I do still perform with some regularity (and being an SM always helps there too) so I just got a whole new, if oddly come by, appreciation for our too-often invisible but truly essential profession. My most recent show had no SM, and, well, suffice it to say there was a whole level of missing info and greater communications, to things as basic as show calls, that didn't happen (what? it's 1/2 hour and you are now telling me that tonite, and tonite only, there will be a band instead of just piano, and there is no time to run the numbers once?) and, well, when the proverbial stuff hit the fan, no one was on the producer's side when he needed a favor. As opposed to, a good SM, someone to whom actors can bitch and moan, take production issues, get show calls and hear about things that impact the performers and performances before they turn into recipes for disaster.....