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" I fell into lyric writing because of music. I backed into it. "
Stephen Sondheim
Fell
Music
Lyric
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" I prefer neurotic people. I like to hear rumblings beneath the surface. "
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" A close-up on screen can say all a song can. "
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" I don't find my life that interesting. The shows, maybe. But not me. "
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" The nice thing about doing a crossword puzzle is, you know there is a solution. "
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" I'm interested in the theater because I'm interested in communication with audiences. Otherwise I would be in concert music. "
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" I have inherited my father's sense of humour about myself. It's a lot more pleasant to make fun of yourself than when someone else does. "
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Father
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" There's something inimical about the camera and song. "
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" I would have been a geologist. "
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" Everybody faces a blank piece of paper, no matter what they've written or painted or composed before. I can't imagine approaching every single new project with-without doubt. "
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Project
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" Musicals are, by nature, theatrical, meaning poetic, meaning having to move the audience's imagination and create a suspension of disbelief, by which I mean there's no fourth wall. "
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Create
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" Lyrics have to be underwritten. That's why poets generally make poor lyric writers because the language is too rich. You get drowned in it. "
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" I don't listen to recordings of my songs. I don't avoid it, I just don't go out of my way to do it. "
Stephen Sondheim
Listen
Just
Avoid
" I'm always conscious of what I'm writing, conscious of what the actor may ask me. I have a defense for nearly every line in the song. "
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Actor
Line
Me
" Generally, the best recording is the original cast, because that's the way the piece grew: integrally, with them. "
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Way
Original
Best
" I'm a great audience. I cry very easily. I suspend disbelief in two seconds. "
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Disbelief
Great
Two
" 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. "
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Chance
Story
You
" 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
Story
Singer
Enjoy
" When the audience comes in, it changes the temperature of what you've written. "
Stephen Sondheim
Audience
Temperature
You
" I played the organ when I went to military school, when I was 10. They had a huge organ, the second-largest pipe organ in New York State. I loved all the buttons and the gadgets. I've always been a gadget man. "
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New York
Loved
Always
" I really don't want to write a score until the whole show is cast and staged. "
Stephen Sondheim
Until
Cast
Score
" I have, by nature, an analytical mind. "
Stephen Sondheim
Mind
Nature
Analytical
" I happen to like movies and plays about dislikeable people as long as I get to know why they are what they are. "
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Know
Why
People
" My idea of heaven is not writing. "
Stephen Sondheim
Heaven
Idea
Writing
" Musicals are plays, but the last collaborator is your audience, so you've got to wait 'til the last collaborator comes in before you can complete the collaboration. "
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Audience
Collaboration
You
" Gotta watch out for directors. "
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Out
Directors
Watch
" Every time one can write a self-deluded song, you are way ahead of the game, way ahead. Self-delusion is the basis of nearly all the great scenes in all the great plays, from 'Oedipus' to 'Hamlet.' "
Stephen Sondheim
Time
You
Ahead
" I was raised to be charming, not sincere. "
Stephen Sondheim
I Was Raised
Raised
Sincere
" You can't have personal investors anymore because it's too expensive, so you have to have corporate investment or a lot of rich people. "
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People
Investment
You
" After the Rodgers and Hammerstein revolution, songs became part of the story, as opposed to just entertainments in between comedy scenes. "
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Story
Comedy
Just
" 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
Difference
Poetry
Page