Singing along at a musical to cause such upset?

[cantbeatfreshsheets]

I went to a musical yesterday with my parents & sister to celebrate my mums birthday. We had a really nice day & this was the last thing we had planned. Arrived a few mins late and got to our seats with no problems.

After about 20 mins in. A catchy song came on. It was Tina Turner. My mum sang along for a couple of times during the chorus. It was hard not too. The whole show was about her being oppressed. Which is exactly how we felt after what happens next.

The lady in front turned around. Looked at my mum & said could you please, then used her hand against her mouth to gesture my mum to zip it 🤐 very passive aggressive.

Mum looked at us as if to say. What the F**
Anyway. She said I'll have to speak to her at the interval. Meanwhile I just thought what a spoilsport?!?! If you can't sing along at a musical what's wrong with the world. It's not like she was singing at the top of her voice???

It resulted with the lady in front going to make a complaint about my mum as mum tapped her on the shoulder and said during the interval How dare you tell me how to behave. My mum ended up going to see the manager herself where the other women was acting like we were trying to victimise her for not being happy against us telling her it was a free country. They said we were aggressive and being unreasonable?!?!

She said. It said on the way in you can't sing. We said. Well we didn't see that notice as we were late. We ended up leaving as my mum was so cross. There was a slight scene. The other woman was behaving like a child in my opinion. Has the world has gone mad.

My sister and I told her that she had spoilt our mums birthday and She was clearly enjoying playing the victim. I think she was probably shocked we confronted her over it.

We left. Were we being unreasonable? Or has the world gone crazy? I'd love to hear you're thoughts.

I consider myself a diplomatic, considered, cultured person

And completely deluded.

Thanks, 47Halleli, exactly what I was going to say.

"You were being very very very unreasonable. And so rude.

I go to a musical to hear the actors sing. Not run of the mill people with terrible voices.

If you went to see a play that you were familiar with, would you recite the speeches along with the actors?".

Quite Clearly we have no etiquette

Well there’s no need to boast about it.

Yabu.

And for starters I think latecomers should wait until the interval.

But singing along was a total breach of etiquette. I want to here the professionals sing not some random in the audience.

I have pretty much stopped going to the theatre now because you get so many people with no idea about appropriate behaviour

Wow some really nasty comments too. I'm happy to take it on the chin. But I guess it's easy to be unpleasant when hiding behind a screen.

To be fair you were unpleasant in person to a woman who made a simple and reasonable request so you can't really expect strangers on a forum to tiptoe around your cultured self and tell you politely that you were rude and entitled.

Purse it was Rocky Horror but same applied last I saw Sweet Charity, Grease, High School Musical, Nina Simone Story, a Scottish Opera Burns production and many more. Sitting in silence in Glasgow doesn't happen at musicals. The attitude is very much if you've paid for a night out with a crowd you get full value by joining in.

You shouldn't be able to hear low level joining in over a decent sound system. No idea how anyone copes at Glastonbury because everyone joins in with the professionals. The tickets to stand about crushed in a muddy field and not able to see the stage are £££££. Most professional pop stars "retire" to West End musicals when they can no longer cut the day job. That said Duncan James made a fantastic Frank N Furter - but he was encouraging joining in.

There was a slight scene. The other woman was behaving like a child in my opinion. Has the world has gone mad

Your mum was asked not to sing. Why did she feel the need to have a go at the woman in the interval? She should have just accepted she shouldn’t sing and that would have been the end of it. Your mum ruined other people’s night out and you all caused a scene. YABVVVU.

I consider myself a diplomatic, considered, cultured person. Quite Clearly we have no etiquette

Clearly.

Op:AIBU
MN:YEP
OP:no. It’s because the woman has a boring job and miserable life.

they think thought the fuss was unnecessary

Presumably referring to the fuss your mum made after being asked not to sing.

YABVU! You and your family completely overreacted. To tap the woman on the shoulder and ask “how dare she tell her how to behave” is so beyond rude and confrontational. She should have said sorry and not done it again instead she made a scene. And the way you have insulted the woman on here just shows how rude you all are.

not read the thread, but, goodness! what an entitled bunch you are!!
YABU

This can't be real! You arrived late, ignored the signs and despite having the signs pointed out to you and speaking to the management at the theatre you still think the other person was right?

Do you often walk out of places when it's pointed out that you are in the wrong? Because most people would simply apologise and stick to the rules.

As someone said on the other thread:

How do you know if it's OK to sing in a theatre?

