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Singalong or keep shtum … what's the etiquette for musicals?

As karaoke versions of musicals take off, we chat to punters at two West End shows – strictly during the interval, of course – to gauge opinion on audience participation

‘It’ll have them singing and dancing in the aisles!” That may be the kind of blurb you’d splash all over a poster for a musical, but it’s not actually what every theatre wants to happen. Back in October, a family left a production of Motown the Musical at Sunderland Empire after being asked to refrain from spiritedly singing along to its Berry Gordy hits. Your thoughts on that probably depend on whether you, too, can’t help belting out a big chorus, or whether your worst nightmare is an off-key hum coming from the seat behind you.

The urge to join in is definitely getting stronger. After the success of singalong cinema events – The Sound of Music, Grease, The Greatest Showman – you can now go to special karaoke versions of hit musicals Six and Waitress, where you can sing along during the show, or get on stage afterwards with live musicians and belt out your favourite tunes.

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