HALLIE EPHRON: When the movie WICKED opened, I couldn’t wait to read the reviews. I’d seen the play in New York. Loved it. The staging and singing of "Defying Gravity" makes it one of the most exciting moments I’ve ever witnessed on a stage, right up there with "Rose's Turn" in GYPSY. Or "One Day More" in LES MIS. Or "Why Do We Build the Wall" in HADESTOWN.
Every great musical has a great showstopper. Or several. There are at least two in WICKED. "Defying Gravity," in which Elphaba literally takes off from the stage, is breathtaking. Much lighter but just as memorable is Glinda’s lesson for Elphaba on how to be "Popular."
Some audience members at early screenings of WICKED loved those numbers so much that they sang along. Because, seriously, how can you not?
Reading about that, I was reminded of when I took my granddaughter to see the Broadway production of FROZEN. The audience was full of little girls in sparkly dresses… who were amazingly respectful during Elsa's show-stopping number, "Let It Go," and did not sing along. Though I would have been tempted to join them if they'd given me some cover.
Apparently not everyone in WICKED’s movie theatre audience was enamored of the singalong. But those who run the movie theatres are no dopes. Smelling an opportunity theaters are scheduling special singalong showings while prohibiting the audience from singing along otherwise (though I wonder how they’re enforcing that.)
So where are you, thumbs up or thumbs down on audience singalongs? What are the "showstoppers" that you remember. And is there a showstopping number that you can’t help but sing along with, even if it’s under your breath?
I'm good with singalongs, especially when it's a film like WICKED where so many of the audience members have already seen the show onstage and know all the songs from the production . . . .
ReplyDeleteFavorite showstoppers? "Memory" from CATS . . . "Tomorrow" from ANNIE . . . "If I Were a Rich Man" from FIDDLER ON THE ROOF . . . and the one I can't help but sing along? "The Impossible Dream" from MAN OF LA MANCHA . . . .
Great choices!! Thanks, Joan.
DeleteBesides Joan’s showstoppers, I would add ‘’Dancing Queen’’ from MAMMA MIA. I saw WICKED on Broadway and preferred it to the movie version, part 1, that I saw last week. No one in the movie theatre was singing along, out loud, and no one was policing the people in the movie audience either!
ReplyDeleteThat's so good to hear! Because I want to see the movie of Wicked (loved the play) so it's good to know it holds up. But are you in Canada? Because that can make a difference ("Canada Nice" really is a thing)
DeleteI saw WICKED in the movie theater here in New Jersey . . . no one singing along, but no one policing the audience, either . . . .
DeleteThe good thing about going to American Idiot:The Musical recently was that the band was loud enough to cover my singing every song.
ReplyDeleteDuly noted!
DeleteMy first thought was I would be fine with the audience singing along, but then I thought, if the guy next to me was singing loudly and badly, I would definitely change my mind! One More Day from Les Mis gets me every time.
ReplyDeleteTrue, it depends.
DeleteI'm not too sure. There certainly are moments when it's hard not to sing along, especially when you know all the words and love the tune. Most of my experiences with it have only been when the performer has invited the audience to sing. It is a good idea to give the singers their own showtimes.
ReplyDelete"Oklahoma" in Oklahoma. "76 Trumbones" in Music Man.
There was a movie theater near our daughter which opened its doors for moms and tots every Wednesday morning at 10. Free shows. Kids aren't quiet. Sometimes, the moms aren't quiet either. We took Jude a few times when he was little and it was ideal.
What a brilliant idea - and they're establishing a raft of future moviegoers who will pay to see.
Delete"Climb Every Mountain" from The Sound of Music always got me. "Sunrise, Sunset," from Fiddler on the Roof. Nearly every song from West Side Story. And, echoing Joan, "To Dream the Impossible Dream."
ReplyDeleteElizabeth: I've just pasted in my shortbread recipe in response to your comment to me on yesterday's blog!
DeleteElizabeth, last evening I saw your comment from early yesterday that you had made the sweet potato soup. I am very glad you enjoyed it.
DeleteAmanda, I am excited to try your shortbread recipe.
Judy - enjoy! I have a new Kitchen Aid that I'll use this season; for the last number of years I've made the shortbread by hand in smaller batches and that worked fine. But this year, I'm planning to make a full batch -- more easily! Fingers crossed...
