"Track"
"Track"
"Track"#1
Posted: 7/24/08 at 9:57pmSo 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.
re: 'Track'#2
Posted: 7/24/08 at 9:59pmwow, way to be a genuinely insulting ****while trying to ask for everyone's help.
re: 'Track'#2
Posted: 7/24/08 at 10:00pmI've heard hundreds of actors and other professionals in the industry use the term track.
re: 'Track'#3
Posted: 7/24/08 at 10:00pmInsulting how? Anyone who uses the phrase cancelled in relation to a Broadway show deserves a little scrutiny...
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/1/06
re: 'Track'#5
Posted: 7/24/08 at 10:02pm
Insulting how? Anyone who uses the phrase cancelled in relation to a Broadway show deserves a little scrutiny...
I have to laugh...I've been saying television shows "closed" all night for some reason. LOL.
LIVE THAT LESSON!!!!!!
re: 'Track'#6
Posted: 7/24/08 at 10:04pmGrow 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.
re: 'Track'#7
Posted: 7/24/08 at 10:05pmOr you could just hit the delete button, your version of snarkiness...
re: 'Track'#8
Posted: 7/24/08 at 10:06pmHe isn't really asking. Someone asked a few days ago, and he wants to be annoying.
re: 'Track'#9
Posted: 7/24/08 at 10:08pmCraig vs Bobby 2008
re: 'Track'#10
Posted: 7/24/08 at 10:09pmStraightforward 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.
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
re: 'Track'#11
Posted: 7/24/08 at 10:10pm
"Track" is the official term for an ensemble role in a musical.
When one or more of an ensemble member's parts are played by more than one actor it is called a "split track"
When shows started having longer runs this term became the simplest way to reference replacements for the Stage Managers, Dressers, Hair and Make-Up etc. technicians.
It is more for the crew but since the internet now follows almost every track in a musical, you hear it more now.
Updated On: 7/24/08 at 10:10 PM
re: 'Track'#12
Posted: 7/24/08 at 10:11pmHave a great night, Bobby. I wish you nothing but happiness in your life.
re: 'Track'#14
Posted: 7/24/08 at 10:27pmCraig, I really think you need to be above the fracus of the boards, it makes you less effective as a moderator.
With Clay Aiken in Spamalot, all of Broadway is singing a collective "There! Right! There!" -Me-
"Not Barker, Todd is the only person I've ever known who could imitate Katherine Hepburn...in print." -nmartin-
re: 'Track'#15
Posted: 7/24/08 at 10:33pm*Waits for Barker's post to be deleted*
re: 'Track'#16
Posted: 7/24/08 at 10:35pm
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.
re: 'Track'#17
Posted: 7/24/08 at 10:37pm
(To Bobby, not Craig)
re: 'Track'#19
Posted: 7/24/08 at 10:51pm
You'd think a highly trained theater director/playwright/journalist such as BobbyBubby would know what an incredibly basic term like 'track' means in the first place.
Let us know if you can't figure out what an 'understudy' is.
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/1/03
re: 'Track'#20
Posted: 7/24/08 at 10:53pm
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
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/19/08
re: 'Track'#22
Posted: 7/24/08 at 11:18pm
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.
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/1/03
Videos
