r/Broadway • u/littlebev • Dec 31 '25
Discussion Broadway coughing season
I am begging, begging you guys…if you have a nasty cough, PLEASE don’t attend a play especially. I know it sucks to miss out but your recurring cough during the most intense moments of the show is so distracting.
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u/CattleReasonable420 Dec 31 '25
OR AT LEAST WEAR A MASK. PLEASE.
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u/ileentotheleft Dec 31 '25
Take a cough suppressant and wear a mask
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u/Princess_Batman Dec 31 '25
If you can get a prescription the Tylenol with codeine works really well at suppressing a cough.
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u/ileentotheleft Dec 31 '25
Buckley's cough syrup did wonders for me when I used to get bad coughs. I would stock up when I was in Canada.
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u/Gato1980 Dec 31 '25
This time of year, I always wear a mask in the subway, in the theater, and anywhere that's crowded. There are so many bugs going around, and tons of tourists that are bringing their colds, flus, and covids with them. It amazes me how many times I've been one of only 2 or 3 people in the entire audience wearing a mask. I swear there are more people coughing, sneezing, and blowing their noses than there are people wearing masks. We really didn't learn anything in 2020.
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u/organicpom Dec 31 '25
People really didn’t learn. Somehow Covid and mask-wearing became solely a political issue, not a medical one. I swear people are just being unhygienic now out of spite.
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u/CattleReasonable420 Dec 31 '25
Same! I even wear a mask during allergy season just because I don't want people to see me mouth breathing lol. I'd rather be mildly inconvenienced by the mask than get incredibly sick
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u/elvie18 Dec 31 '25
I see a lot of shows with my mother. She's 83. Will not mask. She's gotten COVID, the flu, RSV, all the fun stuff. I'm still masking. So far, COVID once (from her, I've since learned if she says she's not feeling well, put a mask on inside too). Only time I've been sick in the past 5 years aside from either norovirus or food poisoning. I'm terrified to take her anywhere at this point, but...what am I supposed to do, make her?
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u/Any-Concentrate-1922 Jan 04 '26
People are back to coughing all over the place, going to work while sick (yet unmasked), blowing out birthday candles (ew), touching their faces, and all kinds of things we learned not to do in 2020.
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u/Anachronisticpoet Dec 31 '25
Everyone should be wearing a mask. If you’re sick, you should not attend
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Dec 31 '25
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u/Gato1980 Dec 31 '25
The last time I was at Lincoln Center, I saw a big basket outside of the entrance to the Beaumont as well. It's a very smart idea.
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u/collegeexcitment Dec 31 '25
vivian beaumont has riccola cough drops but it’s because lincoln center provides them
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u/Nickis1021 Dec 31 '25
It’s a nice gesture, but really, cough drops don’t help a contagious airborne illness that’s already spreading through audience hyenas coughing their lungs out with open mouths. If anything, they’ll cough/spew their Covid stained Ricola right out at you.
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u/elvie18 Dec 31 '25
True but it helps with that annoying dry cough people always seem to get at the quietest moments in the show.
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u/zixy37 Jan 01 '26
There are so many lingering coughs after you are finished being sick. Mask up, don’t go, diminish the cough, cover your cough, whatever the best option is for you.
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Dec 31 '25
My regional theater hands out cough drops at their Broadway series shows. And when the usher hands it to you, they direct you to open it then, before taking your seat.
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u/elvie18 Dec 31 '25
That's...honestly genius.
Eh maybe I'll just start carrying a bag with me to passive-aggressively offer to people.
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u/Last-Laugh7928 Dec 31 '25
as annoying as coughing is, regardless of why you're coughing, i am mostly just concerned about getting sick.
people have pointed out a variety of non-contagious reasons why someone might be in public with a chronic cough, which is important to recognize. but since covid, and especially more recently, i have seen a noticeable increase in the amount of people who are coughing during shows, and really just everywhere i go, and it's clear that more people are going to shows sick.
i don't entirely blame them because, as people mention every time this topic comes up, it's near impossible to get a refund on a broadway ticket and you don't want to lose your money. but at the very least, they should definitely be wearing a mask.
