24 Stephen Sondheim Quotes

Stephen Sondheim quotes

1. I'm a lazy writer. My idea of heaven is not writing. On the other hand, I'm obviously compulsive about it.

2. She was smart, tart, dry as a Martini, Ah, but underneath, She was all... heart, something by Puccini, Ah, but underneath, In the depths... of... her interior Were fears... she... was inferior And some... thing... even eerier -- But no one dared to query her superior exterior!

3. I dim the lights... and think about you Spend sleepless nights... to think about you You said you loved me... or were you just being kind? Or am I losing my mind?

4. Without question, Steve is the best Broadway lyricist, past or present.

5. West Side Story

6. Into the Woods

7. Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street

8. Assassins

1. Making lyrics feel natural, sit on music in such a way that you dont feel the effort of the author, so that they shine and bubble and rise and fall, is very, very hard to do. Whereas you can sit at the piano and just play and feel youre making art.

2. Making lyrics feel natural, sit on music in such a way that you don't feel the effort of the author, so that they shine and bubble and rise and fall, is very, very hard to do. Whereas you can sit at the piano and just play and feel you're making art.

3. I have, by nature, an analytical mind.

4. It's not so hard to be married, I've done it three or four times.

5. I don't find my life that interesting. The shows, maybe. But not me.

6. I love computers. I love writing on them. I love gadgetry. The thing is: I am a slow reader. So, if I am going to get my work done, I read, like, a newspaper and that's it. If I got into websites and the internet, I wouldn't get any work done.

7. 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.

8. I prefer neurotic people. I like to hear rumblings beneath the surface.

9. I'm sure many writers have these strange, tiny little habits.

10. 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.

11. Perpetual anticipation is good for the soul but it's bad for the heart.

12. 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...

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. I was never much of a reader. I'm a slow reader, which is unusual, because I'm so into language and I love words so much. But it's hard for me to read.

16. After the Rodgers and Hammerstein revolution, songs became part of the story, as opposed to just entertainments in between comedy scenes.