Recently in Manchester’s Palace people were greeted with the words ‘Please refrain from singing along’. This absurd instruction stunned everyone because singing along is quite natural in any music show.
On Friday, a person from the audience sang along with the vocals during the climax of ‘I Will Always Love You’, which created a buzz on the internet. Right after that Zoe from Burnley said ‘If people had spoiled it for everyone else, I would have been absolutely devastated’. She also said, ‘I will be singing – but low key’.
She has also tried to clarify the difference between a theatre show and a concert by saying, ‘It’s a musical and you’re there to hear the lyrics, hear the words, emotions, everything…It’s not a gig where you’re standing on chairs and things like that. You’re here to feel the emotions of The Bodyguard, and that’s what I’m here for’.
While watching and listening to a musical show, people tend to sing along but that also should in a certain way, so the singers also don’t get disturbed or offended. That is why Anna from the Hyde in Greater Manchester has said that ‘I don’t see what’s wrong with singing along to some degree’. She has also said ‘But if it’s the rules then you’ve got to follow the rules… When drink’s involved, it can get a bit annoying’.
‘We’ve been to quite a few [shows] and we’ve sung – but not wanting to do a solo or anything like that. You wouldn’t stand up and stand out from the crowd’ said Amanda from Burnley. Alongside Simon said ‘If other people around you are doing it, you just join in, don’t you? There are Tina Turner and Abba musicals where everyone’s singing, so it’s part of it sometimes’.
It is not the first time that singing along becoming a problem. But in the previous venue, the King’s Theatre in Glasgow people experienced the same thing. The Bodyguard is an adaptation of a 1992 movie, which starred Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner. There is a musical version of it too that has Pussycat Doll Melody Thornton featuring many other Whitney Houston famous songs.
It is a very famous piece of art and is loved by worldwide audiences. Therefore in the King’s Theatre in Glasgow, people have stated that ‘the professionals on stage are the only people entertaining us with their performances’.
After that, the host of the show Alison Hammond said she will be ‘devastated’ if she can’t sing along. She has also added ‘I’m not even going to go to that show now’. Venessa Feltz stated ‘Isn’t the whole point of going to a musical that you know, that you sing along to all the bits you know… very, very loudly while eating an ice cream’.
Therefore in this scenario, different people have various opinions and that is what makes the situation even more complicated. But it is not very clear that artists are not really agreeing with audiences singing while they are performing.
