Quotes & Sayings About Musical Theatre

I did commercials and voice-overs as a kid, and it just lead to musical theatre opportunities. — Jennifer Damiano

I'm not a trained singer at all. I've auditioned on occasion for proper musical theatre-type stuff, but I can't read music, and I wasn't particularly good at it. — Hannah Murray

I can never say that I will never return to musical theatre. There may be a part in the future that I really want to do. I love plays as well. I am very open to ideas. I hope to do many things in the future. — Sarah Brightman

I majored in musical theatre performance at college, then went through years of waiting tables and temping while looking for acting work. — Brooke Elliott

I was lucky enough to see the original cast of 'In the Heights.' This one blew my mind. The infusion of Latin, hip hop and rap with musical theatre, great storytelling and talent was a powerful combination to me during a time when I'd not been moved by much! — Josh Young

I was really, really, really enthusiastic as a kid. I was up for anything. I was hugely into music and theatre. I was a big musical theatre kid; I loved reading. — Amanda Marshall

I began with dance, doing ballet at 3, then tap, jazz, modern. Then I sang in church choirs, learned how to play clarinet and drums, sang with rock bands and only then did I get into musical theatre. — Samantha Barks

Opera is musical theatre, and the music can teach you so much about the theatre. Very often I use musical terms to think about how I comport myself on stage: I employ 'rubati,' 'ostinati,' 'cadenze.' Finding these parallels is very fascinating for me. — Toni Servillo

What the music offers in a good opera is something that comes from a region that precedes the concrete concept of drama and, strictly speaking, stands outside the world of drama. Opera does not permit men to appear in nakedly logical acts, for the music dissolves feelings and thoughts into melodies and rhythms, harmonies and counterpoints, which in themselves have no conceptual meaning. Thus in opera objective situations may very well become entirely subjective expressions. Because of its paradoxical nature opera is capable of paradoxical effects; it can express purely sensuously the most profound abstractions, and the musical drama, exerting a mass effect far more than does the spoken drama, is much more primitive as drama than the spoken theatre; it must render conflict and character in immediate symbols. — Paul Henry Lang

And if Henry Higgins is not the most reprehensible character ever written for the stage, that's only because somewhere, somehow, someone is composing a musical biography of Ronald Reagan — Steve Kluger

Jeremy Beaumont-Jones had been lucky enough to be born rich. He wasn't in the mad oligarch class but once you're past a certain point, the sheer weight of your money sucks in wealth like a financial singularity. If you're sensible enough not to blow it on race horses, cocaine or musical theatre, then it becomes a perpetual-motion money making machine. — Ben Aaronovitch

I should write a musical. That is probably one of the final areas that I should pay attention to, because it does kind of involve everything. It's got theatre, it's got young, pretty people ... And it's got money! — Rufus Wainwright

I'm passionate about music, and I feel that theatre has an extraordinarily musical ability in the way it operates on the audience. — Simon McBurney

There's an infantilization that happens to actresses in general - musical theatre, straight theatre, television, film - we're spoken to like children. Actors are spoken to like children a lot of the time. — Laura Benanti

I feel like people used to leave their homes and go to their local theatre, and they used to watch ballet dancers and musical theatre performers and tap dancers and orchestras and dog acts. You had to leave your home, be in the presence of other people, know how to behave, and enjoy the human being whose beating heart was in front of you. — Laura Benanti

You couldn't even write me a paper about the roles you would dream of playing in modern musical theatre. — Elaine Paige

Let's sing our way out of this — Isabel Fraire

I think there's that weird bastardization where musical theatre actors are treated as almost like vaudevillians or circus performers - that we're somehow not good actors because we sing and dance. — Laura Benanti

The first few weeks of school were always surreal, like you landed on an alien planet with strange teachers and unfamiliar classrooms, even though the lockers and cafeteria seemed familiar. — S.M. Stevens

I grew up doing musical theatre in Orlando, Florida. When I was 14, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time - a deliveryman heard me singing and offered to deliver my demo tape to Sony Music. I was just really lucky. — Mandy Moore

My first role was in the George Gershwin musical 'Crazy for You' at the Orlando Repertory Theatre when I was 11 - I grew up in Florida - and I wasn't old enough to be in it, but they let me anyway. I was just this little shrimp in a leotard. — Aubrey Peeples

I do think that there is an almost more old fashioned mentality to the way musical theatre people and actresses especially are treated. — Laura Benanti

In 1969, I wrote a musical called 'Mother Earth.' It was a rock musical with an ecology theme. We did it at the South Coast Repertory Theatre in Southern California where I was a member. It was a smash hit in this small theater. — Toni Tennille

I've always loved musical theatre. I've always been a big kind of closeted musical theatre nerd. I really have always dreamed about being able to do musical theatre. — John Gallagher Jr.

