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I didn't really want to write just lyrics, but I wanted to meet Leonard Bernstein. Music was always the first reason I was writing songs.
Stephen Sondheim
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Stephen Sondheim
Age: 94
Born: 1930
Born: March 22
Author
Composer
Dramaturge
Librettist
Lyricist
Musician
Poet
Screenwriter
Songwriter
New York City
New York
Stephen Joshua Sondheim
Really
Write
Always
Didn
Music
Bernstein
Reason
Leonard
Wanted
Lyrics
Firsts
Meet
First
Songs
Writing
Song
More quotes by Stephen Sondheim
You may know what you need, but to get what you want, better see that you keep what you have.
Stephen Sondheim
For anyone approaching any one of the cast albums, if they don't like what they hear, it's not the performer's fault.
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I don't write songs apart from theatrical pieces. I'm not interested in writing songs qua songs.
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I'm before him on my knees, and he kisses me He assumes I lose my reason and I do. Men are stupid, men are vain, Love's disgusting, love's insane, A humiliating business-oh how true.
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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
Art is craft, not inspiration.
Stephen Sondheim
Anything you do, let it come from you. Then it will be new.
Stephen Sondheim
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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Puzzles are like songs - A good puzzle can give you all the pleasure of being duped that a mystery story can. It has surface innocence, surprise, the revelation of a concealed meaning, and the catharsis of solution.
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It's not so much do what you like as it is that you like what you do.
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I really don't want to write a score until the whole show is cast and staged.
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TODD: The history of the world, my love -- LOVETT: Save a lot of graves, Do a lot of relatives favors! TODD: Is those below serving those up above! LOVETT: Ev'rybody shaves, So there should be plenty of flavors! TODD: How gratifying for once to know BOTH: That those above will serve those down below!
Stephen Sondheim
I've always preferred actors who sing to singers who act in all the shows I've done.
Stephen Sondheim
When you trance out properly, when you're completely in that world, there is no other world, so there's no conflict.
Stephen Sondheim
Everyone I used to play with has either given up or is dead.
Stephen Sondheim
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
I like songs that are part of a dramatic texture, and therefore I like the scenes to be active. I wanna follow the story and that means you lean on the actors.
Stephen Sondheim
I chose and my world was shaken. So what? The choice may have been mistaken the choosing was not. You have to move on.
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
I was raised to be charming, not sincere.
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