Broadway Show Quotes & Sayings

I believe I've still got lots and lots to do. When I left Herman's Hermits in 1973, I said one day I'm gonna be in a Broadway show, and I thought it would be in 1974. Then, it took me ten years to do it, but I didn't ever quit. — Peter Noone

I worked with Ismail Merchant on 'The Mystic Masseur,' I did 'Sakina's Restaurant,' I've done plays, I've been on Broadway, I've done movies, I've done TV ... but nothing has had the pop culture penetrative impact as 'The Daily Show' has. It's the nature of the beast. — Aasif Mandvi

Now that I'm on Broadway, it's like NASA engineering with the costumes. I was very grateful for the slightly more high-tech ones in my show, 'Venus in Fur'; our costume designer Anita Yavich is kind of a genius. — Nina Arianda

It's a good thing we don't know when we start out that when we arrive we haven't gone anyplace."
"What's wrong with success?" Kelly asked, exasperated. "You just walked out on the biggest hit show on Broadway, something you'd always wanted. Why did you leave?"
"Because, Kelly," I said slowly, "nothing, but nothing is half as good as you expect it to be. — Dean Jones

I did a reality TV show in London called 'I'd Do Anything,' and when I got put in the program, they said, 'What is your ultimate dream?' and I said, 'Broadway.' — Rachel Tucker

In '92, I got my first Broadway show as a performer - 'Crazy for You.' I was in the ensemble. In fact, I was in eight Broadway shows as a dancer. Seven of them were original shows. That's how I learned to create something from the ground up. — Casey Nicholaw

The Beatles first appeared on our show on February 9, 1964, and I have never seen any scenes to compare with the bedlam that was occasioned by their debut. Broadway was jammed with people for almost eight blocks. They screamed, yelled, and stopped traffic. It was indescribable ... There has never been anything like it in show business, and the New York City police were very happy it didn't - and wouldn't - happen again. — Ed Sullivan

If I do what I really want to do, I'm not going to do a typical commercial Broadway show, so I'm going to write what I want to write. — Mitch Leigh

When I'm working, on stage, entertaining people, or watching someone do something amazing, it inspires me to be the best artist that I can be. I enjoy being around art - whether it be a museum, a Broadway show - or even writing a poem. Those are things that make me feel alive and inspire me. — Naturi Naughton

But if you get a kick out of "The Jerry Springer Show," you're going to love it! The idea of hearing these lyrics and profanities - like the chorus at the top of the show - the idea that we're going to hear it in Carnegie Hall is just genius. It's been written with real care! It's not some crappy little musical that somehow found its way off-Broadway with vulgar-intentions. This is really beautiful, operatic music. It has a place in Carnegie Hall. — Max Von Essen

I do an act, and I've been doing an act for 50 years. I do a variety show, which is a musical comedy show. I do comedy, and I do singing, Broadway show tunes and different songs that I like. Been doing it for many, many years. — Debbie Reynolds

Trey Parker did 'Book of Mormon.' It's the best Broadway show I've ever seen. He does 'South Park.' It's wonderful. — Penn Jillette

It's a very big collaborative effort to do an animated feature and to do a Broadway show. — Jonathan Freeman

When you're doing a Broadway show, you have no free time. — Maggie Grace

What to one person is common courtesy is to another tender words of life - and by the same token, what one person intends to show as great affection may be to his beloved an irrelevant show of frivolousness compared to the kindness of simply doing the laundry sometimes. — Anna Broadway

There is definitely that thing here a little where people are like 'Oh that Broadway girl has come to Nashville' and I'm like 'Listen you guys, I was singing country before I even got a Broadway show. And I'm from Kentucky.' — Laura Bell Bundy

everything from Hairspray to the Academy Awards. They were also my co-conspirators on my 2006 Broadway show, Fame — Martin Short

(on Marilyn Monroe) I was walking down Broadway with her and nobody was stopping us. She was going to (Stella Adler's) actors' studio, and she was taking me to show me what it was all about. And I said to her: "How come nobody is taking your picture?" She said: "Well, watch." She took her scarf off, straightened her shoulders, and draped something another way, and we were surrounded. It must have been 400 people. And I said: "Now I know why!" — Liza Minnelli

