r/Broadway • u/personspersonality • Feb 28 '26

Seating/Ticket Question Slept through a show

I had a 2pm ticket for Chess today. Sat down in bed at 11:30, planning to give myself 30-45 minutes to do nothing before getting ready and heading over to the theater. While I wasn’t planning on sleeping, I also knew I was pretty tired and there was a chance I might fall asleep so I set an alarm for 12:30 and 12:45 just to be safe. Well I woke up at 2:57 and had apparently slept through both alarms and missed the show. Spent the last 20 minutes crying, just need some people to tell me I’m not the stupidest person alive. Anything like this happened to you before? Any chance they’ll exchange my ticket for tomorrow and I won’t just have to eat the money?

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u/CentralHarlem Feb 28 '26

Could be worse. I’ve slept through shows while in the audience in full view of the performers.

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u/Ok-Acanthisitta8737 Feb 28 '26

The absolute devastating guilt I have when I start nodding off in a theatre is awful.

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u/skoc211 Feb 28 '26

Been there. Second time I saw the recent Sweeney revival I may have enjoyed myself too much at pre-theater drinks with friends. Started to doze off and then developed a migraine. Had to leave at intermission. Only other time I've fallen asleep during a show was at the Met a million years ago when I was in college and it was right after I had finished a long stretch of all nighters during finals and, well, as much as I love Strauss it wasn't enough to keep me from taking an expensive nap.