American - Composer | March 22, 1930 -
Musical comedies aren't written, they are rewritten.
Stephen Sondheim
WrittenMusicalRewrittenComedies
I was raised to be charming, not sincere.
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Nice is different than good.
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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?
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My idea of heaven is not writing.
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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.
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When the song is part of the action and working as dialogue, even two minutes is way too long.
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Every single song I've ever written is sung by a character created by somebody else. Some might have a jaundiced view of love, some don't. But none of these songs is me singing - not a single one.
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I was essentially trained by Oscar Hammerstein to think of songs as one-act plays, to move a song from point A to point B dramatically.
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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.
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When I'm writing a song, I try to be the character.
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I was a mathematician by nature, and still am - I just knew I didn't want to be a mathematician. So I decided not to take any mathematics courses.
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