Stephen Sondheim Quotes
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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.
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I do not hope for what I cannot have! I do not cling to things I cannot keep!
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Can't we just pursue our lives With our children and our wives Till that happy day arrives How do you ignore All the witches All the curses All the wolves, all the lies The false hopes, the goodbyes . . .
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Work is what you do for others, liebchen. Art is what you do for yourself.
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The concerts you enjoy together/ Neighbors you annoy together/ Children you destroy together,/ That keep marriage in tact.
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A song is such a short form ... that 'the slightest flaw seems like a mountain.' And so every song needs to be revised 'til it's close to perfection... But achieving perfection takes a lot of energy.
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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.
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Hit songs did not come out of musicals. Pop-rock was creating the hits. There were very few songs that made the charts out of any Broadway musical.
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Musical comedies aren't written, they are rewritten.
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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.
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Nowadays, there are sometimes more producers than there are people in the cast, because it takes that much money to put a show on.
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Ah, but if you have no expectations, You can never have a disappointment.
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Stay a child while you can be a child.
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My main goal is to tell a story.
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Tonight, tonight, won't be just any night. Tonight there will be no morning star.
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Music straightjackets a poem and prevents it from breathing on its own, whereas it liberates a lyric. Poetry doesn't need music; lyrics do.
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A close-up on screen can say all a song can.
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The truth is that I don't like rehearsals. I get embarrassed hearing my own work. I assume that the cast is embarrassed to sing the stuff.
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Gotta watch out for directors.
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The only reason to write is from love.
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Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.
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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.
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Music is structure out of Chaos
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Every day a little death.