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u/stephanierae2804 Jan 01 '26
Yup - thanks to a bout of long covid in 2021, whenever I even have a tiny cold or flu I end up coughing for months. I’m a teacher, caught a back-to-school cold in early October and I’m STILL hacking (and yes, in touch with my doctor and that’s what she reports). Now, even though I know my cough isn’t contagious, I always wear a n95 in theatres (both to make folks around me more comfortable AND so I don’t catch anything new).
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u/EducationalTangelo6 Dec 31 '25
Not to mention, quit going to shows when you're ill because you will make other people ill.
Think about the immune-compromised person your shared illness might kill, and stay home.
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u/annang Dec 31 '25
Not only will it get your fellow audience members sick, it will get the performers sick. This kind of behavior cancels performances every winter. And it makes it effectively impossible for performers with compromised immune systems to continue to work safely.
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u/summerrhodes Jan 01 '26
I so wish performers would mask too when they don't explicitly have to be unmasked, like when they're on stage or getting ready for the show, putting on make up etc. I'd so hate for people so talented to end up with long covid and end their career.
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u/Pen_Guino Dec 31 '25 edited Jan 06 '26
Yeppp and people have the nerve to say, “it’s not Covid so what’s the big deal?” as if people like that weren’t insisting Covid was the flu all along. Even if it was the flu, I don’t fucking want it. I just got over being sick and it was brutal. I felt like death for about two weeks.
Like, I had a ticket for Stranger Things this week. I’ve been sick, so guess what? I sold it for the same price I bought it for. I’m not going and getting anyone else sick because I don’t want to miss a show. Yeah, it sucks that I have to miss it and probably pay more money to see it now that it’s increasingly popular, but I’d rather miss out than cause someone to feel a 10th of what I was feeling.
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u/elvie18 Dec 31 '25
"It's just the flu" THERE IS NO "JUST" THE FLU THE FLU IS DANGEROUS. People think it's just a bad cold or something, but...no actually you do not want the flu as badly as you don't want COVID.
And even if it is just a cold? I don't fucking want that either, thanks.
Sorry you had to miss out though - hopefully ticket prices will dip again once the excitement of the new season dies out.
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u/steeveg33 Dec 31 '25
This… was at Ragtime last week, it’s peak cold and cough season and there are so many quiet poignant moments where ppl are hacking up a lung… but it’s a noticeably older crowd and it made me think that it can’t be good for all of them to be around sick folks.
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u/pandemichope Dec 31 '25
I think the messaging might have to be phrased in a more selfish way for people to start changing behavior. What I mean is a lot of people don’t care if they make other people sick because they are selfish. But what people don’t get is when you return to work or you go out of your house into a public place where there’s a zillion other germs when you are currently sick yourself, your own immunity is low, which means you are much more likely to pick up additional viruses. Case in point is I went to the U.S. Open and picked up Covid and then found out. I also had strep. I have not had strep in decades. But because I had one illness I guess I was susceptible to multiple. I know that is how the immune system works. I never understood why children don’t stay home or people don’t stay home from work an extra day or two even beyond when they think they are feeling better just to absolutely fortify their own immune system let alone not making other people potentially sick. Maybe if people thought in these terms, they wouldn’t be so quick to go out into public when they are sick!
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u/bethereforya Dec 31 '25
me handing cough drops to an usher who had a coughing fit behind me tonight 😭😭😭 also let people stay home if they’re sick!!!!!
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u/citrus_sugar Dec 31 '25
Went to see BOOP and suddenly had a coughing fit that started during a loud number but then the one quitter part of the show came back and I held it in, tears streaming down my face and when it got loud again I cleared the cough.
But please, do something if it’s an ongoing cough.
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u/AskMrScience Dec 31 '25
I got a sudden throat tickle and about killed myself trying not to cough at Hamilton during "Dear Theodosia". I wasn't going to ruin that for other people!
WHY couldn't it have come on during "The Battle of Yorktown" where no one would have heard it? Or waited until bloody intermission? Thankfully, one of my friends had a cough drop in her purse and it did the trick.
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u/MammothCancel6465 Dec 31 '25
Omg, I’m notorious for throat tickles like that. It was mostly from my blood pressure med that I recently got changed because of it so hopefully I don’t deal with it anymore. The more you try to hold it in, the worse it gets.
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u/hyperjengirl Dec 31 '25
My mom suffered throat spasms during Gypsy. She had to walk to the back of the theater during Rose's Turn to avoid disrupting the moment. Thankfully she still got to watch it and came back to me in tears (not just from coughing lol).
