Term of the Day: to sweat someone

to sweat someone--to pursue someone relentlessly, in looking for work or in love. "The young stagehand kept sweating the older head, trying to get on his crew."

Term of the Night: Dr. Nice

Dr. Nice--famously nasty head, who often terrorized his men. He was the  curator of Schindler's List.

Broadway Blooper #5: throwing out the "On Golden Pond" set

throwing out the "On Golden Pond" set--When"On Golden Pond" with James Earl Jones closed suddenly after the elderly star got pneumonia in the summer of 2005, there were two trailers--one with the set and one with garbage. When the tour was being set up, the general  manager found out that the storage company had thrown out the set trailer and kept the garbage trailer.

Term of the Day: spreading the wealth around

spreading the wealth around--when a head deliberately gives calls to multiple stagehands to make sure people have work. Or some heads don't: "I wish he'd spread the wealth around, he only hires the same five stagehands."

Term of the Day: phantom production

phantom production--a fake Broadway show. A theater agent named Roland Scahill was convicted in August 2016 of defrauding investors of $165,000 for a fake play on the life of the opera diva Kathleen Battle, which was to play at the Booth Theatre. Scahill claimed the actress Nupita Nyong'o was going to play Battle and that the show was going to be filmed for Netflix. Neither the play nor the Netflix connection existed. Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance referred to the Kathleen Battle play as a "phantom production."

Here are the Times and Daily News articles: 
  New York Times article

NY Daily News

Term of the Night : The "It's Over" Meeting

The "It's Over" Meeting--the load-out meeting. When an actress at a recent show of mine saw the production crew and house heads sitting in the house discussing the load out, she said in a chirpy voice, "Oh, it's the 'it's over' meeting." She was right.

Term of the Day: rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic

rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic--making changes on a doomed play or musical that have no impact. See also: "Might as well throw the money onstage and burn it."

Broadway Blooper #4: "The Pirate Queen" set

"The Pirate Queen" set--a Broadway bomb that opened and closed at the Ford Center in 2007. A major screw up took place when the scenic plans were drawn up and did not accommodate the three extra feet for the show deck. The set had cannons that came in and out for pirate battles and blew smoke. Since the set was three feet too high, the cannons were buried in the top of the proscenium. Three feet had to be chopped off the bottom of the set at the theater.

Term of the Day: God's gift to chorus girls

God's gift to chorus girls--several older stagehands on Broadway, with an inflated sense of their sex appeal to young dancers.

Term of the Day: throw a spanner in the works

throw a spanner in the works-- to deliberately create mayhem. "The carpenter threw a spanner in the works by not stacking his platforms off the deck, screwing the electrician 'til after lunch."