You know, they wanted to do a Broadway album and every show was kind of a bomb. There was no music at all. — Les Baxter

When I hit New York in 1972, I thought I was a sprinter. I thought that I would star in a Broadway show and do a movie and win an Oscar by the time I was 25. It turned out that I'm a long distance runner. — Beth Grant

If you get into a Broadway show and it doesn't work, you're a failure. And if it does work, you may be stuck for who knows how long. It just doesn't sound great to me! — Betty White

The first Broadway show I ever heard was the recording of Carousel, and it was a very vivid experience. — Bernadette Peters

If, for instance, we'd made the film after the show had been to Broadway, it would have been exactly the same film but we would have been assured that they would have understood it. We didn't have to do any alterations for Broadway. I was supposed to go a fortnight before it opened to alter anything that was necessary and there was nothing really. — Alan Bennett

I have loved 'Les Miz' for so long. It was the first Broadway show I'd ever done. — Lea Michele

In January 2006, Phantom of The Opera broke the record for the longest-running show in Broadway history, overtaking Cats and reminding us what real entertainment is about: candles, dry ice, big hair, and the sort of synthesized chord progressions only achieved by a collapse at the keyboard. — Emma Brockes

I went to Broadway and I've been doing some fun guest spots with 'Entourage' and 'Glee' and I'm ready to have my own show. — John Stamos

It's definitely one of those things when you decide to be an actor that it would be really cool to be in a Broadway show or a series regular on a hit show. — Emily Kinney

All my roots are Broadway. I got my Equity Card doing a Broadway show, and my first love is theater. — Jesse Tyler Ferguson

Some of my best friends have written Broadway shows. Allee Willis and Brenda Russell wrote The Color Purple which has been recently revived on Broadway. That to me is such a different hat that you have to wear, but music is music. A Broadway show is something I would love to have the opportunity to do. — Dave Koz

What's the difference in opening from scratch in Philly or opening from scratch in New York? The old out-of-town tryout circuit - taking the show pre-Broadway to cities like Boston, New Haven, Philadelphia, Washington - has sort of been replaced with the amount of workshops we do. — Patti LuPone

'Grease' was my Broadway debut. That was eye-opening. At the same time, it was very familiar. It was a Broadway show, but it's kind of the same as doing a show in Minnesota. It's the same type of rehearsal process. You are doing 8 shows a week, but I worked at a theatre in Minnesota that did 11 shows a week. — Laura Osnes

For performances I have my favorite go to's like Prince, Donna Summer, Vanity 6, Sheila E, but it also depends on the type of show I am giving. I could pull references from Broadway musicals, Rock Steady Crew, a Jamaican dancehall or gentlemen's club, etc. all within one show. It truly is a playground with no restrictions for me. — Mya

Michael has never cried during a Broadway show. Except in that scene where Tarzan's ape father is brutally murdered.
And that was only because he was laughing so hard. — Meg Cabot

Many years ago, I was in a Broadway show and I had to wear a fox fur around my shoulders. One day my hand touched one of the fox's legs. It seemed to be in two pieces. Then it dawned on me ... her leg had probally been snapped in two by the steel trap that had caught it. — Bea Arthur

My first Broadway show wasn't until I was a freshman in high school. It was my first trip to New York. I came with a group of theatre kids, and we saw four shows. The very first one was 'Contact.' — Laura Osnes

I really feel confident about my dancing now, so I hope there could be a place for me in the West End or on Broadway - maybe a musical, maybe my own show. — Katherine Jenkins

I am always in much better shape when I am doing a Broadway show because you have the eight shows a week to kind of keep the body clean and perfect in a sense, you know? For instance, I always eat much better when I am in a show because you can't have dairy - for your voice. — Jane Krakowski

You can't remember what movie you saw two weeks ago, but you can remember what Broadway show you saw two weeks ago and where you ate dinner - everything about it. There's something about live theatre that hits you in the heart. — Susan Stroman

I want to toy around with producing a Broadway show. — Lance Bass

The dream is to originate a role in a show on Broadway. That's the ultimate goal. — Jake Epstein