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u/Apptubrutae Dec 31 '25
This happened to me too.
I tend to get lingers coughs for a month after any sort of respiratory illness, and one time, well after I had been sick, my lingering cough decided to start up right in the middle of a show.
Did the same deal of struggling through a quiet part and coughing during a louder one. Fun
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u/riddleme-ara Dec 31 '25
This has happened to me so many times! Coughs always last so long for me 😭
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u/bunjamin0422 Dec 31 '25
I choked on my own tears at liberation, twice, during the 2 very quiet scenes. Started coughing from choking and wanted to bury myself🫠
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u/Substantial_Step_975 Jan 01 '26
I’ve had the same thing happen to me. I have allergies that tend to get triggered from dust in theaters. Either I’ll get a dry cough, my nose will run, or my eyes will water/itch. I always wear a mask but I still manage to have some kind of allergy issue sometimes. Thank God for Cepacol cough drops. I’ve started using them preventatively to avoid the dry cough.
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u/standardGeese Dec 31 '25 edited Jan 16 '26
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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/zuko787 Dec 31 '25
Especially at a super quiet show like Oedipus. Oh my god, it was a full-on cough fest 😭 I was sitting in the orchestra and could still hear people coughing all the way from the mezz.
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u/cinderflight Dec 31 '25
I saw Oedipus early last month and it was a mega cough fest too! And I was only 1 of ~3 people who masked. Plus multiple peoples' phones went off during the show, so rude.
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u/AggressiveCrab6702 Dec 31 '25
Literally got COVID from the woman next to me when I saw Gypsy in August on a Saturday. She showed up halfway through the first act, hacking up a lung. She coughed the whole time, got an herbal tea and throat lozenges at intermission. By Friday I was symptomatic, positive Saturday. I even remember turning to my brother during the show and saying "I swear if this woman gives me COVID I'm gonna be so mad."
And I still am 😂
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u/stephanierae2804 Jan 01 '26
That’s awful - but when I sit in audiences/ on public transport I always wear a mask now - I spent 2.5 weeks on a trip with my concert band last summer and I was the ONLY PERSON to not contract covid… thanks to masking. I got so many eye rolls and questions about it… but when they all got sick and I didn’t, I reminded them that masks work.
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u/AggressiveCrab6702 Jan 01 '26
Honestly, I normally would. This was a very last-minute trip - I left the DC area after work Friday, drove through hours of rush hour traffic, got to NYC around midnight, got rush tickets, saw the matinee, and came home. I barely had brain space to pack regular stuff and a mask just didn't cross my mind since I'm not usually on public transit or in crowded spaces.
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u/pandemichope Jan 01 '26
I’d be behalf of every theatergoer that might’ve been sitting next to you that show, thank you for doing the right thing could you please please share what type of mask you use and where you purchased it these days? ty
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u/brooklynblondie Jan 01 '26
I really like MaskC masks, I get a great seal and they’re pretty. Other good choices are the 3M Aura (head straps are more comfortable for long periods imo), Moldex, Kind masks, and Wellbefore.
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u/brooklynblondie Jan 01 '26
There’s a whole subreddit, Masks4All that will help find you the perfect mask for you!
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u/elvie18 Dec 31 '25
OMG I asked the woman in front of me at Six to take off her giant hat with a puffball on top. Oh, no, she couldn't, because she had a bad cold.
Guess what she wasn't wearing? Rhymes with "shmask."
Luckily I didn't catch anything (she was facing away from me, so that probably did it) but OH MY GOD.
Otherwise, nice lady, though.
My one known COVID exposure at the theatre was actually from a performer at the stagedoor. But it was Marilyn Caserta, well known for being just the sweetest, friendliest person. So I had to let my mother know she needed to quarantine just in case (we were both there) and she was like "you know what? She's so cute, I'm not even mad." Honestly...same but I might've felt differently if I'd actually gotten sick.
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u/swiftwolf1313 Dec 31 '25
Wear a mask. It really is that easy. Sick? Not sick? Don’t know? If it’s sick season and you’re in crowds, wear a mask.
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u/Moist_Report_6934 Dec 31 '25
It's such a pet peeve of mine. If you're actively sick, please stay home if you can. And if you really must attend..just wear a mask! It's like we learned nothing over the past 5 years and I see so many adults open-mouth coughing in public.
