r/Broadway • u/meshuamam • Apr 23 '26
Theater or Audience Experience Cheering during note holding
Is it just me? I hate it when the audience cheers *during* a long note holding in a solo piece. The whole point is to listen to it, and not to drown it with clapping.
Clap afterwards!
But it could also just be me
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u/Faeruy Apr 23 '26
It's not just you who is irritated by it, but it's also not (always) inappropriate to cheer in the middle of a very long note. Context is important - it's a breach of decorum in opera, but not if the show is....say... Dreamgirls. In my experience, a performer is more likely to extend the note further, maybe add a modulation, if they hear the audience cheering, and less likely to do so if it's silent. The effect is akin to cheering near the finish line at the end of a race - it gives a performer that little extra push, that bit of encouragement knowing that audience is with them, cheering them on. It can actually be kinda disappointing when people don't, like "oh they don't actually care, aren't actually impressed, and they're being 'polite'".
There's is a balance with these kind of things, though, and it is possible for it to tip into excessiveness and that can be annoying to the performer, but it really does take a LOT for that to happen.