DeleteAmanda, thanks for the recipe. ☺️
DeleteSounds like the scheduled singalongs are the way to go. As Annette said, if the person sitting next to me was enthusiastic but off key, uh, no thanks - let me hear the REAL singers.
ReplyDeleteI'm with others (of my age group) with "Impossible Dream," "Climb Every Mountain," "Oklahoma," and other oldies. I haven't kept up with musicals in a long time, and have never seen one on Broadway. I know that will make some people gasp, but it's true. Maybe one of these years...
This is reminding me of You'll Never Walk Alone from Carousel.
DeleteWe sang that in glee club, Hallie. It's a TOUGH song.
DeleteOh yes! That, too! So uplifting.
DeletePaula B Here: Little digression, Christmas at the Market. The real market alias grocery store. The last couple times I was there, there were customer singing the Christmas songs played on speakers. No groupies, tho I have joined those impromptu twosomes. It was so fun. People caught singing smiled and continued to sing. Smiling and singing. Made the market a more fun experience. How could it not? Even one cutie little guy was in full off-key voice and everyone was happy about it who could hear him.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet story!!!
DeleteI am not in favor of audience members singing along out loud. You pay to see and hear the performers.
ReplyDeleteFor the most part I agree with you. I saw FROZEN on Broadway with my grandkids and was amazed that the audience did not sing along. When I saw RENT years earlier, there were quite a few singalongers--probably people who were seeing it for their ump-teenth time.
DeleteI like scheduled sing-alongs (maybe as an encore?) though in a theatre filled with girls in sparkly dresses, it would be hard to say no. For some reason, the songs from South Pacific have been in my head: "Some Enchanted Evening" and "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair." The Cincinnati Opera is performing Fiddler on the Roof next summer. I'm excited to experience it.
ReplyDeleteOoooh, that will be fun. Sunrise, Sunset...
DeleteI've been to a sing-along show of The Sound of Music and that was fun. I think theatres should have separate showings for those who know and already the music and want to sing along. Like others have said, off-key singing by patrons would seriously annoy me if I wanted to only enjoy the singers on screen.
ReplyDeleteI'll bet that SoM was fun.
DeleteSidenote: I just found out, yesterday, that a friend is a great-niece of Maria Von Trapp! Her daughter, who is married to my best friend's son, has a band and is a fabulous vocal talent, too.
DeleteKaren: Wow! You're just a few degrees removed from the Captain!
DeleteHa, never thought of that before, Amanda! More than six degrees, for sure.
DeleteI have a side note, too - The dark-haired girl with the braid who was one of the younger daughters had the same ballet teacher as I did! We overlapped for a year before I knew who she was.
DeleteEdith, do you mean Angela Cartwright? She later played Danny Thomas's daughter on his sitcom Make Room for Daddy, and she was in Lost in Space.
DeleteNo, the next youngest.
DeleteI'm not one for musicals. However, My Fair lady, the movie anyway since I never saw it performed live, was a different story. I didn't sing along at the theater but back at home I had the soundtrack and sang along and then when we could see it on TV I was singing right along then too. Camelot was another favorite but only a few numbers really moved me: who can forget "If Ever I Would Leave You"?
ReplyDeleteOooh, I love that song, too. Though I've never seen Camelot/the play. Something to remedy.
DeleteHallie, what??? You kinda must. But I cried for about three weeks after I saw the play. (It killed me, the whole story seemed so unfair, and I remember I couldn't figure out who to blame for what happened. I was maybe--15, could that be? Certainly in the early 1960s. In Chicago, with Richard Burton, Julie Andrews and Robert Goulet. And Roddy MacDowell, if I remember as Mordred. )
DeleteI felt the same about Camelot. Good people all destroyed through no fault of their own
DeleteYes, exactly, Rhys!
DeleteI'm glad they not only are having sanctioned sing-alongs but have included the lyrics at the bottom of the screen. I saw that on a TV commercial. It's a smart business decision and will keep Wicked in theaters longer.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, we're going to a mid-morning Dolby matinee with the assumption that the singalong crowd likes to sleep in. Because it's the Dolby screening, I'm hoping no one sings along, but I'll just consider it part of the event if they do. Like the time we went to a Dr. Who movie when audience members showed up in cosplay.
I wonder how many of the audience show up for Wicked in green skin. Rorschach: Which character would you come dressed as, Elphaba or Galinda?