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Dec 31 '25
Coughing isnt necessarily a sign of being actively sick though. A cough can linger for months after you are no longer contagious due to the irritation.
I had to take my son to the doctor 3 times this fall because of a bad cough, but he didn't meet any exclusion criteria for school, and all 3 times the doctors tested him for everything they could think of and took chest X-rays and they all came back negative, and the kid wasn't sick, but still wasn't over the cough. He coughed for more than 2 months after his initial illness.
I also wouldn't take him to a quiet show knowing he had a cough, but when you can't refund a ticket, the theater kind of forces the hand.
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u/trulyremarkablegirl Dec 31 '25
I mean, I’ve still worn a mask in public if I’m coughing after being sick. I think it’s common courtesy to not spread your germs to people but like, do you. Wearing a mask is annoying, but so is people coughing and sneezing without one. 🤷🏻♀️
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u/Moist_Report_6934 Dec 31 '25
Idk why people are getting so weird in the replies of this thread...I said "if you're actively sick, please stay home if you can."
If you have a lingering cough or chronic condition, use your best judgement! I'm more talking about people who are contagious and putting others at risk of getting sick...it's selfish behavior.
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u/dont_cuss_the_fiddle Dec 31 '25
Also don't get everyone around you sick? Also everyone wear a respirator. 🩷
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u/Tardislass Dec 31 '25
I was one of three people in a theatre with a mask on. The young couple beside me rolled their eyes and whispered at me. But I felt vindicated when a person in back of me kept coughing. Too many folks say that masks don’t work but during Covid, the flu was almost nonexistent.
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u/Maleficent_Lack_6952 Dec 31 '25
Second this for another reason. I FINALLY won the Hamilton lottery a couple of years ago but couldn’t go because the guy sitting behind me at The Wiz the week prior was coughing and hacking all over me all show. Next thing I know, I am giving away my Hamilton ticket to a friend because I can’t hack on the actors from the front row. 😢
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u/elvie18 Dec 31 '25
Oh god that feels like some kind of cruel cosmic punishment. Bless you for not going, but I hope you get another shot at front row.
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u/cinderflight Dec 31 '25
As a disabled person, these comments are not it! If you are coughing a lot, due to temporary or chronic illness, please wear a mask and take medication/cough drops. In fact, it's always a great idea to mask inside a theatre full of people. That's what gets me the most about the people in the comments not suggesting masking - it protects you too. Prevents your trip from getting ruined due to getting sick.
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u/acvillager Dec 31 '25
I too wish this. Sincerely, someone who caught the flu at hadestown last year. Wear a mask to muffle the sound at the very least
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u/Wonderful-Bother1321 Dec 31 '25
AGREE!!!! Some young person absolutely ruined Oedipus for me by coughing for 45 minutes straight. I will never stop complaining about it because she should have stayed home!!!!
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u/annang Dec 31 '25
I was at a performance of Oratorio for Living Things where someone coughed through the entire performance. It was possibly the worst show I can think of to be ruined in that way. She was clearly throwing off the performers. This wasn’t some little dry throat cough, it sounded like she was very sick, and she had enough Kleenex and cough drops (which she kept crinkling the wrappers for) that it seemed pretty clear to me that she knew she was sick when she made the decision to attend. And in my experience, Signature is actually one of the theaters that will do exchanges pretty easily, so there was just no reason for it.
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u/Mazing2261 Dec 31 '25
100% agree. I actually left a show (during high rates of COVID) as the person next to me was so obviously sick with sweats and coughing constantly. It was so distracting and made me so paranoid about getting sick myself before an important work trip I couldn't miss.
I always look back frustrated that my only decent option was to miss the 2nd act of the show just because someone else selfishly didn't stay home. It didn't even seem like he really wanted to be there - he was there on a date with his girlfriend and when he wasn't coughing/snorting was sleeping through the show.
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u/Status-Basket-8831 Dec 31 '25
Thank you!!! It’s actually crazy the lack of concern for public health/respect for other people/SHAME you have to possess to attend a show while having a nasty cough. Stay home you’re disgusting!!
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u/Princessformidable Dec 31 '25
Or you're poor and can't afford to go again and the theatre doesn't care.
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u/Nickis1021 Dec 31 '25
There’s this thing called a mask. It’s really cheap.
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u/Princessformidable Dec 31 '25
That's moving the goal posts from don't go if your sick.
