After the Rodgers and Hammerstein revolution, songs became part of the story, as opposed to just entertainments in between comedy scenes. – Stephen Sondheim
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
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. – Stephen Sondheim
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. – Stephen Sondheim
The dumbing down of the country reflects itself on Broadway. The shows get dumber, and the public gets used to them. – Stephen Sondheim
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
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. – Stephen Sondheim
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
You can’t have personal investors anymore because it’s too expensive, so you have to have corporate investment or a lot of rich people. – Stephen Sondheim
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
Generally, the best recording is the original cast, because that’s the way the piece grew: integrally, with them. – Stephen Sondheim
I’m interested in the theater because I’m interested in communication with audiences. Otherwise I would be in concert music. – Stephen Sondheim
In the Rodgers and Hammerstein generation, popular hits came out of shows and movies. – Stephen Sondheim
I love the theater as much as music, and the whole idea of getting across to an audience and making them laugh, making them cry – just making them feel – is paramount to me. – Stephen Sondheim
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? – Stephen Sondheim
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. – Stephen Sondheim
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
All the best performers bring to their role something more, something different than what the author put on paper. That’s what makes theatre live. That’s why it persists. – Stephen Sondheim
