Sondheim On Sondheim Quotes & Sayings

I couldn't live without the genius of Stephen Sondheim, be it not just West Side Story,but Follies,Company,Sweeney Todd,Passion.You can go on and on. — Cornel West

I do not dwell on dreams I know how soon a dream becomes an expectation How can I have expectations? Look at me, No, Captain, Look at me, Look at me! — Stephen Sondheim

Dreams are a sweet mistake All dreamers must awake.. On then with the dance No backward glance Or my heart will break Never look back NEVER LOOK BACK ... Follies — Stephen Sondheim

Having just the vision's no solution, everything depends on execution — Stephen Sondheim

Hey, old friend. What do you say, old friend? Make it okay, old friend, Give an old friendship a break. Why so grim? We're going on forever. You, me, him - too many lives are at stake ... - STEPHEN SONDHEIM, OLD FRIENDS — Neil Gaiman

Leonard Bernstein was probably the most significant formative influence on me - he was such an encompassing musician. I spent my teenage years absorbing him, and my other interests stemmed off of that. Bernstein led me to Sondheim and to Gershwin, and Sondheim led me to listening to Joni Mitchell. — Jason Robert Brown

Nowadays, there are sometimes more producers than there are people in the cast, because it takes that much money to put a show on. — Stephen Sondheim

Just remember, Someone is on your side (our side) Someone else is not While we're seeing our side Maybe we forgot: they are not alone. No one is alone. — Stephen Sondheim

Careful the spell you cast, not just on children. Sometimes the spell may last Past what you can see And turn against you ... Careful the tale you tell. That is the spell. — Stephen Sondheim

Joss's stories are often centered on moments just like this. He shares a conversation that he had with Stephen Sondheim, in which they were discussing the stories each of them tells. Joss said he was always going to write about adolescent girls with superpowers. Sondheim replied, "And I will always write about yearning." "Goddammit, his answer was so much cooler than mine!" Joss says - but Sondheim's answer pushed him to break down his own tales and figure out what his driving impetus was, what he was really writing about. "Helplessness was what I realized was sort of the basic thing," Joss explains. "All of these empowerment stories come from my fear and hatred of the idea of somebody who is really helpless, who is a non-being. — Amy Pascale

All the best performers bring to their role something more, something different than what the author put on paper. That's what makes theatre live. That's why it persists. — Stephen Sondheim

My parents weren't around much, but I assumed everybody's family was the same. I didn't know people had mummies and daddies who would give them milk and cookies after school. I just thought everybody lived on Central Park West and they had a nanny to take care of them. — Stephen Sondheim

One of the hardest things about writing lyrics is to make the lyrics sit on the music in such a way that you're not aware there was a writer there. — Stephen Sondheim

Stop worrying where you're going. Move on. If you can know where you're going, you've gone. Just keep moving on. — Stephen Sondheim

I'm before him on my knees, and he kisses me He assumes I lose my reason and I do. Men are stupid, men are vain, Love's disgusting, love's insane, A humiliating business-oh how true. — Stephen Sondheim

With videotaping, on the second generation you're already losing some of the freshness. — Stephen Sondheim

Musicals are so expensive to put on the stage that you have to have the backing of a corporate, you have to have Universal Studios or Disney or somebody to put in the money. — Stephen Sondheim

So here's to the girls on the go- Everybody tries Look into their eyes and you'll see what they know: Everybody dies. A toast to that invincible bunch - The dinosaurs surviving the crunch - Let's hear it for the ladies who lunch - Everybody rise! — Stephen Sondheim

On stage, generally speaking, the story is stopped or held back by songs, because that's the convention. Audiences enjoy the song and the singer, that's the point. — Stephen Sondheim

Stephen Sondheim said : If you know where you're going, you've gone. Move on. — Jennifer Crusie

The dumbing down of the country reflects itself on Broadway. The shows get dumber, and the public gets used to them. — Stephen Sondheim

It's pleasanter to work in the country, where you can wander out among the trees. But I don't get as much work done. In the city you don't want to leave the room because there's all that chaos going on. — Stephen Sondheim

I took piano lessons when I was 6. I didn't want to go on with it. I don't remember being moved by a piece of music. — Stephen Sondheim

Math and music are intimately related. Not necessarily on a conscious level, but sure. — Stephen Sondheim

I certainly wanted my name in lights. I wanted my name on a marquee. I wanted recognition on Broadway. — Stephen Sondheim

Bit by bit, putting it together ...
Piece by piece, only way to make a work of art.
Every moment makes a contribution,
Every little detail plays a part.
Having just the vision's no solution,
Everything depends on execution,
Putting it together, that's what counts. — Stephen Sondheim

What justifies a character singing one idea for 3 minutes on the screen? I get impatient and want the story to carry on. I don't get impatient in the theatre. — Stephen Sondheim