DeleteI've been redoing my nails with OPI's iridescent green Ozitively Elphaba polish for about six weeks now. Frankly, I bought ALL the dark Elphaba colors, including a sparkly maroon called Let's Rejoicify. I figured that'd be good for Christmas--except I'm waay too fond of the green. :) Maybe the red for February and Valentine's Day.
DeleteThis morning, a little girl all decked out like Galinda/Glinda in a pink dress, tiara, and a wand was seated with her mom in our row. I thought about commenting on her outfit while waggling my green fingers at while they left--except I was too busy crying. ::shrug::
BTW, even my hubs who used to hate musicals really got into Wicked. The sets, the music, the action. Move over, Hogwarts, there's a new magical school in the movies.
I prefer the idea of planned sing-alongs. I went to a Sound of Music sing-along and had a great time. If I'm tempted to join in during a regular showing, I mouth the words with feeling. I love music, but my voice isn't great. I thought of Who Will Buy from Oliver! and on a different note, Every Sperm is Sacred from Monty Python's The Meaning of Life.
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha!!
DeleteNot that I will ever see the Wicked movie, but if I did pay money to see it, the people in the theater better shut the hell up. I didn't pay to hear them sing. If I'm paying to hear someone sing, they better be in a hard rock or heavy metal band that I like.
ReplyDeleteA planned singalong showing is one thing, I'd never go to that anyway. But watching a movie, even a movie musical, it better be Glinda or Elphaba singing and not some twit who can't shut up 3 seats down from me.
I am cracking up so much right now!
DeleteI agree but I'm not sure I'd have put it quite that way.
DeleteFrom Celia: oh dear I list my comment. Much as I love to sing along I will vote for singing under my breath in public though I have been known to quietly join in on Hallelujah at the Messiah, my bad. But musicals - my first was My Fair Lady and I could have sung all night. Or The sun will come up tomorrow, Don't Cry for me Argentina or the opening number in the Lion King. Just looking back on so much gorgeous music in my life. But I also grew up on Gilbert and Sullivan's operas, so very English and can singalong to I've Got a Little List or When I was a Boy I Served my Term which brings great memories of my grandfather singing and humming the lines as he went about his day adding lines from psalms and Music Hall ditties too.
ReplyDeleteA therapist reminded me to sing, she said it was good for my vagus? nerve. I do miss choir. I shall have to find some opportunities as singing does feed my soul.
One of our friends was a concert/cathedral organist. He invited us (tickets only, please) to the annual Christmas concert held in the Church of St Andrew and St Paul in Montreal. He told us that some carols were to be listened to and not sung, and for some we were invited to join in on the chorus - Oh Come all Ye Faithful, for example. The finale was the Hallelujah chorus, and it was a belter. The audience was broken up in many groups - left, right; men, women; sopranos, the rest; and then everyone for the finale, while the organ to quote: blew the je*us-roof off. It was breathtaking and breathless, and never to be forgotten!
DeleteMy Fair Lady was my first movie musical, when my grandmother took me to see it when I was maybe six. We both wore white gloves to the movie theater, so you know how long ago that was! I can sing every word, all parts, but I will only do that if no one else is in the house while I watch! But maybe we could watch, and sing, together, Celia.
DeleteOh gosh, if I go to see the Messiah I truly do not want to hear audience around me singing. A choir is sacrosanct imhop. Unless we're invited to singalong.
DeleteI lip sync the Hallelujah Chorus, I cannot help it. And Alle Menschen werden Bruder, come ON, gotta sing. (If you lip sync, you can do all the parts.)
DeleteI love to sing along, but I wouldn't want to be the twit 3 seats down from Jay:)
ReplyDeleteThank you for your consideration Lucy! :D
DeleteNo singing in the theater/movie – this moment is for everyone’s enjoyment.
ReplyDeleteHowever in this same vein, comes an etiquette question (much as this one is)…
I have been at several funerals lately, all of which were held in a designated room in the funeral parlour, where the music was records, cds or spotify. All the chosen music was either spiritual (Amazing Grace) or more likely contemporary (Sunday Morning Coming Down (Kris Kristofferson), and in one You are the Sunshine of My Life and another Out on the Mira. All these choices were favourites of the deceased. In some we were invited to join in, and in some, nothing was said. Since it is a tribute and part of the funeral, should we be joining in or just sitting/standing uncomfortably like a toad.? Having been brought up Anglican, where the congregation always sings together other than for an anthem, it goes against my grain not to join in. Should I have been a guest at the Queen’s funeral, it would have been expected to sing – even the family mourners do.