Because if you can, you'll be up on stage, in costume and make-up and not sitting in row LL of the Stalls.

Yabvu. I go to musicals to hear the professionals sing. Surely you can manage to respect everyone else around you and the performers and keep quiet for 2-3 hours. I would have done the same as this woman and asked your mother to please be quiet.

I consider myself a diplomatic, considered, cultured person.

Well you clearly aren’t.

Quite Clearly we have no etiquette

Correct.

I’m fortunate enough to get to go to the theatre a lot. I’ve NEVER been late for a performance BUT if I were than I would wait for an appropriate break (scene change or interval if necessary) before disturbing people to take my seat. Arriving late for a performance is appallingly bad mannered. It is being rude to your fellow audience members AND the people on stage. I know all words to all the songs of most musicals (and have performed some of them in amateur theatre) but I only sing along when the cast invite the audience to do .... usually the finale or encore. Even if it were Alfie Boe sitting beside me I wouldn’t want him singing along as I want to concentrate on the performance I am there to see.

Jeez, a musical with Tina Turner songs would be bad enough! To have a member of the audience singing along would probably push me over the edge.

Theatre is a communal experience, so yep, your mum was unreasonable.

Many, many years ago I was in the first production of Spend, Spend, Spend. The musical about Viv Nicholson, the 1960s pool's winner.

It was Press Night. We start the saddest, and I think the most beautiful song in the whole show - Who's Gonna Love Me? Her husband's funeral, where young and old Viv sing together. We hear some noise coming from the audience, which get louder and louder. It was Viv herself, weeping loudly and openly. The principals never missed a beat and delivered a stunning performance. It was very moving, I had a tear in my eye. (Even though my stage husband at the funeral was the chap who played her now deceased husband wearing a dodgy wig and hat)

It may have been distracting for the audience members sitting close to her but the whole show was about her so she was kind of entitled to react in that way. Sorry, it's a bit of a long winded way of saying unless your DM is Tina Turner she should not have been singing along.

Don't get me wrong. I bloody love singing but I know I'm not as good at it as I once was so I don't subject other people to it. It can be hard to resist the temptation to join in when it's a brilliant song and you know all the words but try to enjoy the professionals doing their job instead.

At most musicals the audience gets the chance to join in a sing along at the end. Wait for that and belt it out!!

I'm with you OP. I once got sushed simply for belting out my version of Simply The Best. The Tina Turner concert had been sold out so I was actually watching Die Zauberflöte at the Royal Opera, but it still seemed rude.

Your mum saying "how dare you tell me what to do" in response to someone asking (not telling) her to stay quiet in a setting everyone knows you are supposed to be quiet is far more confrontational and over dramatic than you are implying the other woman was being.

If I were in her shoes I probably would have just given a bit of a look or waited until it had gone on a bit longer to ask her to be quiet, but your mum was the one who blew it massively out of proportion.

YABVVU

Your mum was extremely rude and selfish and you both sound aggressive. I genuinely can’t believe you think it’s ok to sing at the Theatre (obviously sing a longs are exemptions).

I would have told your mum to be quiet and complained about you too. I imagine everyone around you were relieved you left.

@AutumnRose1 I'll join you....SELLING PETROLLLL

I love a musical, I wouldn't be happy to hear someone singing along!

OP, what part of ‘people pay to hear the cast sing, not some random in the audience’ don’t you comprehend?

Or do you think football fans should run onto the pitch & try to join in with the game?

I suppose selfish people are selfish because they can't see things from other people's point of view. I always wondered how people could think it's okay to spoil other people's night by talking over plays, singing along with musicals, shrieking at comedies. Its antisocial. It also makes me ragey. It's distracting. It takes you out of the moment. If someone does that behind me I move asap.

@MLMsuperfan 🤣

@howabout I adore Rocky Horror and I'm intrigued now about Duncan Jones playing Frank-N-Furter.

Sorry for the derail there, as you were.

You are being unreasonable in my opinion. We went to see Les Mis a few weeks ago and there were people in front of us who were singing along, waving their hands in the air and acting like they were at a concert of all things. It ruined the performance and I paid a lot for those tickets for my mum's bday.

Think about your actions before you do them.

Yabvvvu. It’s not karaoke. People go to watch musicals, often paying a lot of money. Courtesy alone dictates no one sings along, never mind not seeing a notice because you were late, and probably disrupted everybody as you took your seats

Your whole family spoilt that day for the other woman, you are all horrible in my opinion