Musicals - do you join in from the stalls?

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

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!!!

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

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!

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)

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.

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.

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.

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 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!

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 !

Maggie

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.

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.

Oh I truly disliked Mama Mia! I am very particular about musicals! I have only seen one Lloyd Webber and that was a touring production of Cats & it did not do anything for me! However i loved the Pajama Game, The Producers, Merrily We Roll Along and other Sondheims. West Side Story however remains my top favourite. I enjoyed Jersey Boys!

Glad you enjoyed it When. I am going to see it next week. I love musicals and always sing along ( to the happy songs!)and I will dance too. I do try to move to the aisle so as not to block the view. I do think singing and dancing makes you happy. I do it at home too!

I watched Mamma Mia on DVD at a friend's. There were three of us, all with our feet propped on the coffee table. Every time there was a song all of our feet were going from left to right at the same time! A utube moment...

I love mama Mia. If. I'm blue I play the DVD. It cheers me up. I saw Evita twice, Joseph once and Cats once. That's my lot!

At the opposite extreme to singing along Ihad an unfortunate experience at Glyndebourbe touring opera recently when the man beside me (other side not DH) nodded off as the overture started and slept through the whole of Act1 getting closer and closer to my shoulder all the time. Maybe I should have sung along and woken him up

We've been to many nostalgia rock-and roll concerts where audience participation was the norm and you could really let your hair down if you had any. You either loved it or hated it, but is was fun to see all the bald heads bobbing up and down like corks in the water - and that was just some of the ladies. Fortunately in the low-lighting you couldn't see much else!

I joined in at Mama Mia (the show) too - it's music for dancing to.
Also seen West Side Story, twice, first when it came to London in the 50s, my favourite of all.
Carmen Jones, but with those, it's more listening to the music, couldn't attempt the dancing.
And the songs for Mary Poppins are very catchy, seen the film many times and had the LP when children were small.

I only went to one musical - Jesus Christ Superstar back in 1979. I didn't get it at all so I never went to see anything like it again. I'm probably missing out on something good. I've been to the opera a few times and - as Soutra wittily pointed out with far more brevity than me - singing along is frowned upon although I've threatened to do it a few times just to scare friends who take it all to seriously.

I don't think I'm the type for singing and dancing along in public, I'm quiet and fairly shy. I think it depends on what sort of person you are. I often sing along to the stereo when I'm driving. I stop when I get to traffic lights in case anyone sees me doing it.

I haven't seen Mama Mia but I'm sure I'd thoroughly enjoy singing along (though I didn't like the film).

I'm a singer, foot tapper, Mexican waver. DH and I will also stand and clap along if others are doing it.

Did anyone read about the mother and daughter who got ejected from an Eagles concert because they were joining in ! It happened recently.

I don't know, I think people singing badly in the isles would put me off.

I went to see Mama Mia at a cinema and despite my thinking OMG this is not for me I loved it. It is unashamedly silly and enjoyable. It's the enthusiasm of it that gets to you.