The same day that the “Beetlejuice” musical concluded its limited return to Broadway with a curtain-call sing-along, security guards over at “Mamma Mia!” ejected a group of women who had reportedly treated the first act like a karaoke bar. Video of a man confronting them during intermission went viral, igniting the latest round of heated debate over audience behavior.
People and TMZ ran stories about the Jan. 3 incident casting the man as belligerent, alongside stock images of angry dudes yelling. But thousands of Redditors swiftly rallied behind him, while TikToks in his defense racked up millions of supporters, earning him the affectionate nickname “uncle daddy” (more on that in a moment).
One barely audible plea seemed to seal the women’s fate as the villains of this story: “We were just singing a song,” one of them demurs once security arrives.
Theatergoers flooded online comments with stories about people singing aloud at musicals, which has grown more pervasive in recent years. Some would argue it’s a continuation of the unruly misconduct that made industry headlines as theater returned from pandemic shutdowns.
But it’s also true that many of today’s top-selling musicals feature lyrics that millions of people know by heart: Before both “Wicked” movies, there was “Hamilton” on Disney+ and “The Lion King” on VHS. And you don’t have to be a show geek to recall the words to “Super Trouper” or “Billie Jean” — which is the whole point of jukebox musicals like “Mamma Mia!” and “MJ.”
Encouraging audience enthusiasm while upholding basic theater etiquette has become a tricky balance, but attracting fans itching to sing along is also a badge of popularity. While ushers and front-of-house staff quietly handle disturbances on a nightly basis, some musicals invite singing along during the final bows or at designated performances. The question of if and when it’s okay to pipe up seems to be one of time and place, not to mention the intention behind it — and whether it rises to the level of loud and obnoxious.
“I wouldn’t mind [other people singing along] if they’re not too rambunctious, because they’re enjoying themselves and it’s a whole experience,” said Eileen Dutch, 55, from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, heading into a recent performance of “Wicked.”
Another patron disagreed, but with a caveat. “I’d be a little annoyed, because we paid a lot of money to come see the people onstage,” said Mercedes Cortez, 36, of New York City, echoing a common refrain. “But I get being overcome,” she added. “So if it wasn’t too crazy, I wouldn’t be too upset about it.”
Where people draw the line on what’s “too crazy” may be the animating question of our time, and it very much applies in this case.
“People hear the beginning of ‘Dancing Queen’, and their knee-jerk response is, ‘I’m in the car and I’m listening to ‘Dancing Queen’ so I’m going to sing along,” says Larry Smiglewski, the “Mamma Mia!” production stage manager, who also worked on the Tina Turner and Temptations musicals. “There is a very specific and beautiful relationship that’s created between the performers and the audience — singing along is really starting to detract from that.”
There was more to the “Mamma Mia!” fracas than met the eye: According to Smiglewski, witnesses confirmed to security that the women had been disruptive during the show and used profanity when the man initially asked them to quiet down. The man later posted a video confessional to Instagram and TikTok under the newly minted username “officialuncledaddy,” and said that what had really set him off was one of the women, for whatever reason, “hovering her hands over both of my niece’s heads.” (He did not respond to multiple requests for comment.) The women were ultimately asked to leave.
“He’s sort of like a folk hero,” because he said what others would want to say in a similar situation, notes Derek Kahle, a Manhattan software engineer, who posted the video online. Of audiences singing along, he adds, “You’re not only disrupting people around you, you’re disrupting the performers.” Indeed, Carly Sakolove, one of the leads in the show, commented on the video that she could hear the women from onstage: “Unreal!”
Beth Leavel, who played a stint as Donna in “Mamma Mia!” on Broadway starting in 2009, recalled there was “permission kind of given” for its Abba-loving crowds to vocalize, within reason. “People feel like they can sing along with it because … these songs are the stories of our lives,” Leavel says, noting that participation would not be as welcome during other types of shows. “I don’t want you to sing ‘Here’s to the ladies who lunch’ with me,” she adds of the number from Stephen Sondheim’s “Company.” “Let me do that, you just listen.”
