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… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
I don't write songs apart from theatrical pieces. I'm not interested in writing songs qua songs. — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
So many good songs get written fast, because you know exactly what has to work. — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
Math and music are intimately related. Not necessarily on a conscious level, but sure. — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
Deciding what is to be sung and what is not to be sung is really what writing a musical is about. — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
I took piano lessons when I was 6. I didn't want to go on with it. I don't remember being moved by… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
I started listening to classical music when I was in my early teens. Prior to that, I listened to pop records or… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
Musicals are — particularly musicals — plays also, but musicals particularly are… the last collaborator is your audience, and so you’ve got… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
I'm interested in the theater because I'm interested in communication with audiences. Otherwise I would be in concert music. — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
One difference between poetry and lyrics is that lyrics sort of fade into the background. They fade on the page and live… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
Every single song I've ever written is sung by a character created by somebody else. Some might have a jaundiced view of… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
The movie adaptations of stage musicals that I've seen, without exception, in my opinion don't work. A lot of people would disagree… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
I didn't really want to write just lyrics, but I wanted to meet Leonard Bernstein. Music was always the first reason I… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
Hit songs did not come out of musicals. Pop-rock was creating the hits. There were very few songs that made the charts… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
Making lyrics feel natural, sit on music in such a way that you dont feel the effort of the author, so that… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
If you force yourself to write away from the piano, you come up with more inventive things. If you're too good a… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
“Music blows lyrics up very quickly, and suddenly they become more than art. They become pompous and they become self-conscious ... I… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
Making lyrics feel natural, sit on music in such a way that you don't feel the effort of the author, so that… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
You have two kinds of shows on Broadway - revivals and the same kind of musicals over and over again, all spectacles.… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
Musicals are plays, but the last collaborator is your audience, so you've got to wait 'til the last collaborator comes in before… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
Musicals are, by nature, theatrical, meaning poetic, meaning having to move the audience's imagination and create a suspension of disbelief, by which… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
One of the hardest things about writing lyrics is to make the lyrics sit on the music in such a way that… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
Music straightjackets a poem and prevents it from breathing on its own, whereas it liberates a lyric. Poetry doesn't need music; lyrics… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
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… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
I'm very opinionated about movie musicals when they're adapted from live shows. You'll sit still for a three-minute song in a theater.… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
Musicals are so expensive to put on the stage that you have to have the backing of a corporate, you have to… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
After the Rodgers and Hammerstein revolution, songs became part of the story, as opposed to just entertainments in between comedy scenes. — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
I like songs that are part of a dramatic texture, and therefore I like the scenes to be active. I wanna follow… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
I love the theater as much as music, and the whole idea of getting across to an audience and making them laugh,… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share Image
“They all deserve to die. Tell you why, Mrs. Lovett, tell you why. Because in all of the whole human race Mrs Lovett, there… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share
“Careful the things you say, Children will listen. Careful the things you do, Children will see. And learn. Children may not obey But children… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share
“Because in all of the whole human race Mrs. Lovett, there are two kinds of men and only two There's the one staying put… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share
I love computers. I love writing on them. I love gadgetry. The thing is: I am a slow reader. So, if I am going… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share
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… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share
I prefer neurotic people. I like to hear rumblings beneath the surface. — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share
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… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share
Nowadays, there are sometimes more producers than there are people in the cast, because it takes that much money to put a show on. — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share
Perpetual anticipation is good for the soul but it's bad for the heart. — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share
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... — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share
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… — Stephen Sondheim Copy Share
