but if someone in the row behind had decided to sing along so I had to listen to them instead of the actual performers, there would definitely have been an unseemly scuffle.

So, for the hard of understanding:
Performance advertised as singalong - fill your boots
Performance not advertised as singalong - join in only when encouraged by the cast
Exception to the above - if Jason Donovan is singing, any audience member is entitled to help him out.

U2HasTheEdge · 22/09/2019 11:15

I would fully expect people to sing along to Mama Mia.

QueenoftheBiscuitTin · 22/09/2019 11:16

No one wants to listen to women screaming along to the songs completely out of tune. It's not karaoke night.

Branleuse · 22/09/2019 11:20

I had to warn my children NOT to don't along to hamilton. We did mouth the whole soundtrack though. Very rude to sing along if its not a singalong specific show.

I reckon a singalong performance of hamilton would be a sell out though

LaurieMarlow · 22/09/2019 11:22

YANBU and I’m shocked at some of the responses on here.

You pay the big money to hear professionals, not tone deaf, pissed up fans on a night out. They can go to a designated sing a long if that’s what they’re looking for.

I agree it’s people not knowing how to behave at the theatre. The theatre should probably be more explicit about expectations at the start.

LaurieMarlow · 22/09/2019 11:25

She reckons that she has paid for her ticket, so she should be able to enjoy the show in the way she likes, which is singing along. My mum is a terrible singer too.

What about all the other poor people who paid for their ticket too? Shock

viques · 22/09/2019 11:26

When we went to see Tina they said very specifically no singing, no dancing, no trainers (kidding about the trainers) but it was well worth holding back because the last 20 minutes (when both Tina and the audience unleashed) made up for it . Maybe the mamma Mia people should do the same.

Babdoc · 22/09/2019 11:27

I had a sedated old man in theatre listening to folk songs on headphones during his hip replacement operation under spinal. He sang along (loudly and off key) during the surgery, despite repeated entreaties to stop.
Oh wait - not that sort of theatre...!
Performers usually make it clear to the audience which choruses they want you to sing along with- and by implication to shut up for the rest of it. I’ve never had a problem - maybe audiences in my part of Scotland are well behaved, or we just save ourselves for the finale, when it’s a no holds barred, heuch and teuch dance in the aisles!

AutumnRose1 · 22/09/2019 11:29

YANBU

Agree, keep complaining

This hasn’t happened to me but I would be in a rage. It wasn’t a singalong.

TemporaryPermanent · 22/09/2019 11:30

This happened years ago at a shitty production of Grease I went to with a work group - loads of 'the girls' thinking they were musical theatre stars manque. I was shocked. Suppose my ds had stood up and joined in with the soliloquies when we went to see Macbeth? Most GCSE kids and parents know quite a few lines, should we join in? Obviously not because we are going to see a spectacle, a group of professionals who are giving us a collective experience, maybe something we haven't experienced before even if we know the play or musical backwards. That new experience can't happen if you're hearing 30 people in the audience giving a terrible impression of Olivia Newton John.

Mooncupblues · 22/09/2019 11:36

I wish they’d even ban the clapping along in time carry on. So unnecessary.

ODFOx · 22/09/2019 11:38

Singing along at Mama Mia is absolutely fine
No. no it isn't.

Why do people think this is OK? We all know the balcony speech from Romeo and Juliet but no-one would consider it 'absolutely fine' to say it aloud along with the actor trying to play Romeo.

Just because it's a musical doesn't make it acceptable to disrespect the cast in this way and spoil it for the other audience members. If you wouldn't do it for a straight play why do it for musical? There are more than enough singalong performances and audience participation shows if that's what you want.

HicDraconis · 22/09/2019 11:41

@babdoc I gave a lovely 80 year old lady half a mg of midazolam after her spinal (fractured neck of femur) and she turned out to be a retired opera singer! She sang through the whole operation, was really lovely.

I didn’t sing along with her though - I only sing in theatre when the patients are asleep.

Original poster
OtraCosaMariposa · 22/09/2019 11:45

Was in Edinburgh? Had same issue at Jersey Boys.

Yes, at the Playhouse. Haven't seen Jersey Boys, last thing we saw was a production of Cats in Glasgow in April and there was no singing along to Memory.

Lol I mean if you're going to waste your money seeing Mamma Mia what do you expect but a hen party audience? For a serious musical or opera yes fine it's not acceptable but Mamma Mia?! Did it ruin your artistic enjoyment

That's just downright rude. Ok, so it's not your cup of tea and that's fine. I thought the show was a lot of fun, uplifting, joyful. And had the women behind (who weren't part of a hen party, btw) hadn't responded to the glares from people around them, yes it would have ruined my enjoyment and meant £100 for tickets down the drain. Are only people sophisticated enough for opera allowed to get value for money? Hmm

OP posts:
Mooncupblues · 22/09/2019 11:48

OP I’ve paid £350 for the two of us and our two children to see The Lion King at The Playhouse in January. If anyone does anything to spoil the performance they will hear me!

CrazyMeep · 22/09/2019 11:48

I had this with Dirty Dancing recently. Group of drunk women on a hen or birthday night, wolf whistling and shouting "go on Johnny!" through every scene.
One got kicked out which quietened the rest for a bit, but then she was let back in towards the end and was worse than ever.
At the end they all got up and lined up in front of the stage dancing and singing, so anyone who couldn't/didn't want to stand or even those shorter than average, missed the whole final scene Angry
Not impressed.

IwantedtobeEmmaPeel · 22/09/2019 11:59

I was at a performance of La Traviata at the London Coliseum and there was a middle aged couple a few rows in front of me and I noticed that the man kept nodding off (fair enough) but then he would suddenly wake up with a start and start trying to sing along whilst waving his hands about. His poor wife kept trying to shush him and after this happening several times so did other audience members. Luckily he did not reappear after the interval.

Original poster
OtraCosaMariposa · 22/09/2019 12:07

see The Lion King at The Playhouse in January

We're going to see that too. Might take a in-theme spear to stab anyone having a go at Circle of Life.

At the beginning they did make the standard announcement about photography and filming being strictly prohibited. Maybe they should add "and keep the singing along until the finale."

OP posts:
EugenesAxe · 22/09/2019 12:07

I agree it’s people not knowing how to behave at the theatre. The theatre should probably be more explicit about expectations at the start.

Yes I entirely agree. “Ladies and gentlemen, the show is about to begin. Please switch off all mobile devices. We would like to remind you that anyone singing along with the professionals will be taken outside and summarily shot.”... would sum up my feelings on the subject.

Actionhasmagic · 22/09/2019 12:10

Yanbu!!!