And yet, the energy that audiences bring to a performance is also key, especially for a musical comedy. “Our show desperately needs vocal contribution from the audience,” says Natasha Hodgson, a co-creator and performer in “Operation Mincemeat,” of playing for laughs.
The London import has a dedicated following (known as Mincefluencers), who serenaded the cast outside the first Broadway preview. “But crucially, they don’t do it during the show and we are grateful for that.”
It’s a mark of dedication for fans to memorize the zany World War II musical’s complex lyrics, which Hodgson says she can sometimes see people mouthing along. “It’s both very dear but also can be distracting for someone who is trying to remember the line yourself,” Hodgson says. Feeding off the crowd’s response while staying focused is a kind of a dance, Hodgson adds: “As an actor onstage, you’re aware of what’s going on with the audience. So how much do you ignore and how much do you embrace?”
Over at “MJ,” where the score features some of the most recognizable pop hits of all time, audiences are “energetic and excitable” says Matte Martinez, who stepped into the title role this past September. The show follows Michael Jackson’s planning of the Dangerous World Tour, and the production often has a concert-like feel, so Martinez appreciates the impulse some have to join in.
“If you’re a Michael Jackson fan, it’s a little bit torture because you’re watching this show, but you can’t sing as loudly as you want to,” Martinez says.
“It’s not entirely distracting, it just means that they’re having a good time,” he adds of sometimes hearing people singing along in the first few rows. “It’s definitely encouraged to sit and listen. But if you find yourself singing along to ‘Beat It,’ you know, hey, it’s ‘Beat It.’”
Other musicals built on pop earworms have turned to hosting sing-along performances, including “& Juliet,” which features songs by Swedish hitmaker Max Martin such as “… Baby One More Time” and “Since U Been Gone.”
“If we actually create a sing-along performance, we’ll be giving [fans] something they want, and we’ll hopefully curtail the idea of singing along when it’s not supposed to be happening,” says Eva Price, one of the show’s Broadway producers. The special performances, which were first piloted on the West End, have been held roughly twice a year, around the show’s opening anniversary in November, and in May — a nod to NSYNC’s pronunciation of the final syllable in “It’s Gonna Be Me,” a pivotal joke in the show.
Audiences for these events have been aptly self-selecting, Price adds, and ticket buyers are shown multiple notifications about the sing-along with options to exchange for another time. (“Moulin Rouge” and “Six” have also held sing-alongs on Broadway, though neither seem to have future events planned — and both declined to comment on how they went.)
“The Rocky Horror Show,” opening at Broadway’s Studio 54 in April, may experiment with late-night performances, but representatives for the show said it was too early for the creative team to say how they plan to handle the cult classic’s culture of participation.
“It is really beautiful, if you’re expecting it,” says Justin Collette, who played the title role in “Beetlejuice” and led the closing-night sing-along to the group number “That Beautiful Sound” during curtain call. “It turns [the theater] into a church.”
But how much freedom do people have to worship in their own way? “Vibe and intention is everything,” Collette says. “You can tell when there’s a group of 10-year-olds in the audience who have been singing this song in their parents’ cars for years and they’re joyously getting involved,” Collette adds. “Then there are people that want the attention.”
Other public contexts for group singing suggest its appeal may include a mix of delightful expression and relishing the spotlight. “There is this unbridled joy that occurs when people sing together. It’s a primal thing,” says Franca Vercelloni, a pianist of 20 years at the famed West Village show tunes bar Marie’s Crisis. “For a lot of people, it reminds them of being in choir or in shows when they were in school,” a feeling she notes is harder to find in adulthood.
Still, she says, “Marie’s is the place for them to express their feelings about the music and have that fulfillment, not the theater.”
Or, as Hodgson puts it, “In the Olympics, no one’s getting up and running with Usain Bolt.”
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