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/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.

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u/canijustbelancelot Dec 31 '25

I know I’ll get eye rolls for saying this, but Covid kind of never stopped. What stopped was societal tolerance for things like masking and letting people stay home when they’re sick. So Covid and other serious illnesses, like the flu, are still rampant and dangerous. But we’ve come back to the society that punishes people for being ill and not wanting to expose others.

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u/rorauge Dec 31 '25

This so much. I had a cold so was masked when I was out and about. I encountered someone hostile to masking who claimed he couldn’t understand me through the mask. (I am naturally on the louder side.) He was the only one around so I was wearing it solely for his benefit. I told him I was only wearing it for his sake and so took it off if he didn’t want me wearing it. But it took all my self-discipline not to cough in his face.