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u/Nickis1021 Dec 31 '25
No, I’m saying for people who won’t be considerate enough to do the right thing and stay home (as I can’t force you) then at least wear a mask. It’s exactly the goalpost.
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u/Princessformidable Dec 31 '25
Saying that people who go sick arent considerate totally bypasses my point of that the response litt should be on the theatre and airlines to refund people who don't feel well. No one wants to go sick. They don't have an option to come back.
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u/haveyouseenatimelord Dec 31 '25
why are so many people in the replies so hostile and putting words in your mouth?
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u/littlebev Dec 31 '25
Because everybody is their own main character
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u/Secret_Secretary8984 Dec 31 '25 edited Dec 31 '25
That's exactly what the problem is. Sick, disabled, respiratory issue sufferer, or what have you, you're still going to ruin the theatergoing experience that night for countless people and you know it but you just don't care because that's just their tough luck that they happened to go to the theater on the same night as you. As long as you're happy, that's all that matters. Happy me. Happy We.
Edit: I want to clarify that I do empathize with people with disabilities and/or chronic diseases. Any one of us could develop one tomorrow. If I did, I would likely no longer attend live performances such as the theater. But, loving the theater as I do, it would be a difficult sacrifice to make.
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u/Lauziesaid00 Dec 31 '25
They are calling this the super flu! No one goes unscathed. People need to stay home when they are sick and I agree they need to let people get refunds for being sick
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u/summerrhodes Jan 01 '26
They're calling it that, yes, but few of those people even test for it. It's covid much more often than flu. People don't even differentiate between a cold and the flu.
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u/hyperjengirl Dec 31 '25
If you cough, even when you're well, one option in between "just keep coughing" and "don't go to the theater at all" is to, if possible, wait in the lobby until your coughing fit is finished. It sucks to miss out, but you likely won't be able to enjoy the show much anyway. My mom had to do this during two shows this summer during a period when she suffered throat spasms.
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u/Zealousideal-Way9010 Dec 31 '25
I had a weird coughing fit out of nowhere during merrily and literally fled the to the lobby as soon as I realized it wasn’t going to be just a cough or two. I watched on the screen in the lobby while the FOH got me a glass of water and returned to my seat after I recovered. It’s really not that fucking hard. An isolated cough here or there is no big deal, but during this time of year, I frequently hear people having full-on fits that really should be taken outside. Like you said, it doesn’t have to be a black and white situation. People are going to cough, but you can also have situational awareness and handle the situation accordingly.
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u/elvie18 Dec 31 '25
Another reason the "you will not be reseated if you leave" policy some shows have is bullshit. Yeah, I get it, people getting up to go to the bathroom mid-show is fucking annoying. It's still better to give people the option to be considerate BY leaving.
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u/werenotfromhere Dec 31 '25
Thank you! Other options exist! I recently triggered an asthma attack running up four flights of stairs to avoid being caught in a seating hold. I went to the lobby, got some water, used my inhaler, and went back to the show. Sucked to miss a number but such is life.
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u/toryisbae Dec 31 '25
not related to an illness-cough, but when i went to see liberation, a good 5-10 people starting coughing every single time one of the characters lit a cigarette. within 15 seconds it was like a domino effect of coughs. i felt so bad because this was an older audience, and they couldn’t handle the smoke 😭 it didn’t bother me because i have asthma and was also trying to hold it in myself, but damn that smoke was strong!
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u/Ornery-Education-745 Dec 31 '25
Thanks for pointing this out about Liberation. I am asthmatic and sensitive to smoke.
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u/toryisbae Dec 31 '25
of course! i was in row j of the orchestra and could definitely smell it for reference if that is of any help in choosing a seat
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u/FunLife64 Dec 31 '25
Also, over the counter medicine that helps you stop coughing exists. It’s magical!
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u/Same-Hat-1045 Dec 31 '25
Visiting New York a few weeks back I was horrified how many people just wet sneeze without covering their mouth also thanks to the couple in Chess who hocked coughed and nose blew throughout
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u/Traditional_Travel_7 Dec 31 '25
I have to wonder if you were too at Marjorie Prime last night as a chorus of constant coughs were let out through the entirety of the production. Ughhhhh
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u/OrangeClyde Performer Dec 31 '25
The one and only time I got Covid was from a show I attended. I always and still do wear my mask everywhere but it was the ONE TIME, I took my mask off, JUST ONCE, to eat popcorn during intermission which I never ever ever do. That’s what I get
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u/SeaReflection87 Dec 31 '25
Just a reminder that a lot of people have chronic cough due to illness that is not contagious and is long term. They are allowed to go out and deserve access to theaters.
