SINGAPORE—My daughter recently caught a cold, signaling that inevitably, I’d soon be down with the sniffles and a slight sore throat. That was exactly what happened.

At the start of last week, I had a sore throat, and I’d launch into sneezing fits worthy of mention in the record books. Clears my head, sure, but it isn’t fun when it happens.

Oh, we’re completely well now, by the way.

It’s unfortunate that this last bout with the common cold took place during my run as Cinderella. Perhaps I should be thankful that it’s this show I’m doing, and not “Les Misérables” or, even worse, “Miss Saigon.” With Rodgers and Hammerstein, the sniffles don’t get me down.

Having said that, there is still quite a bit of difficulty performing when one’s nose is congested and the head’s a little loopy, not to mention that tickle in the throat which threatens to turn into a coughing fit in the middle of a song. Yes, it has happened, and I hate it when it does.

A threatening cough

So how does one carry on despite the possibility of an onstage cough attack? Verrrrry carefully.

One brief conversation with the singer-wife of our musical director gave me a hint: Take shallow breaths and sing light, as light as you can. A deep breath can sometimes trigger a cough series (with seemingly no end in sight), so keeping things shallow and easy is a good idea. Showing off with long phrases won’t help; if I have to cut things in half or take things down a notch, I do.

At another show I did many years ago (also here in Singapore, actually), many glasses of water were laid out on stage and off for my leading man and myself. That got us through a rough illness patch, and helped us complete our four-week run.

Another problem I have when I’m sick is the endless nose-blowing, which I can’t really do much of when I’m onstage in a musical or a play. The luxury of tissue paper is one I can’t take with me. I even remember snot flying across my face as I did a series of chainé turns. Not pretty.

All I can do at this point is pray, snort as quietly as I can and swallow. I know, it’s gross. But what else can I do?

To medicate, or not to medicate?

If I’m actively in a show, I take something that won’t dry me out or make me feel drowsy or worse, looooooopy. There are a few cold formulations that have that weird effect on me, making a show feel almost like an out of body experience. I can’t focus, I feel tired, and I don’t have full control of my performance. In this instance, I take some herbal teas that contain slippery elm to help my throat feel better, and an herbal remedy that helps with the post-nasal drip. I also sometimes use a neti pot (a small pot used for nasal irrigation) or a saline nasal spray to clean out my sinuses.

The best thing, of course, is to just stay healthy to keep one’s immune system strong, in order to fight the occasional ah-choo and ubo-ubo. A healthy lifestyle is key to keeping that cold and cough away.

Correction

In my last article, I mistakenly called Iggy Chan’s wife Pauline. Her name is actually Janice. Sorry about that!

Condolences

To all the loved ones of Anabel Bosch: May she now rest in peace or rock it out in that eternal gig of gigs.