Term of the Minute: Fake nice guy

fake nice guy: often a TV segment producer, a roadman or a tech, who will be chummy until they freak out or throw you under the bus. Some people will even rent a bus to throw you under.

Obscure term of the day: Rowing the boat

rowing the boat (verb): an old vaudeville bit, where a performer will pull himself across the stage with a cane while on one knee while singing. The vigorous strokes with the cane look like the man is rowing a boat.

Term of the moment: cruise-ship actor

cruise-ship actor (noun): cruise ships are famous for their 90-minute versions of  Broadway shows, bastardized and dumbed down for passengers satiated by prime rib. It is a pejorative term, a way of dismissing someone's experience..

Term of shame: my ball drop

my ball drop--fessing up to missing a cue. "That was my ball drop," said the honest stagehand.

Term of the moment: Stage dog

stage dog (n.)--an actor who delights on being on stage, NOT most Hollywood actors. "Geoffrey Rush is an old stage dog," said his director on "Exit the King."

Term of the Day: shoe requirement

shoe requirement (n.)--when a tech or a producer tries to foist an incompetent or unskilled stagehand on a contract man. "Several prominent contract prop men turned down a major musical because of the shoe requirement, which meant hiring the tech's son."

Term of the Moment: a rip-away

Term of the Moment: a rip-away: a costume that is rigged with Velcro or snaps to be pulled off quickly. "In the ill-fated 'Dracula' on Broadway, the actress Kelli O'Hara wore a rip-away nightgown that was pulled off through a hole in the deck by a carpenter."