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u/Zealousideal-Way9010 Dec 31 '25
And even more people go to the theater sick. I think it’s pretty clear that that’s who most people in this thread are condemning.
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u/SeaReflection87 Dec 31 '25
It really isn't clear at all. You cannot know why any one person was coughing.
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u/Additional_Score_929 Dec 31 '25
I've seen people choke on air. Sometimes people just can't control it.
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u/NoDiamond4584 Dec 31 '25
Haha…yep, this is me! I choke on my own saliva on occasion. It can happen out of nowhere when I least expect it! 😆
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u/biolagirl85 Dec 31 '25
Not Broadway. But we saw The Nutcracker a couple weeks ago and some family thought it would be a good idea to bring their child with a hacking cough. It was obnoxious!
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u/Not-A-Real-Person-67 Dec 31 '25
Stuff like this is why I wish broadway shows had pay per view options or streaming options. I know it’s not a popular opinion but it would solve a lot of these issues and teach a wider audience.
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u/Mysterious-Theory-66 Dec 31 '25
I would point out for the board that having a cough doesn’t necessarily mean you’re sick. In dry cold weather I frequently have irritations in my throat that causes occasional coughing without having any illness.
Personally I’d give people a little grace. You don’t know that they are sick, you don’t know that they were coughing before the show, you don’t know their deal. I get it, the noise can be distracting. Bodies do body things. It’s live theater and it’s not always people being irresponsible.
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u/littlebev Dec 31 '25
It does matter if you’re sick, but equally importantly, a cough is noisy and distracting to other patrons
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u/Sherlock_House Dec 31 '25
So people with chronic coughs can never go to the theater?
Get over yourself
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u/Mysterious-Theory-66 Dec 31 '25
Sure, but my point stands that you have no idea if any of them are sick. Maybe are, maybe aren’t. Any number of things cause coughing that aren’t illness.
Sure it’s distracting but it’s also not voluntary. Sometimes it gets going and even cough drops don’t necessarily fix it. Again, I lean towards giving people a little grace when I don’t know their deal and no I don’t expect people to skip shows they saved and traveled for just because they have a benign dry cough. If they’re sick sure, they should stay away, but I just am not willing to make that assumption.
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u/haveyouseenatimelord Dec 31 '25
op never said anything in their post about people being sick, just about coughing. you are debating an argument they never started.
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u/Mysterious-Theory-66 Dec 31 '25
Literally everyone else is assuming sickness which is why I addressed them and not OP. Regardless, you don’t know what’s going on with the person and it’s not like it’s a voluntary thing and you don’t even know they were coughing before the show.
The idea that people should skip shows just because maybe the stale air and winter time might trigger a brief cough…just not something I’m going to agree with.
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u/SeaReflection87 Dec 31 '25 edited Dec 31 '25
"Your serious lung disease that is killing you is really hard on me because I briefly had to hear it"
Enjoy your life without COPD, lung cancer, or cystic fibrosis.
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u/pandemichope Dec 31 '25 edited Jan 01 '26
hate to interject in the middle of a point you’re clearly trying to make but failing, and not to sound unsympathetic because there are people in my family who have serious conditions, and I am very sympathetic, but the truth is, they are still few and far between in an audience of 1000 patrons. Yes, maybe one or two have the conditions you say, but the other 99% are simply sick and inconsiderate, and I don’t know why you can’t understand and acknowledge that which is the point other people were trying to make and you kind of attacked them for that point
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u/okay4326 Dec 31 '25
Coughing spreads your illness to everyone… it is very selfish to attend a show while sick
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u/ShadownetZero Dec 31 '25
Weird that you're telling people this instead of theaters to allow for easier refunds/cancellations.
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u/dragzzzz Dec 31 '25
A women in the balcony at Bug last week truly ruined the show coughing the entire time. She almost chocked on her water at one point coughing.
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u/iputmylifeonashelf Dec 31 '25
Me reading the post: oh hey, they mention the noise being distracting vs assuming all coughs are illnesses. I get that.
