If you're dealing with a musical in which you're trying to tell a story, it's got to sound like speech. At the same time it's got to be a song.

Quote by Stephen Sondheim

Topics: Stephen Sondheim Quotes

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

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

Nice is different than good.

Nice is different than good.

I firmly believe lyrics have to breathe and give the audience's ear a chance to...

I firmly believe lyrics have to breathe and give the audience's ear a chance to...

Nowadays, there are sometimes more producers than there are people in the cast, because it...

Nowadays, there are sometimes more producers than there are people in the cast, because it...

Musicals are, by nature, theatrical, meaning poetic, meaning having to move the audience's imagination and...

Musicals are, by nature, theatrical, meaning poetic, meaning having to move the audience's imagination and...

I chose and my world was shaken. So what? The choice may have been mistaken;...

I chose and my world was shaken. So what? The choice may have been mistaken;...

The nice thing about doing a crossword puzzle is, you know there is a solution.

The nice thing about doing a crossword puzzle is, you know there is a solution.

By the time I was 22, I was a professional. A young and flawed professional,...

By the time I was 22, I was a professional. A young and flawed professional,...

One of the hardest things about writing lyrics is to make the lyrics sit on...

One of the hardest things about writing lyrics is to make the lyrics sit on...

I would have been a geologist.

I would have been a geologist.

One difference between poetry and lyrics is that lyrics sort of fade into the background....

One difference between poetry and lyrics is that lyrics sort of fade into the background....

Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.

Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.

Musicals are plays, but the last collaborator is your audience, so you've got to wait...

Musicals are plays, but the last collaborator is your audience, so you've got to wait...

My mother wanted me off her hands. She was a working woman. She designed clothes,...

My mother wanted me off her hands. She was a working woman. She designed clothes,...

The fact is popular art dates. It grows quaint. How many people feel strongly about...

The fact is popular art dates. It grows quaint. How many people feel strongly about...

Gotta watch out for directors.

Gotta watch out for directors.

There's something inimical about the camera and song.

There's something inimical about the camera and song.

My personal life and my artistic life do not interfere with each other.

My personal life and my artistic life do not interfere with each other.

Oscar Hammerstein was a surrogate father during all those many days, and weeks and months...

Oscar Hammerstein was a surrogate father during all those many days, and weeks and months...

The movie adaptations of stage musicals that I've seen, without exception, in my opinion don't...

The movie adaptations of stage musicals that I've seen, without exception, in my opinion don't...