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" When the audience comes in, it changes the temperature of what you've written. "
Stephen Sondheim
Audience
Temperature
You
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" I think 'lunch' is one of the funniest words in the world. "
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" Every writer I've ever spoken to feels fraudulent in some way or other. "
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" I certainly wanted my name in lights. I wanted my name on a marquee. I wanted recognition on Broadway. "
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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 don't find my life that interesting. The shows, maybe. But not me. "
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" My idea of heaven is not writing. "
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" 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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" 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? "
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" 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. "
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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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" My mother wanted me off her hands. She was a working woman. She designed clothes, and she was a celebrity collector. It's my mother's ambition to be a celebrity. "
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" Musical comedies aren't written, they are rewritten. "
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" The movie adaptations of stage musicals that I've seen, without exception, in my opinion don't work. A lot of people would disagree with me. "
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" A close-up on screen can say all a song can. "
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" 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. "
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" When I was growing up, there was no such thing as Off-Broadway. You either got your show on or you didn't. "
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" If you force yourself to write away from the piano, you come up with more inventive things. If you're too good a piano player, as some composers are, the music may become flavorless and glib. And if you're not a very good pianist, you're limited to the same patterns. "
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" 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. "
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" I was raised to be charming, not sincere. "
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I Was Raised
Raised
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