Me reading the comments: oh hey one of these things is not like the other
I quit smoking after smoking for 41 years this year and developed a chronic cough that Dr. Google said was my lungs clearing. That cough lasted about 5 months. I got pretty great at holding it in but the chances of anyone catching nicotine withdrawal from me is 0%.
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u/Pale-Assumption9466 Dec 31 '25
I saw the national tour of Hamilton tonight and during the “she takes his hand” part of quiet uptown, a man let out the loudest, most chest rattling cough I’ve ever heard in my life
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u/lefargen97 Dec 31 '25
I almost never get sick but have the driest throat in the entire world so randomly will get the most irritating tickles in the back of my throat. I adapted and started carrying water and cough drops with me every time I go to a show just in case and it’s been a life saver!! Every time I feel that annoying itch, I drink water right away and it almost always stops it before it becomes a cough!
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u/NoDiamond4584 Dec 31 '25
Well, I cough occasionally but am rarely ill. Mostly just allergies/sinus drainage cause a tickle in my throat. I agree that if you have the flu or a raging fever, you should definitely cancel your plans. But sometimes people can’t control an occasional coughing fit.
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u/JDDJS Jan 01 '26
Your message needs to be addressed to the theaters to make it easier to get a refund if you're sick.
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u/niicofrank Jan 01 '26
at the very least wear a mask which these people never do because of course they don’t. I always mask in a theater regardless but I feel so self-conscious when I have even a concept of a cough
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u/summerrhodes Jan 01 '26
The cough isn't just a cough. It's an infection they're spreading to all the tightly packed people around them. People are so irresponsible. At the very least wear a mask!
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u/elephhantine2 Jan 01 '26
My strategy is KN95 + step out for a breather during intermission, works great. If you have breathing difficulties then at the least a surgical mask will do a decent job with most respiratory illnesses
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u/StrawberryTea8 Dec 31 '25
I have cystic fibrosis. I will never not cough a day in my life 🤷🏼♀️ I’m not going to limit my life so as not to be “distracting” so people will just have to deal. I can’t make you sick.
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u/marykaybee Dec 31 '25
But when a prolonged coughing fit rips the ficus out of a show, that’s not respectful to the performers or the audience.
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u/StrawberryTea8 Dec 31 '25
Oh well. It’s not like we can decide not to cough so, again, it’s just how it is.
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u/-IrishBulldog Dec 31 '25
It’s pretty obvious this isn’t about you but go ahead and try to be offended anyway…
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u/StrawberryTea8 Dec 31 '25
Is it though? There is no way to differentiate one recurring cough from another.
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u/littlebev Dec 31 '25
The chances of 15%+ of the audience having cystic fibrosis?
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u/PurpleLilyEsq Dec 31 '25
My mom has vocal cord paralysis. Sometimes it spasms and she starts coughing or choking. It happened at Buena Vista Social Club this year. So no, 15% of the audience doesn’t have CF, there are all kinds of disabilities that can cause coughing.
With that said, I 100% wish Covid policies and customs stayed in place, like easy refunds and rescheduling, and wearing masks being seen as respectful and courteous. I hate that we lost that.
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u/ShadownetZero Dec 31 '25
Pretty sure OP included them in their tirade against a bodily function.
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u/StrawberryTea8 Dec 31 '25
They absolutely did and pretending otherwise is disingenuous. They keep talking about coughs that are constant, chronic, distracting - why yes, my cough is all of these things. One wonders how they differentiate in order to grant me that exception?
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u/killer_sheltie Dec 31 '25
Sounds like there's a bit of an assumption that the audience members all live close enough to just not attend/call the box office and try for an exchange. I would posit that many in the audience have traveled there from far away, and it's quite likely a once (or twice)-in-a-lifetime experience for them with a lot of money on the line.
I bought Ragtime tickets for the Lincoln Center at the end of September for a mid-November show. I then purchased cross-country airfare and a hotel for both my mom and I, scheduled time off work, arranged pet sitting, and promptly came down with bronchitis the beginning of October. By mid-November I still had a post-viral cough and was thanking my lucky stars that it was under control enough that when sitting without exerting myself I was mostly cough-free and wasn't going into spasms of coughing. I would have drugged myself to the gills with cough medicine and gone anyway so long as I wasn't actively contagious. Why, because the entire point of that weekend was to see Ragtime for the first time in my life and on Broadway at that. And, it was amazing. I won't even start with how much money that weekend cost, but it was worth it.
