"Track"

So I've heard this phrase, "track", I assume referring to a particular chorus role, as in "Andy Karl's track". But I've never heard this until recently. Is like, when saying a show is closing, using the stupid term "cancelled"? Some of this internet lingo is starting to become absurd. Just wondered if this is an actual term, "track", or something naive internet fans are using.

I've heard hundreds of actors and other professionals in the industry use the term track.

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Well, if it's good enough for Kerry Butler...

Grow up. And stop backpeddling or trying to make excuses for your snarkiness. You were flat out being insulting to anyone who would use the term track. And your citing Kerry Butler shows your heightened level of maturity given my straight forward response to your question. Which makes one wonder if you really were asking, or just wanted to gripe about something for the sake of griping.

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He isn't really asking. Someone asked a few days ago, and he wants to be annoying.

Straightforward answer? Your response, as are all of your responses, when they're not being kiss assy towards Butler or Shaiman, are filled with an "I told you so" so that's as plastic as your face.

Have a great night, Bobby. I wish you nothing but happiness in your life.

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Craig, I really think you need to be above the fracus of the boards, it makes you less effective as a moderator.

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Not Barker -

I appreciate your feedback, sincerely. But I answered BobbyBubby's question sincerely and he decided to lash out. While I am a moderator and employee of this site, I am also a human being first and foremost and deserve a modicum of respect. I won't pretend to understand BobbyBubby's contempt for me, other moderators, or this site as he's expressed often, but it's there. It's not a question of being above the fracus - but calling someone out on their behavior.

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Or maybe he lost his deletion privleges?

And make sure you don't accidentally go downstage when someone tells you to go upstage. You might fall into the pit. That's where the orchestra members (the band) play their instruments.

Updated On: 7/24/08 at 10:53 PM

I dislike the phrase "track" because it is a symbol of the dehumanization of the theater. The phrase "role" denotes that an actor is creating a character and playing it throughout the performance. In the past, most actors who were not the leads (I was trying to avoid any derogatory terms) would play one or at most two "roles" in a show - and were usually paid appropriately.

Over the past four decades, as cast sizes have shrunk, we get the "track" where one actor delivers a line-or-two here and another few there and another bunch here and the work of the actor becomes just a half-dozen or more stopgaps.

Now everyone is using the phrase because it's "cool" without realizing it actually signifies a cheapening of the industry.

It's like the phenomena of "Von Dutch" hats and sweaters that were popular a while back. I can't tell you how many of my gay friends wore "Von Dutch" stuff, until I pointed out that Kenny Howard (Von Dutch) was a racist and homophobic. Hats usually come off pretty fast after that.

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I agree, allofmylife.