Now, in today’s social circles, I just don’t know.
As for most of those glorious songs from Broadway – let the trained singers and musicians give you the music to wrap you in their cocoon. That is why they have comfy seats and it is dark – to whisk you away.
Such a thoughtful question... I personally would not fault you for singing along to music played at a funeral.
DeleteInteresting comments this morning!
ReplyDeleteThe way I feel about people randomly singing along with a movie/theater score is the way I feel about other audience members talking throughout a live speech: you paid to be here, and you're having a conversation? Or otherwise not paying attention to what you paid to see or hear? That makes no sense to me, especially since *I* didn't pay to hear sidechat or bad singing. An intentional singalong show sounds perfect for people like me, because I would avoid that performance.
It seems that being able to watch anything you want on demand in your own home has eroded manners. Maybe I sound prissy here, but I'm not a fan. Jay and I are on the same page here.
There are two movies I know of that intentionally invite audience participation: Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Jesus Christ Superstar. I've not been to Rocky Horror, but was amazed at how involved the audience got for JCS. Luckily, I was with someone who had been to many screenings of that epic, but once was enough. My cousin's son was an MC for Rocky Horror for awhile, and he kept trying to get me to go, but it sounded too crazy for me, especially since it doesn't start until midnight! Some fans go every week, and actually travel around to other RH showings. Now I guess we can add Wicked: Part I.
Can we add unwrapping candies during a performance?
DeleteBut anyone who's ever taken a 5-year-old to a live (age appropriate) performance knows they can be irrepressibly enthusiastic and bubbling with questions.
Absolutely! I took my then-five-year old daughter to a matinee of the Cincinnati Ballet's Nutcracker. During the quiet prelude she piped up, in her very loudest voice, "Well, THIS is boring."
DeleteHA HA HA! A girl after my own heart.
DeleteBecause the opening IS boring, and continues to be so until the mice come on.
DeleteJust before I got my cochlear implants, I remember a friend took her young daughter to a Sing A Long for ? Sound of Music ? Or “Mary Poppins”. I loved going to see the Nutcracker Ballet when I was a child, though I do not remember doing any “sing a long”.
ReplyDeleteOnly time I would dare to do a singalong was if I was at home watching a musical or a variety show on TV. At that time I had a “speech therapist “ who had NO idea what they were doing! Out of 12 speech therapists I’ve had in my entire life, I only had TWO who knew what they were doing and they knew how to work with my type of hearing loss (before age 2 at profound loss level). First speech therapist (from age 2-4) then the last speech therapist for 14 years post cochlear implants.
Hearing aids gave me “white noise”. Even if I had cochlear implants, I still would have needed speech therapists who knew how to do their jobs!
When I was a child, I remember when the National Theater of the Deaf (founded by Deaf actors, encouraged by Anne Bancroft to start a deaf acting company) came to our area, they had children’s songs and we deaf children would do a “sing along” in Sign Language.
OMG that must have been fantastic, Diana.
DeleteA number of years ago, I went for dinner to a local hotel. They featured a cabaret style dinner performance. The singers walked around the room singing music from various well known Broadway shows.
ReplyDeleteI knew virtually all the songs and couldn’t help singing along, but not loud enough for people at other tables to hear me. One of the singers noticed my ‘familiarity’ with the songs and the group came over, pleased that I knew the music and was obviously enjoying their performance. She asked me about the fact that I knew all songs. I mentioned that it was my birthday and the singer I spoke to offered to sing a song for me. It was Summertime from Porgy and Bess. She had a beautiful voice and it was one of the best renditions I ever heard.
You're reminding me I saw Audra McDonald playing Bess. O M G!
DeleteI watch a livestream service from a synagogue in New York every Friday night. They incorporate music into the service and have a wonderful group of musicians.
ReplyDeleteThe senior rabbi had been a cantor before she became a rabbi and during the service she often encourages the congregation to participate in singing verses of some of music.
We saw Wicked (the movie) on Thanksgiving Day and, happily, no one in the audience sang aloud. (Side note: I have seen Wicked onstage three times and, obviously, love it. The movie version is fantastic. The two leads are both excellent and the cinematic effects flesh out - in a good way - what couldn’t be done in the stage version.)