Like Frankenweenie is a story about a boy and his dog, Big Fish is the story of a father and his son, and all those conversations you can't have. It's universal, in a way that can go from one medium to another medium. That's been the funnest, figuring out what we can do in a Broadway show that's unique and special. — John August

I'm in a play on Broadway, I have an animated TV show coming up, I have a few movies that just came out. — Neil Patrick Harris

'Tommy' was the first show I ever saw on Broadway. I was 14. It wasn't 'the show' that started that flame in me or anything, but it did excite me in a way no other show had. I'd never seen a show so brilliantly cast and directed. — Josh Young

Somewhere along the line, a concert became a variety show. It was no longer enough for four dudes to play together in front of some guitar amps. Costume changes, an army of dancers, and Broadway theatrics suddenly became standard for a 'concert.' — Shawn Amos

When 'night, Mother' opened, I did not know how long it would be before I would have another show on Broadway. — Marsha Norman

I'd love to do a Broadway show, but I can't because of the style I sing. — Jackie Evancho

There's something about being a part of Broadway and going backstage. You know, like when I go to see a show now and going backstage and saying "Hi" to the cast. It's so thrilling. It's so beyond my wildest dreams from when I was a kid. — Rosie O'Donnell

I think the fact that I grew up in show business had a real effect on my personality. If you were born in New York during the golden age of television, and you grew up on Broadway, that marks you. — Christopher Walken

I started my career off replacing Rita Moreno in a Broadway show. — Patricia Mauceri

I've been to London twice. I saw the Broadway show 'Billy Elliot' there - phenomenal. I was crying through the entire thing. — Olesya Rulin

I'd rather be thin than famous
but I'm fat
paste that in your broadway show — Jack Kerouac

There is indeed a level of improvisation where we can distort and shuffle the music patterns, samples, and loops in each phase of the show within fixed cue points, but at the same time there is a constant result that we are trying to achieve each night while performing and operating our system - quite similar in spirit to a broadway show for example: If you go see a musical two nights in a row, the performances are different yet similar. — Thomas Bangalter

I think on a bucket list for a performer is definitely doing a stage show, whether it's in Vegas or on Broadway or whatever. — Lacey Schwimmer

Jazz isn't dead yet. It's the underpinning of everything in this country. Whether it's a Broadway show, or fusion, or right on through classical music, if it's coming out of the U.S., it's not going to survive unless it's got some jazz influence. — Dave Brubeck

Tony Awards boost Broadway attendance and sell the shows on the road. They're the sugar to swat the fly. If you needed more explanation for the yearly ballyhoo, in the metropolitan areas where a Broadway show plays, the local economy is boosted by three and a half times the gross ticket sales. So when we're talking Tonys, we're talking moolah. — John Lahr

I remember going onstage on Broadway in this Leigh Bowery thing for a track like "Ich Bin Kunst." I've got breasts, this latex dripping down on my head, and I come out in a box. I just remember the audience looking really horrified because Rosie [O'Donnell] was trying to sell the show as sort of Pippin and Annie. She was saying it's a family show. — Boy George

That mental grind is the same, and this show has to be approached with the same mentality. Rest is paramount. Taking care of my voice and making sure I have the right foods in my body is paramount. Making sure I'm doing my technique work and staying in the script is all substantial. Continually pushing myself to find different nuances in the character on a nightly basis. This is definitely boot camp for me all over again, and Broadway in general is a boot camp for all actors. — Eddie George

I would love to do a talk show. Naturally, I would love to do more films. I'd love to be able to see casting directors more willing to put in a character who happens to be deaf. I'm not talking about doing deaf storylines, but putting in deaf characters. I'd love to be able to do Broadway. — Marlee Matlin

I had been coming to New York, pretty much once a month, to dance on Broadway. I was offered a huge Broadway show but couldn't do it because my brother was having his huge Bar Mitzvah. — Sami Gayle

The passions and pain of the Vietnam War have subsided to a degree to which we are now able to look at the broader achievements of the Johnson administration," said playwright Robert Schenkkan, whose Broadway show about the president, "All the Way," is playing to packed houses. — The Washington Post

