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" Musical comedies aren't written, they are rewritten. "
Stephen Sondheim
Rewritten
Written
Musical
Related Quotes:
" I fell into lyric writing because of music. I backed into it. "
Stephen Sondheim
Fell
Music
Lyric
" 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. "
Stephen Sondheim
Create
Imagination
Meaning
" 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
People
School
Thought
" 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. "
Stephen Sondheim
Actor
Line
Me
" When the song is part of the action and working as dialogue, even two minutes is way too long. "
Stephen Sondheim
Two
Way
Working
" 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
" Math and music are intimately related. Not necessarily on a conscious level, but sure. "
Stephen Sondheim
Sure
Conscious
Level
" 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
Chance
Story
You
" 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
Live
More
Theatre
" There's something inimical about the camera and song. "
Stephen Sondheim
Song
About
Camera
" Generally, the best recording is the original cast, because that's the way the piece grew: integrally, with them. "
Stephen Sondheim
Way
Original
Best
" I have, by nature, an analytical mind. "
Stephen Sondheim
Mind
Nature
Analytical
" When the audience comes in, it changes the temperature of what you've written. "
Stephen Sondheim
Audience
Temperature
You
" 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
Writing
Music
Sit
" 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
Choice
Move
May
" If people have split views about your work, I think it's flattering. I'd rather have them feel something about it than dismiss it. "
Stephen Sondheim
Views
Your
Work
" A close-up on screen can say all a song can. "
Stephen Sondheim
Close-Up
Say
Screen
" Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos. "
Stephen Sondheim
Art
Out
Order
" I really don't want to write a score until the whole show is cast and staged. "
Stephen Sondheim
Until
Cast
Score
" My idea of heaven is not writing. "
Stephen Sondheim
Heaven
Idea
Writing
" I don't find my life that interesting. The shows, maybe. But not me. "
Stephen Sondheim
My Life
Me
Find
" The fact is popular art dates. It grows quaint. How many people feel strongly about Gilbert and Sullivan today compared to those who felt strongly in 1890? "
Stephen Sondheim
Who
Art
Fact
" 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. "
Stephen Sondheim
Project
New
Matter
" My personal life and my artistic life do not interfere with each other. "
Stephen Sondheim
Life
Each
Interfere
" When I was growing up, there was no such thing as Off-Broadway. You either got your show on or you didn't. "
Stephen Sondheim
Growing Up
Show
Up
" The dumbing down of the country reflects itself on Broadway. The shows get dumber, and the public gets used to them. "
Stephen Sondheim
Public
Broadway
Country
" So many good songs get written fast, because you know exactly what has to work. "
Stephen Sondheim
Because
Know
Good
" Oscar Hammerstein was a surrogate father during all those many days, and weeks and months when I didn't see my own father. "
Stephen Sondheim
See
Own
Days
" Every single song I've ever written is sung by a character created by somebody else. Some might have a jaundiced view of love, some don't. But none of these songs is me singing - not a single one. "
Stephen Sondheim
Love
View
Song
" The more restrictions you have, the easier anything is to write. "
Stephen Sondheim
More
Write
Restrictions