During the last couple of seasons, audiences in New York have had ample opportunities to get to know the work of Fabio Luisi, the Metropolitan Opera's principal conductor, who has been taking over most of the performances the ailing James Levine has had to withdraw from.
As has been the case all playoffs with Curry ailing, Golden State got a huge performance from Klay Thompson.
And Ms. Fonda rounded out the category for her performance as an ailing musicologist obsessed with Beethoven in "33 Variations".
In 1996 Alice in Chains gave their final performances with their ailing estranged lead singer, Layne Staley, who subsequently died from an overdose of cocaine and heroin in 2002.
Second-ranked Victoria Azarenka overcame an erratic performance to beat an ailing Sara Errani, 7-6 (4), 6-2, in the opening match.
Chris Christie seized the opportunity to revive his ailing presidential campaign with a dominant performance and a sustained attack on Hillary Clinton despite being relegated to the undercard Republican debate.
(When the time did come -- Mr. Wills went on for four performances last week for an ailing Mr. Lane -- he said: "I had made up my mind not to panic. I was scared, but the alternative is to choke").
In April he stepped in again for an ailing Mr. Levine and conducted a compelling performance of Wagner's "Rheingold".
As he does on flights after every game, Pouha will use the time to ice his ailing body and to reflect on his performance, not concern himself with events in Oakland, Denver and Cincinnati.
Despite the dominating bravura performance of Donna Murphy as the ailing, love-starved Fosca (Ms. Murphy won a Tony, as did the musical) "Passion" often made love look like a virulent germ isolated in a petri dish.