Musical theatre goes through cycles. I came in when it was at the absolute height of musical theatre as I remember it. It was the age of the long-runners. — Ruthie Henshall

I used to do puppet theatre and also mime and musical theatre in Florida for competitions and festivals, which was great. I was very much involved in theatre when I was in college. — Wesley Snipes

Musical theatre is something I'm familiar with, I've been doing that. — David Naughton

It must have been an extraordinary time. I guess the worrying thing about musical theatre to me, is if you look at the London season this year, mine is actually the only one to have come in. — Andrew Lloyd Webber

My high school musical did not offer a shirtless Zac Efron but it did provide me with many lessons. I learned that I loved being in a theatre, attending rehearsals, and building sets. I loved listening to the director and groaning about rehearsing choreography — Amy Poehler

Back in the Stone Age, before there were workshops, it was a very difficult idea to get into musical theatre. Normally, you would be a chorus girl or boy and write something. People would get their start as rehearsal pianists or dance assistants. — Maury Yeston

The truth is I love musical theatre and always have. — Idina Menzel

Musical theatre is something that I always wanted to be a part of, and my first ever role on the West End as Joseph in 'Joseph And The Technicolor Dreamcoat' gave me a taste for it. — Gareth Gates

This was awkward to infinity. Alex living here would change my entire routine. I was sharing a bathroom with my boyfriend. How scary was that? I had tampons and pads and everything in there. He was going to be naked in the shower on the other side of my bedroom wall. And I was going to be naked in the shower with him in my house. — S.M. Stevens

The main reason for the break was a combination of travel and going back to university, which drew me into theatre more than music. I did stuff on acoustic guitar when I was traveling, filed it away and made notes, without it being musical notation. Just taped the odd thing, did a sketch, stuck it on a cassette. I thought at some point, I'll go back to it. Some of it I did use in '84-'85 when I started working in the Free Theatre in Christchurch. So it might seem like I had given up after the Pin Group, but I just went into a different avenue. — Roy Montgomery

When you're in a show, all through rehearsals Tech Week hovers out there like a magical holy grail. In reality, Tech Week is always a train wreck of missed cues, forgotten lines, malfunctioning set pieces and short tempers. — S.M. Stevens

As we get older ... I don't know a single person who has devoted their life to musical theatre who hasn't had a couple of misses as well as a bunch of hits. The misses, we learn a great deal from them. — Maury Yeston

I am musical and I enjoy theatre, but I never wanted to just do theatre. I always wanted to go into film. I love film. I loved growing up in the theatre, but I always wanted to do film all along. But, I still pursue music separately. — Sabrina Lloyd

I've always played comedy. My background is musical comedy theatre, and that's really where my training is. — Christopher Walken

I grew up in musical theatre and love to perform on stage. — A. J. McLean

I grew up dancing, and for a while in college, I was a gym rat. I finally realized ... I'm going to create a little more balance in my life and make exercise something that I enjoy doing. So I went back to dance when I started doing more musical theatre, and I've just found that it's the best thing that works for my body. — Christine Lakin

It seems like pop singing has sort of influenced musical theatre in so many ways - you could argue good or bad, really - and musical theatre is written for that style so often, which is a completely different style. — Julian Ovenden

I guess I think of a musical as something in which the music is sort of like the engine of the piece - whether it is in the theatre or in film. — John Kander

I'd love to do a musical one day - a theatre musical. — Spike Jonze

When it all comes true Just the way you planned It's funny but the bells don't ring It's a quiet thing. — Fred Ebb

I'm very driven, and I always have been. So I'd like to release a successful album, continue in musical theatre, and be more involved in business. — Gareth Gates