ReplyDeleteWe went to see Spamalot in a touring production years ago. Both my husband and I had seen the film on which it was based, but weren’t the biggest fans. (It took having a son who loved it to get us to come around and appreciate it.) At the theater, everyone in the audience seemed to know every line of dialogue and of the songs and spoke or sang them along with the stage performers. It was SO annoying! Years later we saw a local production - where the audience behaved themselves - and enjoyed it much more.
I agree that if it’s advertised as a sing-along showing, have at it. Otherwise, respect your neighbors who paid to see - and hear - the professionals sing.
(Sorry, Hallie, there are too many showstoppers for me to list. Everyone here has already done a great job.). — Pat S
Thanks, Pat - I really do need to get myself to the movie theatre and see WICKED.
DeleteOh, this is great--I am singing along with you all! Don't Cry For Me Argentina, certainly, but One Day More, cannot beat that. Oh, except for Wait for Me, from Hadestown, and oh, I always sing A weekend in the Country from A LIttle Night Music. (I do all the parts :-) ) What else? I adore Not Getting Married, from Company, and Some Enchanted Evening, in my best Rossano Brazzi. Or Ezio Pinza. OH! How about the Quartet from West SIde Story? Where everyone sings their own meaningful version of tonight? (ooh no, Anita no..you should know better..)
ReplyDeleteAnd Celia, we need to have a Gilbert and SUllivan singalong. LOVE. (I polished up the handle so care-ful-lee that now I am the ruler of the King's Nay-vee..)
And finally, well, my life was entirely changed by Defying Gravity , years ago, and when we have more time we'll talk.
SInging in the theater? Nope nope nope. Lip sync all you want, though.
How could I forget He Had It Coming, from Chicago? ANd They Both reached for the Gun? HA! Fantastic. And Zip from Pal Joey.
ReplyDeleteI don’t have a problem with people singing along. I think it’s a sign that the audience was impressed with the play or movie. I especially loved it at the end of the movie version of Jersey Boys! I think everyone in the theater who was over sixty was singing along!
ReplyDeleteDebRo
Singalong is fine IF it's one of designated showings for it. Otherwise, hard no! Don't want your out of tune voice competing with the soundtrack in my ears. That's just rude 🙄
ReplyDeleteI think it's grand that people want to sing along. But I also think that should be as part of a designated singalong. I can't carry a tune in a bucket and I would not inflict that on others.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember the first musical I saw. Sad but true. But I love Evita and Chicago and Les Miz. One Day More is glorious. And Can You Hear the People Sing? Wow. The one that really gets to me is Drink With Me, when the students are reminiscing before the big battle. It reminds me of what my son said when he was in Iraq for the war. They were in their tracks, waiting out a sandstorm, expecting to find themselves surrounded when it cleared. They were talking to each other on their radios, keeping up spirits. Gives me the shivers.
As I am most put out when people around me talk during movies, you would think that I would be against a sing-a-long, but I'm not. There is a power greater than consideration for others that takes over during certain songs in certain movies. And, then, there are the great concerts, like Elton John, where my son Kevin, daughter Ashley, and I sang along with so many others because there was just no fighting the urge to do so. Whenever Kevin and I watched Moulin Rouge together, one of our favorites, there were so many songs we sang along with, such as Come What May and Your Song. Of course, I sing all the time. I make up songs about what I'm doing. I sing in the grocery store, very low volume, but I suppose there are people who think me odd. Well, they would be right, but that doesn't concern me. Truly, if you are upset that people sing along in the movie theater, listen to the sound track on your way home. I say that, but I suppose it is nice to have the designated sing-a-long showings and the ones that aren't.
ReplyDeleteWTAFP
ReplyDeleteSorry, I got ahead of myself. This is a toughone. A few that I remember as memorable (whether sing-a-long or not) include Don't Cry for Me Argentina (Evita); Try to Remember (from the Fantastick!) and another one from The Music Man, in addition to 76 Trombones (mentioned previously) as Till There Was You, which has another significant footnote in history as a song having been covered by a group of young singers from Liverpool known as the Beatles, which apparently (according to lore) was actually instrumental in their securing their first recording contract, and as they say, the rest is history.
ReplyDelete