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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Singing along at a musical to cause such upset?

871 replies

cantbeatfreshsheets · 20/11/2019 14:45

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.

OP posts:
RasberryRoyale · 21/11/2019 12:25

As someone who’s just paid £170 for two tickets to Les Mis I would be furious if it was interrupted by someone singing along. OP you and your Mum were incredibly rude!

Oh and as someone who’s been in many a Glasgow Theatre (both on stage and as an audience member) It’s not okay for the audience to turn up up late nor does half the audience join in at a musical. Perhaps it depends on the theatre.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 21/11/2019 12:28

"Them sitting hoaching on their booster seats all through the performance would be far more distracting than anyone singing along."

"Good job that's not what the poster (who was there) said they were doing then. Stop making shit up."

I agree completely, @SoupDragon!

showgirl63 · 21/11/2019 12:32

OP - if you do return to the thread would you be so kind as to list any further theatre trips you and your family have booked? Would really help me plan my bookings....!

Comefromaway · 21/11/2019 12:45

I don't care how quiet you think your 6 year old and their slightly better behaved sibling are. Them sitting hoaching on their booster seats all through the performance would be far more distracting than anyone singing along.

I totally disagree. Besides they wern't hooching the entire performance. It was caused by a defective booster which howabout immediately remedied.

MLMsuperfan · 21/11/2019 13:03

I'm with you OP. I took my mum to the National Portrait Gallery for her birthday, and when she started to sketch her own drawings over the Old Masters the uptight and unreasonable security guards oppressed her. The world really has gone mad.

Breathlessness · 21/11/2019 13:07

Well, I was in the Sistine chapel and this woman...

Throwawayteacher · 21/11/2019 13:23

I feel so sorry for the poor woman in front. I really hope she found this thread and knows she isn't wrong. It sounds as though she had 3 grown women shout at her and tell her she ruined a birthday, would hate her to think she was in the wrong and feel upset thinking about it.

In future, you only sing at Rocky Horror, and even then, only when the actors encourage it!

whitebowls · 21/11/2019 13:24

I once saw a family of around 6 in the front row of dress circle open up their fish and chips in paper and eat.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 21/11/2019 13:30

Cultured - like mould in a petri dish?

Grin
howabout · 21/11/2019 13:32

Soupdragon I was quoting HappyCamper who thinks it's fine to take DC in need of booster seats to full length shows. I don't and would be mightily put out if parent of DC then went on to draw daggers at an adult audience member joining in quietly with the singing.

Suggest you RTFT before mounting your high horse.

OhHereSheIs · 21/11/2019 13:37

@MLMsuperfan that really made me laugh Grin

Years ago I had the misfortune of sitting next to a group of women who started singing along during a performance of Les Mis. Well, I say singing but it was more like screeching. When ‘Master of the House’ started they not only sang but CLAPPED along in time to the music. Cue lots of pissed off people in the row in front turning round and telling them to shush.

SchadenfreudePersonified · 21/11/2019 13:37

DH tried to have a polite word but they didn't speak English and couldn't understand what he was saying.

I'll bet they couldn't! Going to a musical they couldn't understand aa word of? Selective difficulties in translation . . .

mummabubs · 21/11/2019 13:41

Have to agree that it was unreasonable to sing along, and I love going to musicals. (I hope this isn't a reverse as I honestly don't get the point of those!) The only exception I can think of is Rocky Horror Picture Show which has a well-established etiquette of audience participation.

busybarbara · 21/11/2019 13:54

No love, you also disturbed the few rows behind you who couldn't see the show for you walking to your seats and the two people standing

Ooh my god, how could I possibly cope with not being able to see an entertainment show for perhaps fifteen seconds Confused People are way too uptight.

rattusrattus20 · 21/11/2019 14:02

At the risk of both stating the obvious & repeating what's already been said, OP was here being VVVVU.

It's citizenship 101 - your behaviour can impact on others. My freedom to ride a motorbike in circles round my house all night potentially interferes with my neighbours' freedom to have a good night's sleep. In this scenario, a single person's singing likely damaging the enjoyment of dozens of others, it's really a no-brainer, need to zip it.

SoupDragon · 21/11/2019 14:03

Soupdragon I was quoting HappyCamper who thinks it's fine to take DC in need of booster seats to full length shows. I don't and would be mightily put out if parent of DC then went on to draw daggers at an adult audience member joining in quietly with the singing.

I know who you were talking about. That's why I told you to stop making shit up because they weren't "hoaching" on anything. You weren't quoting anyone at all be ause no one said what you claimed.

Suggest you RTFT before mounting your high horse.

Perhaps take your own advice....?

daisypond · 21/11/2019 14:04

They have paid to see the live show. Each second that they can’t see the show you’ve effectively stolen from them. They can’t get that time, or money, back.

SoupDragon · 21/11/2019 14:04

The OP's mother clearly wasn't "joining in quietly" with the singing because she was disturbing the person sitting in front of her.

AFairlyHardAvocado · 21/11/2019 14:08

Eh?! In a theatre with a cast performing a Tina Turner song you are not singing quietly if people in a different row can hear you singing.

Keletubbie · 21/11/2019 14:11

I sing at musicals. I'm sorry. I'll probably never be cast as Jean Valjean.

LaurieMarlow · 21/11/2019 14:13

i sing at musicals. I'm sorry.

Fucking stop it. Thank you.

bellinisurge · 21/11/2019 14:13

@Keletubbie , do it near me and I will tell you to pipe down. Then I'll tell you to shut up. And if that doesn't work I might tell you to shut the fuck up or alert a member of staff to your behaviour. Depending on how polite I feel.

ScreamedAtTheMichelangelo · 21/11/2019 14:16

@Keletubbie Why? Do you not notice that nobody else is doing it and think, hm, maybe this isn't OK? Does nobody ever turn and look at you? I honestly can't get my head around it.

howabout · 21/11/2019 14:17

Soup if your booster seat is deflating and you're swapping with your sister and you're 6 at a full length adult performance the chances of you not hoaching are miniscule, no matter how deluded your DM is.

When I take my DC to the theatre they are at least mostly contained within the seat not perched precariously on a booster.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 21/11/2019 14:17

@Keletubbie - doesn’t it bother you that you are ruining an expensive treat for other people? Assuming you are a grown up who has learned basic good behaviour and manners, I cannot see why you can’t control yourself during live theatre. And if you can’t (or won’t - which seems to be the case), then you should only go to sing-along performances.

You are not a toddler - have a bit of self control.

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