And what would be great numbers in a Broadway show are now on stage of the New York City Ballet. — John Guare

Basically my influences have been American influences. It's been blues, gospel, swing era music, bebop music, Broadway show music, classical music. It's like making a stew. You put all these various ingredients in it. You season it with this. You put that in it. You put the other in it. You mix it all up and it comes out something neat, something that you created. — Horace Silver

My parents were really, really cool about supporting what I wanted to do at a really young age. I think I was about 10 when I caught the bug. They would drive me down to New York if there were auditions. When I was 12, I did this show on Broadway called 'High Society,' so we moved to New York for the run of that. — Anna Kendrick

Over the years, I managed to develop this comedy career, went from opening act to headliner at comedy clubs, to playing concert halls, and had an off-Broadway show with 'Sleepwalk With Me.' — Mike Birbiglia

'Bonnie and Clyde' was the first show and the first role that I got to originate. Being part of that from the ground up and investing three years of my life into seeing that show come to Broadway was really rigorous but also so exciting. — Laura Osnes

It's every actor's dream to work in a hit show on Broadway and also shoot a television show. — Aaron Tveit

'Birdman' is basically 'All About Eve' - the 1950 comedy about rehearsal rivalries in a Broadway show, and another Best Picture laureate - reimagined as a Batman suicide mission. The movie couldn't be actor-ier. — Richard Corliss

I don't consider success doing a show for 30 years; I'm sorry. To me, you're successful when you graduate from something. I did a series, I did a talk show, I did movies, I replaced Mickey Rooney on Broadway in Sugar Babies. You understand? — Joey Bishop

I would love to be an amazing singer. I take voice lessons. It's good to have as a dancer - to be able to sing and act, too, because for a Broadway show or musical, you have to be able to do everything. — Maddie Ziegler

My favorite Broadway show day-to-day, just for the experience, was 'The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.' The people were so much fun. It was a great show. — Barrett Foa

I have this huge, huge fan base of people who've never seen a Broadway show, but I think it's a great introduction to what Broadway is because my shows are not that. I think that if you're getting people to go to theater then somebody should be celebrating that. — Tyler Perry

When I was on Broadway, my most recent Broadway show was 'Spring Awakening,' and every night I did a topless scene. — Lea Michele

Every night, half an hour before curtain up, the bells of St. Malachy's, the Actors' Chapel on New York's 49th Street, peal the tune of 'There's No Business Like Show Business.' If you walk the streets of the theatre district before a show and see the vast, enthusiastic lines it sounds like a calling: there is certainly no place like Broadway. — Dan Stevens

'Hairspray' was my first Broadway show. In the meantime, after the show was over, I would go down and do gigs at these clubs that I wasn't even old enough to get into. That continued on, and I think what ended up happening was that I just got these incredible opportunities on Broadway. — Laura Bell Bundy

A good analogy [Charlie Hebdo] in lots of ways is "South Park" - the hugely popular American cartoon show - and the things that the "South Park" creators have created, like "The Book Of Mormon," the Broadway musical. If I were a devout Mormon, I would be offended by a lot of things that go on in "The Book Of Mormon," right? It mocks mercilessly the pretensions to truth of Mormonism and the pretensions to virtue of Mormon missionaries. — Adam Gopnik

Broadway has some very tight expectations as to what a show is. — Twyla Tharp

I'm inordinately proud of Smash, on so many levels. The complexity of producing that show, every week, is just incredible. As a television producer and as a Broadway producer, which I once was, I am in awe of what we can do on that show, every week. — Robert Greenblatt

Burlesque thrived during the Great Depression, and by extension, so, too, did Gypsy [Rose Lee]. Men could no longer afford to pay $5.50 to see a show on Broadway, but they could scrape together $1.00 for a matinee at a burlesque house. — Karen Abbott

I lived in New York City for a while and miss it like it's a person. Although I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, I'm a New Yorker at heart. A stroll through Central Park, a visit to the MET, a show on Broadway. There is no other city like it in the world! — Zoe McLellan

