The scene happened last Friday in Manchester, England, during a performance of The Bodyguard musical. As the show’s female star Melody Thornton began the big hit “I Will Always Love You” a cappella, a viewer on the balcony began singing just as loudly as she did.
Posted at 7:15am
And she did it by distorting happily.
The thing quickly turned sour and took on the appearance of the Wild West. Two women were spotted by staff who had to use force to evict them. A user also wrote on YouTube: “The irony of being expelled by a security guard by watching The Bodyguard! »
When the female viewers resisted, viewers began chanting, “Get out! Out of ! “. A video shows the moment when the women are evacuated. It’s incredible !
Faced with this chaos, the production team decided to end the performance. Later, Melody Thornton recorded a message that was shared on social media, saying she was sorry for the turn of events.
Introduce! You’ve paid anywhere from $65 to $115 to hear professionals sing on stage, and you have two wannabe gong show wannabes ruining your evening.
I wanted to know if we had such problems at the Théâtre St-Denis, where The Bodyguard has also been shown for a few days. Absolutely not, spokesman Kevin Lalancette of Roy & Turner told me, adding that “people can sing as much as they want”.
Were the female viewers in Manchester simply tipsy and did they fall into that category of ‘toxic viewers’, a subject I covered in two chronicles1, 2 last summer? It is unclear.
I also wondered if these women were trying to defy an order from the management of the Palace Theater where the show was taking place. In fact, before the show, the openers displayed signs that read, “Please, please don’t sing along.”
IMAGE FROM A VIDEO
A staff member holds up a placard urging viewers not to sing during the show.
It was also announced that viewers would have the opportunity to sing at the end, but not during the show. During the last number, someone called out, ‘Does that mean we can start singing now? That’s when the chaos started.
Since Friday, several English media outlets, including the BBC, have been questioning whether viewers have the right to sing during a show or not. This question, which is as banal as it is crucial, is all I remember from this affair.
When we wonder when to sing, hum, dance, or clap our hands during a show, it means there is a disturbing loss of orientation, etiquette, good manners, and knowledge of the entertainment world.
For those who need clarification, here are some ground rules.
An artist sings a cappella or accompanied by a single instrument: we don’t sing.
An artist asks us to sing with him: we can sing.
Spectators sit next to us and risk hearing us sing or hum: we don’t sing.
We’re going to see a heavy metal show at Les Foufounes: we can sing and even scream.
It seems clear to me that we have to listen to the reality of the artists who are on stage. This determines the degree of public participation, which ranges from “everyone stands up and clap” to “turn on the cell phone light” to the formation of giant choirs (a practice that is not so familiar to me).
Some will say that this case is purely an isolated case and in no way deserves our attention. However, it has made the rounds in the UK, a sign that it is witnessing an issue that is gaining momentum. English media are now wondering if some viewers have been getting louder (more turbulent) in recent times.
This is proof that this phenomenon does not only exist here.
A report in The Guardian newspaper on Monday reported similar incidents that happened recently at performances of Bat Out of Hell and The Drifters Girl in London and Jersey Boys in Edinburgh. And then there’s this viewer who was banned from the Royal Opera House for life for booing a 12-year-old singer who was part of the cast of Alcina.
In the same report, there were stories of couples having sex during shows, others urinating on their seats. Apparently, cases of bystanders disturbing a whole row while going to the bathroom are a pint now.
A recent survey by the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theater Union (Bectu) found that 90% of venue staff in England have experienced or observed unacceptable behavior from certain viewers. And 70% of them said the situation is worse than before the pandemic.
Following this survey, Bectu launched Anything Doesn’t Go, a campaign to promote a charter for ‘safer cinemas’. We are there!
Exactly 50 years ago this year, Louise Forestier asked herself “Why sing when there is so much to do / Why fool around in front of this beautiful floor”. Indeed, why sing when the fair ground loses the north?