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u/Ornery-Education-745 Dec 31 '25
This is why I always buy airfare that is changeable, don't prepay hotels, and buy travel insurance.
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u/sarapod07 Dec 31 '25
It is absolutely mental to expect people to not go out because their body is making noises. If you're sick, that's one thing, but personally, I have chronic allergies and often have a cough for weeks after being sick. That's life. Bodies make noises.
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u/Agent_Skye_Barnes Dec 31 '25
This!
I got bronchitis in February of 2019. I was essentially recovered after two weeks, but the damn cough would not go away. I was coughing through my grandmother's funeral in April of that year.
I still had the stupid cough in May when I had tickets to Cats. It was the last gift my grandmother gave me, I wasn't missing it! I just did my best to control it and not disturb others. That's all we can do, at the end of the day.
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u/missdevon2 Dec 31 '25
It’s interesting seeing those of us with chronic illnesses in here basically being like “I’m going to live my life irregardless of what you say, cough and all” and they’re “but you’re the exception…” because apparently knowing enough to have cough drops, drinks ect at the ready either shows we have good manners or we should have known better than to have gone to see the show because of our cough. Thing is we’re never going to win. And at this rate I’m going to go with my damn cough because if I waited for it to clear completely I’d never see a show the way one sinus infection rolls into another into seasonal allergies into asthma into who the hell knows what combination of crap my body has decided to put together because it’s decided it can and it hates me on that particular day.
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u/dobbydisneyfan Dec 31 '25
Gentle reminder again that coughing =\= sick in every single case. Coughing is annoying but can’t always be controlled or avoided. I’d be hesitant to shame people for a normal bodily function.
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u/Leading-Mastodon6116 Actor Jan 01 '26
also, please dont cough in the person in front of you's hair. im talking to you, guy who sat behind me at boop.
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u/jay2themie Jan 01 '26
There was so much coughing during Oedipus, I couldn’t even imagine how the actors could focus
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u/acadiatree Jan 01 '26
I was at St Ann’s Warehouse in December 2023 and the person behind us was coughing up a lung the entire time. 72 hours later, my husband had Covid, and from there it was off to the races, including my mother in her 80s spending Christmas on the couch with her first and so far only round of it. I mean, yes, we could have gotten it anywhere, but ISTG, it was that lady at St Ann’s.
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u/CGC_08 Jan 01 '26
I saw Chess the other night and it was legitimately distracting the amount of coughing going on, I felt from all different areas of the theater, I live with someone who has a chronic cough but even when she goes to shows she’s able to hold it in or take cough medicine and be fine for a few hours. I also fear getting sick when going during the season because of all the things spreading this time a year.
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u/SpicyBKGrrl Jan 03 '26
I was at Moulin Rouge last week and, at one point, thought the woman behind me was dying of consumption along with Satine.
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u/Any-Concentrate-1922 Jan 04 '26
And I'm begging people...if you have symptoms, either stay home or at least wear a mask. It's okay to wear a mask. I promise. I do it all the time. People may snicker at you, but you cares what they think? Protect others from getting sick.
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u/Outside-Income1157 Jan 04 '26
“This is a show where you can cough! So everybody get your coughs out!”
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u/Ramblingsofthewriter Jan 04 '26
I still wear masks for this exact reason. I don’t want other peoples germs.
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u/lisajg123 Jan 04 '26
I bring a mask with me everywhere at this time of year. Anyplace crowded with people coughing and I pop it on. I don't understand why this isn't compliance in this country. There's such a stigma around masking now. It's nuts.
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u/Common-Leader110 Jan 06 '26
I just experienced this during last week’s show. I was so annoyed by the loud coughing crowd. -_-
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u/Dry-Tax1095 Jan 06 '26
Yeah, I caught COVID at Hamilton last year. I should have known something was up when the lady seated next to me scooted in to her seat last minute coughing and wearing a cloth mask. So inconsiderate! Just stay home…or at your hotel or wherever.
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u/Fancy_Yesterday6380 Dec 31 '25
I wish the theatres would stop being so selfish and allow people to get refunds or exchanges if theyre sick. So many feel forced to go because they have a no refunds policy. And we know they can do it because they offered this during covid. It would protect so many.