If you don't go to Broadway, you're a fool. On Broadway, off Broadway, above Broadway, below Broadway, go! Don't tell me there isn't something wonderful playing. If I'm home in New York at night, I'm either at a Broadway or an Off Broadway show. We're in the theater capital of the world, and if you don't get it, you're an idiot. — Joan Rivers

I did a lot of musical theater when I was younger, and I really hope to get back there someday. I miss singing a lot. I listen to Broadway show tunes in my car and sing along to them. — Bridget Regan

Launching a Broadway show is like no other endeavor. It's taxing because you're present - it's not like cutting a movie and test focus-grouping it and filling out forms. — Mark Hamill

In New York, I get people coming up to me because 'The History Boys' was such a hit on Broadway, and they show the film all the time on cable over there, so people recognise you. — Samuel Barnett

I got into a Broadway show before I ever sang and danced. I learned how after I got in the show. — Dick Van Dyke

I know about lots of things that have nothing to do with being Asian, that you would never guess from looking at me. I know all about musical theater. I could go on 'Jeopardy!' and knock off the whole Broadway show tunes category. Also the whole Bible stories category. — B. D. Wong

Everyone would like to be on Broadway, cause if a show works, you make a great deal of money and it allows you to write other shows. — Stephen Sondheim

Regarding the current Broadway revival of The Music Man, Jay Nordlinger wrote: There will always be those who sniff that the show is "feel good"-but, oh, it feels good to feel good. And the main reason The Music Man feels so good is that it is good-a great American musical. — Meredith Willson

I was really into dancing, taking six classes a week, and my real dream was to be in a Broadway show. — Natalie Portman

I saw my first Broadway show when I was 10 years old. I saw 'Big: The Musical' and I remember going out to dinner with my mom afterward and reading the souvenir program like crazy! — Erich Bergen

That's why I had to leave Hair on Broadway, because I did it for about a year, and one night I was doing the show, and I realized, well, this is not real. I told the director. He says, man, it was a killer show tonight. — Barry McGuire

It's disgusting that a Broadway show can't try out anymore, that no matter where they are in the world, there is this massive dialogue going on between people damning or praising it. — Victor Garber

No show would be successful if you took a group of people and just said, 'You're dumb!' over and over. That's not what Broadway's about. — Trey Parker

I remember seeing 'Hairspray' when I was 15, and it is such a luxury to be able to see a Broadway show, and it is so hard to do if you don't live in New York - plus, it can be expensive to go to the theatre all the time, too. — Nikki Blonsky

There's a lot of pressure on Broadway. There's this feeling that the show has to be a commercial success and the producers have to make their money back and Tonys and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. — Laura Benanti

The first big lead that I had on Broadway was in a show called La Strada. — Bernadette Peters

People need to understand. If they go to a show on Broadway and find seventy people working but only fifty spectators, how much would the ticket cost? That's what El Bulli's about. There are seventy actors who are playing for just fifty spectators. Is the price expensive? It's relative. How much does a normal dinner at a five-star hotel restaurant cost? Four hundred dollars. It's the same as El Bulli. But you can also think of it this way: How much would it cost to eat something that nobody else is eating? — Ferran Adria

You always want to be the person who doesn't need to be included, but it feels damn good to be among you people. My first Broadway show was Master Class, and I saw Audra McDonald. The one that sealed the deal was Ragtime, with Marin Mazzie. My first big role was with John Lithgow, and he taught me the ropes. Norm Lewis sang the night I met my husband. It makes me feel like I have a family. — Kelli O'Hara

The Broadway audiences are very vocal and seem very engaged. For certain shows, especially with a show like 'The Heiress,' the audience's reactions sound like 'The Jerry Springer Show' sometimes. That seems to be a very New York thing. Oh, there's also the entrance round of applause here, which we don't get too much in London. — Dan Stevens

I understand people who boo us. It's like going to Broadway show, you pay for your tickets and expect to be entertained. When you're not, you have a right to complain. — Sparky Anderson

I was repeatedly told that there isn't an African American woman who can open a show on Broadway. I said, 'Well, how do we know? How do we know if we don't do it?' I said, 'I think you're wrong.' — Lynn Nottage