I just love performing so much, and I threw myself into every musical theater production that was going in my home town and at school. And then, I went to the National Youth Music Theatre, which was really a galvanizing experience for me when I was 17. — Gugu Mbatha-Raw

I started out in theatre and I definitely have wanted to add extra musical elements to my music with both imagery and text. — Glenn Branca

My father was a classical singer of baroque music, and my older sister was in musical theatre, and I thought about doing the same thing but then realised straight acting was for me. — Antonia Thomas

I have ambitions to do a Broadway record one of these days and get in the studio with like, a real orchestra. I'm a big musical theatre geek. — Mandy Moore

My desire was never to put out albums; it was to do musical theatre! — Kelis

But the stuff that I do is more like all the comic roles like in The Merry Widow and Die Fledermaus and I just did this Offenbach operetta at the LA Opera. I love it. I just love it. For me, it's like a great mesh of musical theatre and my classical oboe background to be standing on these huge stages with a full orchestra and all the opulence. I'm a complete sucker for the over-the-topness. — Jason Graae

Musical theatre is my first love. — Laura Benanti

I'd never seen a guy my own age play the piano. It was like sex and musical theatre fused together. — E. Lockhart

I find it difficult to fully enjoy musical theatre songs if I don't know the storyline of the show they are from as well as the context. — Christian Campbell

The musical has always been in jeopardy - until - or was in jeopardy until it was realised that it is probably the safest living theatre art form. — Harold Prince

I want to get a handle on the music. There's only so much you can do alone. I want everyone else there. I can't wait until we feel we've got it down and we can really figure out what it's all about! I can't wait to meet Harvey Keitel, too! I'm so used to working with musical theatre people ... I'm really curious how he works. He's the only one that doesn't sing in the show - he acts and weaves himself through the show as the ring-master. I hope I learn something from him. — Max Von Essen

I wanted to be a musical theatre actress - I wanted to play Sally Bowles, forever and ever always. — Carey Mulligan

I got the call to play Tony Manero in 'Saturday Night Fever' in Madrid, a role I'd always wanted, as it's such a well-constructed show, and my background is in musical theatre. I'd been travelling back and forth between London and Spain for auditions and had been borrowing money from friends to do it. — Juan Pablo Di Pace

Q: Best part about being a musical theatre book writer?
A: Explaining what that is. — Christy Hall

I was a musical theatre geek in high school and college. — Toks Olagundoye

I'm an obsessive musical theatre person, so some of the most formative albums for me were, you know, the 'Phantom Of The Opera' soundtrack or 'Into The Woods.' — Allison Williams

[ELIZA]
You and your words flooded my senses, your sentences left me defenseless. You built me palaces out of paragraphs, you built cathedrals. — Lin-Manuel Miranda

I can't sit through plays and musical theatre. I just want to run up onstage and mess up their hair and turn over the furniture. — Billy Bob Thornton

My parents say it all began with my role of Percy the Polar Bear back in nursery school! I began dance classes at the age of five (you would never guess though) and then I went on to join my local theatre group, Glantawe Players, at the age of eight and then Swansea Amateur Dramatics Society. I then joined the National Youth Music Theatre, so I really can't remember a time when I wasn't interested in Musical Theatre! — Francesca Jackson

I'm grateful to be working. The most exciting thing for me is that I never get bored - I've done comedy, drama, musical theatre and now Shakespeare. — Sheridan Smith

I initially told people I wanted to be a dancer and ultimately a "Rockette." I didn't really know what a musical theatre performer was other than the Shirley Temple type. — Erica Schroeder

In the world of musical theatre, if everyone says it's a good idea, you wonder why nobody has done it before. — Tim Rice

I went to an Arts High School, so everyone there was kind of anti-clique, though they still happened. I guess I was in the theatre-dork clique. Not to be confused with the musical-theatre-dork clique. — Finn Wittrock

I was a musical theatre kid, which meant you could always find me singing or dancing in the halls with at least four other people. — Josie Loren

I started in theatre. I went to the Boston Conservatory and majored in musical theater. — Rachael MacFarlane

After high school, I went to the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point for a year, and I studied musical theatre. By that point, I was like, 'This is what I want to do.' — Laura Osnes

