I got my hands on one for the first time yesterday at my local apple store. I was pretty much immediately convinced that an iPad could seriously help any stage manager.
pros:
size: small enough to carry pretty much anywhere, perfect size for checklists, taking notes, checking email on the go
applications: email, pages, notes, you name it. All perfect for writing down a quick note when you're away from the tech table. It's really easy to type on this thing, especially for those with iphone/ ipod touch experience
All of your information in one place. It's about as close to having hand written notes and typed information all together as you can get. I can't see a need for a pad of paper if you have one of these
this things just feels awesome. There's no way to describe the feel unless you've held it in your hands, but anyone who has knows what I mean
cons:
no multitasking. this means you can't type up a rehearsal report while streaming Pandora, and that to check email you have to quit your currently running application.
Price: the cheaper one (relatively speaking) doesn't do as much as I would like. The higher memory and 3G capable one is really expensive. Luckily, if you are willing to sacrifice a little memory or 3G it's probably a reasonable purchase considering how close it is to a laptop
As soon as I won't hate myself for spending all my money on this thing, I'm getting one. Part of that is just my obsession with new Apple products, but I feel that besides the price, the iPad is an amazing tool (and toy)