Stephen Sondheim Quotes - Page 6

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• I liked my father a lot, but I didn't see him very often because my mother was bitter about him. He remarried, and I used to have to sneak off to see him.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Mother, Father, Bitter

  "Maestro of Broadway". The Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. July 5, 2005.

  6 Copy quote

• Almost all the shows I've been connected with have been extremely well cast. They're playing the show, not just doing the songs.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Song, Casts, Shows

  5 Copy quote

• I was watching him crawl, Back over the wall-! Then bang! Crash! And the lightning flash! And- well, that's another story, Never mind- Anyway.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Wall, Mind, Bangs

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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.

  Stephen Sondheim

  People, Opinion, Adaptation

  8 Copy quote

• 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

  Country, Cities, Tree

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

  Stephen Sondheim

  Generations, Losing, Freshness

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• It's age. It's a diminution of energy and the worry that there are no new ideas. It's an increasing lack of confidence. I'm not the only one. I've checked with other people.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Ideas, People, Worry

  7 Copy quote

• You have to be submitted for the Pulitzer, and unbeknownst to us, a choral director whom I know had submitted us.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Directors, Knows

  "Maestro of Broadway". The Academy of Achievement Interview in Los Angeles, California, www.achievement.org. July 5, 2005.

  4 Copy quote

• I really don't want to write a score until the whole show is cast and staged.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Writing, Want, Score

  "Maestro of Broadway". Interview, www.achievement.org. July 5, 2005.

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• They wanted me to be a concert pianist, because I had a very good right hand, but my left hand's terrible and I hated performing.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Hands, Left Hand, Concerts

  "Maestro of Broadway". The Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. July 5, 2005.

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• When I listen to my work, I think, what's so inflammatory about it? It's not really that dissonant. A lot of people who used to hate my stuff have come round to it.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Hate, Thinking, People

  4 Copy quote

• Only capitalists get photographers.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Photographer, Capitalist

  Stephen Sondheim, John Weidman (1992). “Assassins: libretto/vocal book”

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• In not-for-profit theater, you don't worry so much about how the audience is going to react. You want to make them absorb the piece.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Worry, Pieces, Want

  "Maestro of Broadway". The Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. July 5, 2005.

  4 Copy quote

• It should be interesting to see two entirely different ways to treat a story, geared for two entirely different kinds of audience.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Two, Interesting, Different

  Source: www.broadwayworld.com

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• 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

  Song, Stories, Singers

  "The singalong-a-slasher" by David Benedict, www.theguardian.com. December 23, 2007.

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• 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.

  Stephen Sondheim

  New York, Military, School

  "Maestro of Broadway". The Academy of Achievement, www.achievement.org. July 5, 2005.

  10 Copy quote

• Sometimes I'll ask the book writer to write a monologue, not to be performed, just as if they were notes for the character.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Book, Writing, Character

  "Maestro of Broadway". Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. July 5, 2005.

  4 Copy quote

• 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.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Mother, Ambition, Hands

  "Maestro of Broadway". The Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. July 5, 2005.

  7 Copy quote

• My parents got divorced and military school gave me a structure. A lot of kids my age were children of divorced parents. They didn't know what to do with the kids.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Children, Military, Kids

  4 Copy quote

• Musical comedies aren't written, they are rewritten.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Musical, Comedy, Brainstorming

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• 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

  Girl, Eye, Lunch

  "The Ladies Who Lunch". Song by David C. Rakowski, Stephen Sondheim, 1988.

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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.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Growing Up, Growing, Broadway

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• Everyone I used to play with has either given up or is dead.

  Stephen Sondheim

  Play, Used, Given

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• Math was my big interest when I was in prep school. I was considering taking math in college, and majoring in it.

  Stephen Sondheim

  School, Math, College

  "Maestro of Broadway". The Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. July 5, 2005.

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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

  Song, Way, My Way

  "Maestro of Broadway". The Academy of Achievement Interview, www.achievement.org. July 5, 2005.

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