When I used to do musical theatre, my dad refused to come backstage. He never wanted to see the props up close or the sets up close. He didn't want to see the magic. — Nia Vardalos

I love the intimacy of making movies. The focus is deeper and much more intense than musical theatre. — Sarah Brightman

I went into musical theatre, which I'm not really cut out for - I'm not as skilled at it as other people. — Richard C. Armitage

There is nothing wrong with loving musical theatre, but I think that it's naive to hold it superior any other musical classification, especially since these other genres have been influencing Broadway more and more in recent decades. — Stephanie D'Abruzzo

I was a tomboy growing up and then fell into the world of theatre and musical theatre. A girlfriend introduced me to yoga in college and I was hooked. I didn't really know anything about it except that it was the highlight of my week. I ended up graduating from the University of Virginia and moving to Los Angeles where I could continue acting and do a yoga teacher training. I went from practicing once or twice a week to several hours everyday. I loved it. — Kathryn Budig

Frankly I don't listen to lyrics (a problem in that I apparently work in musical theatre) I just want a good tune that doesn't require the use of too much grey matter. — Christian Campbell

I was a little girl who grew up idolizing musical-theatre stars. — Laura Benanti

When I started out, I wanted to be Billy Joel. The plan was to be a singer-songwriter of that ilk, and, then, I got waylaid - that's probably an unfair way to say it - from being a rock star by the musical theatre stuff, which I love doing. — Jason Robert Brown

I am in musical theatre, but it isn't necessarily what I listen to in my leisure time, do you know what I mean? — Patti LuPone

When people ask me if musical theatre should be taught in music colleges, I reply that there is no need. All anyone needs to study is the second act of La Boheme because it is the most tightly constructed piece of musical theatre that there is. It is practically director-proof: you can't stage it badly because it just works too well. If you can write La Boheme, you can write anything. I would also recommend studying Britten's Peter Grimes. — Andrew Lloyd Webber

Musical theatre is now a worldwide conversation. — Maury Yeston

I came to musical theatre from straight acting, and a lot of my friends have a real prejudice about musical theatre - one I probably shared. — Bertie Carvel

I love musical theatre because I love doing a live performance eight times a week. — Gareth Gates

I love musical theatre and my dream is to do Once On This Island. — Syesha Mercado

My mum raised us on classic movies and a lot of musical theatre. — Jake Gyllenhaal

I would love to do a play, but I don't know about musical theatre. I've never done anything like that. — Chandra West

My dad was a fairy," said Zach. "And by that I don't mean he dressed well and enjoyed musical theatre. — Ben Aaronovitch

There's a kid in the middle of nowhere who's sitting there living for Tony performances. Singing and flipping along with the Pippins, and Wickeds, and Kinkys, Matildas, and Mormons's. So we might reassure that kid, and do something to spur that kid, 'cause I promise you, all of us up here tonight, we were that kid. — Neil Patrick Harris

I did a lot of musical theatre when I was younger, so I would love to go back and do that again someday. — Hayley McFarland

I'm trained in musical theatre and 'Pitch Perfect' is the first movie where I get to really belt out. I beat Adele for that role. — Rebel Wilson

When I look back at what musical theatre music and show music meant to me, first of all - more than anything - what it meant to me was work. As I was growing up, I realized that singing and performing was my strong suit. — Jason Mraz

When a show ends, for a few days, my body sizzles with leftover energy, like a tree in the wake of a lightning strike. — S.M. Stevens

Sometimes you just have to trust the kids. The first glimpse of Wheelock Family Theatre's Shrek is a surprise. Instead of the round, green, smoothly computer-animated ogre of the movie, this Shrek is tall and hairy, with a lumpy green headpiece and mossy dreads. But as played by Christopher Chew in Wheelock's "Shrek the Musical," this ogre was a hit with the children. they laughed and cheered and clapped in all the right places. — Joel Brown

Yeah, well I've always played comedy. My background is musical comedy theatre and that's really where my training is. As an actor, that's my training. — Christopher Walken

I played Tina Denmark in Ruthless the Musical when I was 9 at the Theatre on Broadway in Denver. — Annaleigh Ashford