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)

Look, people who seem to think that keeping schtum at a musical is some bizarro piece of etiquette on a par with knowing how to address a retired Rear-Admiral in a formal invitation -- you will know if you're supposed to be singing, because you will be the holder of an Equity card, and be up on stage in costume and make-up.

This thread at least explains why the second time I went to see Mamma Mia it was ruined by someone three rows back belting out every song, despite several people asking the usher to have a word and at least three people commenting directly. I paid all that money to hear the professionals, if I wanted to hear a bad rendition of it, I could sing it myself at home, for free!

hazell42

“So the lady who shushed me was the one out of line.”

We’re you singing along loudly with the soloist by any chance? If so the lady was quite right to shush you. I’m a Rocky Horror veteran of many years and you don’t sing with the soloists even in that (unless you do so very quietly). Yes you can sing along a lot more than most shows and there are costumes and shoutbacks etc allowed, but people still go to see the shows and listen to the actors/singers. I went once where someone was shouting back at almost everything and it got really annoying!

Of course if you were singing along to chorus or quietly then the lady who shushed you should go take a jump to the left....

you will know if you're supposed to be singing, because you will be the holder of an Equity card, and be up on stage in costume and make-up.

Exactly.

And during the finale, the actress playing Donna shouting "let me hear you Edinburgh!" was a wee bit of a clue that singing might be OK from that point.

Let me tell you from personal experience - do not attempt to sing along to Madama Butterfly ....

30under
Oh no. I've done this, sung along quietly with Les Mis. I honestly didn't realise it wasn't the done thing or apparently think about the people around me.
I will never do it again! So OP you have changed the behaviour of one person.

Assuming this isn’t a pisstake, respect! People admitting they’re in the wrong on MN are rarer than hen’s teeth.

A bit off topic but once I was given free tickets to watch and girls the musical. I thought it a bit odd that we were surrounded by young girls. After an obvious rape scene and lesbian relationship I twigged they thought it was based on the book by Jaqueline Wilson!

What was more shocking was how few left in the interval but stayed till the end. It was a very clear adult musical and I am guessing there were some interesting conversations in some homes that evening!

Bad girls the musical!

@21Trenchcoated

Beautifully put!

Love trench coats comment!

I find myself instructing kids to “sing it in your head darling” if they are singing along in the car in a wearing manner.

@species5618 We nearly did the magic flute

@BringOnTheScience even the cast of Rocky hate it - you’re meant to shout and join in with the film not stage version, the shouted lines fit with the film. I’ve seen it on stage where cast members have stopped performing and walked off until people stop... Antony Stewart Head was a great one for that.

Morgan Kitten
There are some lines that are expected in the stage show and the cast encourage them, especially during the narration. When it becomes a problem is when people treat it like the film and shout out every single shoutback and sing along to everything.
When I went to the show during this current tour the cast reacted well to the shoutbacks and even commented seeing them after one performance how they were disappointed that there were less than usual. It’s all about balance.

...I'll stick to the opera - audience members wouldn't get away with it there

Maybe not in UK, but I was at a performance of Nabucco at La Scala in Milan a fair few years ago now, and they performend Va, Pensiero - the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves - twice. The first time was for the audience (except me!) to sing along with it, the second time we all sat quietly and listened.

I'd heard about this but didn't quite believe it. Well, it's Italy, La Scala and Verdi; everyone was happy and I didn't miss anything.

I think 'Va, Pensiero' being sung in Italy is a bit different, though, @serenoa -- it has such a particular place within Italian nationalism, and it was being proposed as an alternative national anthem a while back. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that a a conductor conducting Nabucco at one of the big opera houses stopped the performance, gave a speech about cuts to arts budgets and then asked the audience to join in 'Va, pensiero', which may have started a trend.

I think it's a bit more like 'Jerusalem' or 'Rule Britannia' if they were in the middle of one of the mainstay repertoire repertoire.

But I still haven't encountered a general audience sense that belting out 'Vissi d'arte' over Angela Gheorghiu is a thing.

YANBU - went to see Love the Beatles Cirque de Soleil in Vegas a few years ago. The woman next to me sang along to every word while SOBBING. Ruined it completely.