Alison Hammond has apologised for comments she made on This Morning about people singing in theatres after a performance of The Bodyguard at Manchester's Place Theatre had to be cancelled due to disruptive audience members.
On Wednesday’s, April 5 edition of the ITV show, Alison and co-host Dermot O’Leary were joined by guest Vanessa where they discussed the banning of singing at the Manchester production of The Bodyguard musical after a disruption.
After reading rules that asked theatre-goers to ‘refrain from singing’, Alison said: “I can’t believe it. I’d be devastated. I’m not even going to go to that show now.” Vanessa then added: “Isn’t the whole point of going to a musical that you know that you sing along to all the bits you know and when you don’t know the words you just make them up.”
After the clip was posted to social media, both Alison and Vanessa were criticised by several viewers and theatre performers. Theatre actor Alice Fearn, who stars in the musical Wicked, described them both as “so incredibly stupid”.
In response to the criticism, Alison released a statement to social media on Sunday, April 9. It began: “After reflection and the comments I made on Wednesday's show I want to apologise to anyone who I offended, especially the incredibly talented theatre performers, who l have the utmost respect for.
“I had no idea the level of disruption audiences were causing and tried to make light of the topic on Wednesday's show, and for that I'm truly sorry. I am a great supporter of theatre and the arts and would never sing at the top of my lungs at any performance, I was wrong in what I said and I've given this a lot of thought over the past few days and believe I was wrong.
“On Thursday evening I attended a performance of the GBBO The musical which I absolutely loved and gave a standing ovation, theatre is a magical experience for me and my family. I want to use my platform for good as always and want to stand up with the performers, Front of house and theatre staff especially after seeing what happened at The Bodyguard in Manchester which has made me sick to my stomach. Once again I am truly sorry but trust me I will do better in the future.”
Police officers were called to The Bodyguard at the Palace Theatre in Manchester on Friday, April 7 after people claimed their experience was 'completely ruined'. Footage has since emerged from the show, where during a rendition of 'I Will Always Love You', audience members can be heard trying to sing over the cast.
Videos shared online show two women being removed from the packed theatre by security. Greater Manchester Police confirmed the video evidence is now being 'reviewed' before any further decisions are made.
Karl Bradley, who filmed video clips of the chaos, said people were 'screaming' and chanting 'out, out, out' as some audience members sang over the performers. He told the Manchester Evening News the chaos started around half an hour into the first act.
He said: "We got about half an hour in and that was when it first all went black on the stage and everyone was a bit confused as to what was going on. I thought it might be the interval and I was thinking surely not so soon in.
"And then it became apparent once there was an announcement and there was a bit of a kerfuffle in the audience, they said they had to hold the show due to audience disruption."
He said the 'screaming' over I Will Always Love You came from the upper tier in the theatre. "It was like people knew what was going to happen and we're sort of counting down to the woman screaming in the upper stalls", he said.
"Once it happened it was laughed about up top, everyone else was a bit more angry and confused about what was going on.
"The stage then just went black again and that's when it really started to kick off on the higher tier, you could really hear screams and audible gasps. Everyone starting standing up and looking over.
"There was chants of 'out, out, out' to get them gone, then once they'd left it was an awkward silence on stage. Even the actors were looking around to see what was actually happening."
Karl said an announcement was then made to say the show had been halted due to 'audience disruption'. He added that there were 'a lot of signs' around the theatre which advised people not to sing along.
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