I firmly believe lyrics have to breathe and give the audience's ear a chance to understand what's going on. Particularly in the theater, where you have costume, story, acting, orchestra. — Stephen Sondheim

Making lyrics feel natural, sit on music in such a way that you don't feel the effort of the author, so that they shine and bubble and rise and fall, is very, very hard to do. Whereas you can sit at the piano and just play and feel you're making art. — Stephen Sondheim

A close-up on screen can say all a song can. — Stephen Sondheim

Automobile in America,Chromium steel in America,Wire-spoke wheel in America,Very big deal in America!Immigrant goes to America,Many hellos in America,Nobody knows in America,Puerto Rico's in America!I like the shores of America!Comfort is yours in America!Knobs on the doors in America!Wall-to-wall floors in America! — Stephen Sondheim

The worst thing you can do is censor yourself as the pencil hits the paper. You must not edit until you get it all on paper. If you can put everything down, stream-of-consciousness, you'll do yourself a service. — Stephen Sondheim

Alright! You sir, you sir, how about a shave?
Come and visit your good friend Sweeney.
You sir, too sir? Welcome to the grave.
I will have vengenance.
I will have salvation.
Who sir, you sir?
No ones in the chair, Come on! Come on!
Sweeney's. waiting. I want you bleeders.
You sir! Anybody!
Gentlemen now don't be shy!
Not one man, no, nor ten men.
Nor a hundred can assuage me.
I will have you!
And I will get him back even as he gloats
In the meantime I'll practice on less honorable throats.
And my Lucy lies in ashes
And I'll never see my girl again.
But the work waits!
I'm alive at last!
And I'm full of joy! — Stephen Sondheim

Now, this one might be a little stringy, but then again, it's fiddle player."
That isn't fiddle player, it's piccolo player."
How can you tell?"
It's PIPING hot!"
Then blow on it first! — Stephen Sondheim

If you told me to write a love song tonight, I'd have a lot of trouble. But if you tell me to write a love song about a girl with a red dress who goes into a bar and is on her fifth martini and is falling off her chair, that's a lot easier, and it makes me free to say anything I want. — Stephen Sondheim

I like songs that are part of a dramatic texture, and therefore I like the scenes to be active. I wanna follow the story and that means you lean on the actors. — Stephen Sondheim

Well, there are worse things
Than staring at the water on a Sunday.
There are worse things
Than staring at the water
As you're posing for a picture
After sleeping on the ferry
After getting up at seven
To came over to an island
In the middle of a river
Half an hour from the city
On a Sunday.
On a Sunday in the park with- — Sondheim Stephen

Music straightjackets a poem and prevents it from breathing on its own, whereas it liberates a lyric. Poetry doesn't need music; lyrics do. — Stephen Sondheim

You have two kinds of shows on Broadway - revivals and the same kind of musicals over and over again, all spectacles. You get your tickets for 'The Lion King' a year in advance, and essentially a family comes as if to a picnic, and they pass on to their children the idea that that's what the theater is - a spectacular musical you see once a year, a stage version of a movie. It has nothing to do with theater at all. It has to do with seeing what is familiar. We live in a recycled culture. — Stephen Sondheim

By the time I get through writing a score, I know the book better than the book writer does, because I've examined every word, and questioned the book writer on every word. — Stephen Sondheim

I'm a lazy writer. My idea of heaven is not writing. On the other hand, I'm obviously compulsive about it. — Stephen Sondheim

I chose and my world was shaken. So what? The choice may have been mistaken; the choosing was not. You have to move on. — Stephen Sondheim

Music blows lyrics up very quickly, and suddenly they become more than art. They become pompous and they become self-conscious ... I firmly believe that lyrics have to breathe and give the audience's ear a chance to understand what's going on. Particularly in the theater, where you not only have the music, but you've got costume, story, acting, orchestra. There's a lot to take in. — Stephen Sondheim

The three theater peeps I would love to dine with are Mel Brooks, because he is so funny; Stephen Sondheim, because he is a god-like genius; and Ethel Merman, to compare notes on fabulous belting. — Nancy Allen

One difference between poetry and lyrics is that lyrics sort of fade into the background. They fade on the page and live on the stage when set to music. — Stephen Sondheim

In my prayers every day, which are a combination of Hebrew prayers and Shakespeare and Sondheim lyrics and things people have said to me that I've written down and shoved in my pocket, I also say the name of every person I've ever known who's passed on. — Mandy Patinkin

I love computers. I love writing on them. I love gadgetry. The thing is: I am a slow reader. So, if I am going to get my work done, I read, like, a newspaper and that's it. If I got into websites and the internet, I wouldn't get any work done. — Stephen Sondheim

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