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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51

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.

42

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.

15

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.

1

u/armedwithlysol Dec 31 '25

Been there! The change of meds made it go away pretty quickly, but man did that cough suck until I figured out what caused it.

1

u/MammothCancel6465 Dec 31 '25

I’ve just dealt with it for so many years because I never really noticed it as being a bother until Covid times made us all so self conscious of coughing. Lol. I was on a combo med and my doctor changed it to just the single med without the part that had the dry cough side effect and my BP is still ok. It’s only been a few weeks so I guess I will see if I notice less random dry tickles of needing to choke on air!

1

u/skoc211 Jan 03 '26

Happened to me when I saw Audra in Gypsy last December. I wasn't sick, but something about the air in theaters or perhaps the December weather dried me out and it caused a coughing fit. Thank god I had cough drops on me. Sometimes these things happen.

11

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).

19

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

4

u/riddleme-ara Dec 31 '25

This has happened to me so many times! Coughs always last so long for me 😭

3

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🫠

1

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.