A Cacophony of Coughs at Opera

I had the great pleasure of viewing the New York City Opera production of “Madama Butterfly” at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. Sadly, however, the quality of the performance was marred by a regular staccato of coughs from considerably more than a handful of patrons.

Apparently many simply do not realize how disruptive this can be, particularly in a hall with such fine acoustics.

A tactful reminder in the program and perhaps a notice on the impressive supertitles board above the stage prior to the performance would probably help to eliminate this problem and would undoubtedly be appreciated by all.

MICHAEL G. DAWE

Irvine