Take – slang for amount of money from ticket sales of a performance.
Tech Rehearsals also Tech Week – rehearsals scheduled in the final weeks before opening night for the singular purpose of bringing the technical aspects of the production (lights, sound, music, and sometimes props & costumes) up to performance quality. Tech rehearsals may be as few as one extended session or several days depending on the complexity of the show. During tech rehearsals, small portions of a scene may be rerun several times in a row in order to isolate and correct technical problems. While the technical problems or transitions are being made, singing, acting and dancing become of secondary importance.
Tenor – the highest male vocal range; above both the baritone and bass voices.
Tin Pan Alley – an area of New York City which housed most of the music publishing companies at the end of the 19th- and first two decades of the 20th-century; also refers to the type of popular song created during this time period.
Tony Awards – The Antoinette Perry Awards are given annually to the best actors, dancers and production staff for musicals and straight plays performed on Broadway in New York City.
Treading the Boards – Acting in stage (legitimate) theatre as compared to film, radio or television.
Trio – a piece featuring three performers.
Triple-threat – a musical theatre performer who is proficient in all three areas: singing, acting and dancing.
Troupe – see also Company; a group of theatrical performers.
Truck – a moveable platform set that is slide onto the stage from the side wings of the stage; (verb) to slide a platform on stage.
Tryout tour – a preliminary trip to out-of-town theaters to give a show a chance to work out any difficulties before it opens in front of critics in its home theater.
Underscoring – instrumental music that is played during spoken dialogue which adds to the emotion of the moment; also, instrumental music which is played during the changing of scenes.
Understudy – an actor who learns the lines and blocking of a featured role as is prepared to step into the production if the featured performer is unable to go on.
Upstage – the area at the back of the stage, furthest away from the audience.
Upstaging – used to describe the actions of an actor who pulls attention away from the main action in a scene; for example, a chorus member who starts yawning in the middle of a lead actor’s monologue.
Vaudeville – a form of variety stage production that evolved when French street performers (singers, musicians, jugglers, magicians and dancers) were recruited to appear onstage for the French public. Vaudeville came to America in the late 19th-century and replaced the minstrel show as the primary stage entertainment for populace. Together with the minstrel show and the English operetta, vaudeville helped prepare for the development of the American musical in the early 20th-century.
Vocal Introduction – a vocal prefatory passage used in Tin Pan Alley, pop standards and musical songs which helped set the stage for the main part of the song, often called the refrain.
Waltz – a song or dance in 3/4 or triple meter, most often romantic in lyrics, lilting in nature and is frequently the moment when the romantic leads connect emotionally.
West End – London’s equivalent of New York City’s Broadway theatrical district.
Workshop – an experimental presentation of a stage work, play or musical in the early stages of its development. Its purpose is to allow the show’s producer, the playwright or composer to analyze and identify problems before the show appears in its main theater.