The Monster of Broadway is Back!

The Monster of Broadway is Back! Scott Rudin, the producer of "The Book of Mormon" and "To Kill a Mockingbird," was exiled from Broadway four years ago when it came to light that he had bullied, threatened and thrown things at his assistants, running through literally a thousand people in 10 years. With a semi-fawning, rehabilitative article in the March 28th, 2025 New York Times, Rudin is coming back to Broadway with three straight plays for the 2025-2026 fall-winter season, two of them starring Laurie Metcalf.

Stagehand Nickname of the Day: Quack Quack

 Quack Quack-- nickname for a stagehand who talk too much. "The 45-year-old apprentice would talk your ear off. The older stagehands started calling him Quack Quack."

Ghost Story of the Day: Mark Ruffalo's Wet Willy from David Belasco

The straight play "Awake and Sing" by Clifford Odets was at the Belasco in  2006. The ghost of the theater owner and impresario David Belasco is known to play benign pranks on visiting actors. Mark Ruffalo played a gangster in the show and as a method actor, when his character went into the bedroom to take a nap, Ruffalo would walk through the set and lay down on a cot outside the set wall.. Of course, the nearby carpenters, Big Al and Little Al,  would harass him. One night, Ruffalo got a wet willy. He brushed the finger away and said, "Big Al, stop it!" No one was there. We believe that the ghost of David Belasco gave Mark Ruffalo a wet willy.

Term of the Night: cross-hire

 cross-hire--in one theater, where one head hires a stagehand who works in a different department. "The electrician refused to let his stagehands be cross-hired by the other heads. If you worked for the carpenter or prop man, he would not hire you again."

Term of the Day: shaping while baked

shaping while baked--when a stagehand shows up looking for work stoned. "The 40-year-old stagehand smelled like skunk weed when he came by looking for work. I've dealt with drunk men looking for work before, but this was the first time I had a guy 'shaping while baked.'" "shaping" is an old stagehand term for showing up a job site, looking for work.

Grim Site of the Day: murder bathroom

murder bathroom-- famously grim Broadway bathroom. Exposed concrete, the smell of urine and a creepy environment.. Nicknamed the "murder bathroom" by wardrobe. "There hasn't been a murder in the murder bathroom yet, but one day there will be." Bathroom was featured on Instagram. Also nicknamed the "saw bathroom," after the horror movie.

Term of the Night: to dog walk someone

 to dog walk someone--to publicly humiliate someone, to figuratively walk someone on a leash in front of others. Compliments of the rapper Cardi B.