Alison Hammond, Dermot O'Leary and their This Morning colleagues have come under fire from scores of people in the theatre industry for 'condoning' and 'encouraging' disruptive behaviour from audiences. And their reaction complaints from disgruntled venues and fans came right before a performance of The Bodyguard had to be scrapped in Manchester due to people in the crowd singing and shouting over the cast.
As they were were joined by regular guests Vanessa Feltz and Nick Ferrari on the ITV daytime show, Alison and Dermot discussed reports of staff at the Palace Theatre, where The Bodyguard is playing, taking action against ticket holders who sing loudly from their seats; despite signs around the venue telling them not to.
As Dermot dismissed the complaints by laughing in his seat, Alison reacted: "I mean, I can't believe it. I'd be devastated; I'm not even going to go to that show now."
READ MORE: The Bodyguard actor slams 'disgusting' audience members as show stopped
Vanessa replied: "Isn't the whole point of a musical that you know, is that you sing along to all the bits that you know and then, when you don't know the words, you just make them up. Isn't that what everybody does?"
The conversation played out on Thursday's This Morning and, after a clip was shared online, actors and theatre staff condemned the hosts' take on the issue.
West End leading lady and star of Come From Away, Alice Fern tweeted: "I have SO much to say about this I don’t even know where to start! This is so incredibly stupid. Who the hell do they think you are?! I am incredibly disappointed with all of the presenters here."
Equally annoyed, Dreamgirls star Nicole Raquel Dennis posted: "Playing Effie White on the UK Tour of Dreamgirls singing and I am telling you for the last 5 mins of act 1, with tears running down my face SO in it, to then hear a drunk audience member or hen party hit the last “ME” before I do is not a vibe. It’s not karaoke"
Both of those tweets came before riot police were called into the Palace Theatre to deal with crowds, after Friday's performance of The Bodyguard was ended early due to audience members singing over the top of the cast.
Sharing a photo of police outside the theatre, Nicole returned to Twitter to add: "Soooooo this is what you lot want right?? @thismorning"
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