Audience Coughing!?!? Am I crazy or justifiably frustrated.- Page 2

[thevolleyballer]

Posted: 11/24/06 at 12:05pm

Fontaine: Shame, Shame Shaaaaame.

I'm sorry, that was just too funny. I immediately had a picture of Aretha Franklin singing "Chain of Fools" dressed in Fantine garb.

[VonTussleGirl]

Posted: 11/24/06 at 12:09pm

I'd rather the sneezing/coughing be in the audience than onstage.

[jimnysf]

Posted: 11/24/06 at 12:14pm

It seems that as soon as one person coughs, they are joined by a chorus of coughers. I try to ignore it. To me, it's just as annoying hearing a bunch of cough drop packages being opened as it is to hear a cougher. I find the farters worse. I've sat near one of those more than once!

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 11/24/06 at 12:16pm

"I'd rather the sneezing/coughing be in the audience than onstage."

What an - interesting - addition to the conversation.

[lovelyspotlight]

Posted: 11/24/06 at 12:17pm

I'd still go to the show, popular_elphie...I'd just be extremely uncomfortable, trying to keep my throat moist and non-coughy the whole time. I'm seriously one of the most paranoid coughers ever. I'd keep a bottle of water with me to stifle or soothe the coughs when they came along. That always works at least temporarily for me.

But, VonTussleGirl, you've got a good point there. And I suppose that's why understudies are so wonderful to have. =]

[A. Nonymous]

Posted: 11/24/06 at 12:42pm

IMO, when you hear multiple coughs from different people throughout a show, it's usually an indicator of how good the show is that night. When something on stage is holding an audience's attention, it's very rare that anyone will cough.

On the other side of that, if there are coughs happening in those places you mentioned in Les Miz, I would imagine that those moments were not as captivating as they should have been.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 11/24/06 at 12:47pm

"MO, when you hear multiple coughs from different people throughout a show, it's usually an indicator of how good the show is that night."

Or, that it's cold and flu season.

Posted: 11/24/06 at 1:25pm

Since we're on the subject,just out of curiosity, when an actor /actress is performing onstage, and suppose they themselves have a sudden 'coughing spell' or maybe start having a sudden 'sneezing fit' do they keep performing, or does someone else take over for them?

[Kringas]

Posted: 11/24/06 at 2:10pm

LizzieCurry, I don't think your friend's theory is outlandish at all. I'm sure it doesn't apply to all cases, but I'm certain some people do things like that to call attention to themselves. I have a friend who always makes a spectacle of herself whenever she laughs at a movie or a play. It's distracting and embarrassing and it's a clear grab for attention.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 11/24/06 at 2:25pm

Yikes, that would drive me up the wall!

Yeah, I hadn't heard of anything like what my friend thinks until we saw Les Miz and during IDAD he turned to me and growled, "I HATE THEATRE COUGHERS! HATE THEM!"

(I made him explain that to me at intermission.)

Updated On: 11/24/06 at 02:25 PM

Posted: 11/24/06 at 2:33pm

Not for nothing, but if it wasn't for the theatre goers wether or not they maybe annoying, if it wasn't for them, all the theatre actors/actresses wouldn't have jobs. It's the audience who made them who these people are today.

[HOUFlip04]

Posted: 11/24/06 at 3:01pm

I was getting sick when I was in NYC last year during Christmas time. I did the supressing the cough until louder moments in the show. But geez, people cough - deal with it. Just concentrate on the show and not everyone coughing and it will be fine. Some coughers suffer enough in their seat with eyes watering because their throat is so dry.

I had tickets to the show and was definately not going to just not go to the theatre when I only get to NYC once in a blue moon.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 11/24/06 at 3:40pm

Whenever I go to the theater (no matter what time of year), there are always a couple of coughers.

[singingshowgirl]

Posted: 11/24/06 at 4:11pm

yeah i had the same issue at the wednesday evening performance of les miz....particularly during Bring Him Home....good thing i'm one of those people who doesn't love that song haha

it's so hard because it is cold season, but still haha

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 11/24/06 at 4:28pm

I too despise the coughers. With me, though I'm equally annoyed, I don't get as upset as the fact that people actually cough--but it seems like people cough soo loud! Why? That's totally preventative. If I'm at a show I do everything in my power to control it, and if it still comes out I cover my mouth completely and make it as quite as possible. There are times I've sat through a show with my tongue as much down my throat as I could get it to try to suppress coughing. It was damn uncomfortable, but it was something I had to do. It's just common courtest to the audience and to the performers. I remember one time I saw Light in the Piazza and there was the slow silent moment between Margaret and Mr. Nacarelli when they eventually kissed...the brief silence was interrupted by loads and loads of loud coughing--the entire time until they finished kissing all you could hear was loud, loud coughs. It drove me crazy. I mean, again, you could hold it during specific moments. The show I held my tongue down my throat the whole time, when a song ended and the audience applauded I might have let some coughs out. It may be impossible to stop unexpected coughing, but there are ways to control it.

