Musicals - do you join in from the stalls?

I love especially the "old" musicals- Oklahoma! South Pacific, The King and, I, My Fair Lady etc etc but of course West Side Story is in a whole class of its own. I don't really rate Lloyd Webber and if you have ever heard the amusing sketch by Kit and The Widow it becomes ckear how so many of his "best" tunes have been lifted from the great classic al composers.

Me too, Penstemmon to your comments re Mamma Mia, West Side Story and Jersey Boys. I enjoy musicals with really good scores and/or an entertaining story line. Cats would be my worst nightmare, and although I do like Abba, half an hour of those silly shrieking women in Mamma Mia had me leaping for the off switch (I've only tried the film). All my friends seem to love it - I would worry about not being a proper woman if it wasn't for the fact that my DDs confessed to detesting it too.

Maggie

If it was billed as a sing along it,s fine to join in. I would not be happy if people joined in otherwise. At the prices they charge I want to hear the proper singers !

I went along to see Sing-along-to-The -Sound -of Music. It was a very funny evening...I was dressed as a brown paper parcel!

I wish the old-time music halls were still going with that fabulous, garrulous chairman (Andrew Sachs?) and all the repartee. Audience dressed up in Victorian garb. Plenty of singing and light-hearted banter, and nudge, nudge wink, wink but no nastiness or bad language. Those were the days!

I would just love to go to a Sing Along to The Sound of Music. Cheesy songs, but I just love them, don't know why. Confused of Southend.

The Good Old Days is still staged twice a year at the beautiful City Varieties in Leeds, paposcar. I keep meaning to book in - perhaps I'll get round to it this Autumn.

Detest it when people stand up, wave their arms and sing along. I do not want to pay for a theatre ticket and then have the cast drowned out by the audience. A few years ago I went to see a Queen tribute act and I feared for my life, the audience were jumping up and down and the dress circle was swaying, never again.

Gosh, if I joined in anything at all I'd get thrown out. Can't sing in tune to save my life.

Mind you, I do love some musicals. Not much American stuff - that's not my style, but I loved Rocky Horror, Hair, JC Super Star, Cats, and I even enjoyed Mama Mia though it was DH who liked Abba more than I. When I was a young lass, a student in Vienna I loved all Operetta because it was so anarchistic - they used to change the words to take the mick out of the government and authority in general. Threepenny Opera was good too (with Mack the Knife)

Not a musical, but many years ago a particularly awful boyfriend too me to watch a film of Moses and Aaron. There were headphones for a simultaneous translation of the this oratorio, i.e. a concert piece not an opera. The man next to me insisting on sing-along with Schoenberg. I swear that evening dragged on for about nine hours!

Status Quo concert at the NEC. Fabulous audience participation and noise, noise noise! All the old ones - songs and people!

I still have happy memories of dancing on stage at the end of Hair! And we used to go to a greek restaurant that was used by the cast after the show. Happy Days!!!

My mum and I went to see a Queen tribute band at the Gaeity Theatre in Douglas and we were sat in the first row balcony. The group started started to sing We Will Rock You - which starts of with only drum beats and foot stamping. Almost the whole balcony (and the one above) started stamping their feet and clapping their hands in time to the beat - I could just imagine the newspaper headlines the next day: hundred killed at rock concert as balconies collapse! Still joined in though