[mikem]

Posted: 11/24/06 at 4:30pm

I have seen a couple of shows with relatively lengthy silent portions that lost some of their power because of audience coughing. I'm thinking of The Pillowman and Grey Gardens in particular.

[Marlothom]

Posted: 11/25/06 at 10:05pm

to echo the last post, the "silent moment" in Company between Bobby and Joanne last night was filled with many coughs...v. frustrating, but overall a lot less coughing than my Les Mis experience.

[ahimsa]

Posted: 11/25/06 at 11:15pm

I flew to London just to see Billy Elliot/Mary Poppins. Beside me at Billy was a British women who brought her three children. Her one child coughed horribly throughout the show. I passed her some cough drops during the first act. (I always make sure that I have soft wrapped cough drops with me and I'm surprised that people don't taking supressants isn't on par with grabbing your car keys.)

Anyways, at intermission, she told me that her daughter had strep throat! They had looked so forward to seeing the show and they just couldn't bring themselves to leaving her alone in the hotel. I could understand, because there was no way that I would have missed the show. I could only feel so very sorry for the poor women ill fated with the seat in front of her.

The coughing never stopped. In this one instance, the show was so good that I was truly able to block it out. But when you pay so much for a ticket, so far in advance, its understandable that you'll get a mixed bag of health in the audience.

I'm a season symphony ticket holder here locally. This is a constant gripe for us. The symphony draws its share of elderly, and that's part of it. What amazes us is how many people will cough during the silent or quiet symphonic moments instead of holding them until the orchestra gets booming. They eventually do! Goodness, if you have to cough, do it during a loud part!!

But what we have found, since we are so sensitive to it, is that the audience coughs more when they are bored with the production. If the symphony is doing cinema classics, for example, there is far less coughing than when they are doing a Handel concerto for string and harp. The symphony season runs October through March, and that's part of it too -- cold and flu season. Les Miz is long and boring for many of the average theatre goer.

It happens at the Met during Operas too. Always at the wrong moment. I have several live recordings that also bear this out.

Sometimes it's enough to make your skin crawl. I'd rather drop dead in my seat than succumb to a cough. I think its generally a very selfish thing that could have been controlled with a little restraint, and certainly some pre planning.

My general advice to theatre goers, take a nap if you can earlier that day, and for goodness sake, drink a glass or two of water before you go, and always have some soft wrapped or unwrapped cough drops (some for you and some for whoever is around you!)

[Claire2141]

Posted: 11/26/06 at 6:08am

Every summer I get awful hayfever which usually involves me coughing like a 20 a day-er from May to August. I purposely either take in two large bottles of water and mints to suck on or DON'T GO!

Dust also gets me...I just know what to do to try and prevent it.

Posted: 11/27/06 at 2:46pm

That's odd. I never heard coughing being called hay fever. Usually hayfever is sneezing. But I guess there's a first time for everything.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 11/27/06 at 2:57pm

to echo the last post, the "silent moment" in Company between Bobby and Joanne last night was filled with many coughs...v. frustrating,


That happened yesterday too. Usually, coughing doesn't bother me, but that was just bad.

[*brina-doll*]

Posted: 11/27/06 at 5:39pm

I understand if someone is sick, but couldn't they possibly wait till a louder moment occurs on stage? I watched this video once and all I heard was this freaking annoying cough over and over! Sheesh, made me cringe everytime!

[DirectorHaley]

Posted: 11/27/06 at 6:09pm

Since we're on the subject,just out of curiosity, when an actor /actress is performing onstage, and suppose they themselves have a sudden 'coughing spell' or maybe start having a sudden 'sneezing fit' do they keep performing, or does someone else take over for them?

funny story... when I was maybe 8 or 9 years old, I saw Sound of Music in Boston, a big production at the Wang Center. the curtain opens to the set of the hilltop with Maria standing there, embracing the world... and right when she's about to start singing in an angelic voice, she suddenly starts having this out-of-control coughing fit. she's hacking up her insides for at least a full minute before they close the curtain. there was no announcement or anything, we just sat there in confusion for ten minutes before the curtain opened again and she started over. aaand that's the story of how I stopped believing in the magic of the theatre.
just kidding. poor Maria.

[sidneybruhl]

Posted: 11/27/06 at 6:30pm

There have been many instances where I have not gone to a show because of a cold/cough. I don't ever want to be the one that audiences stare daggers through!