Quotes by Stephen Sondheim

About Stephen Sondheim:

Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist known for more than a half-century of contributions to musical theatre. Sondheim has received an Academy Award; eight Tony Awards (more than any other composer, including a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre); eight Grammy Awards; a Pulitzer Prize, and the Laurence Olivier Award. Described by Frank Rich of The New York Times as "now the greatest and perhaps best-known artist in the American musical theater," His best-known works as composer and lyricist include A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George and Into the Woods. He wrote the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Music straightjackets a poem and prevents it from breathing on its own, whereas it liberates a lyric. Poetry doesn't need music; lyrics do.

Stephen Sondheim

Unless the object of the singer’s affection is a vampire, surely what Hart means is unphotogenic. Only vampires are unphotographable, but affectionate ‘-enic’ rhymes are hard to come by.

Stephen Sondheim

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

Stephen Sondheim

Making lyrics feel natural, sit on music in such a way that you don't feel the effort of the author, so that they shine and bubble and rise and fall, is very, very hard to do. Whereas you can sit at the piano and just play and feel you're making art.

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

Was that me? Yes it was. Was that him? No it wasn't.. Just a trick of the woods! Just a moment, One peculiar passing moment. Must it all be either less or more, Either plain or grand? Is it always 'or'? Is it never 'and'? That's what woods are for: F...

Stephen Sondheim

Must it all be either less or more, Either plain or grand? Is it always 'or'? Is it never 'and'? That's what woods are for: For those moments in the woods... Oh, if life were made of moments, Even now and then a bad one--! But if life were only momen...

Stephen Sondheim

I chose and my world was shaken, so what? The choice may have been mistaken, the choosing was not.

Stephen Sondheim

A folktale without a moral is merely a whimsy.

Stephen Sondheim

Alright! You sir, you sir, how about a shave? Come and visit your good friend Sweeney. You sir, too sir? Welcome to the grave. I will have vengenance. I will have salvation. Who sir, you sir? No ones in the chair, Come on! Come on! Sweeney's. waiting...

Stephen Sondheim

There's a hole in the world like a big black pit who are filled with people who are filled with shit.

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

Generally, the best recording is the original cast, because that's the way the piece grew: integrally, with them.

Stephen Sondheim

After the Rodgers and Hammerstein revolution, songs became part of the story, as opposed to just entertainments in between comedy scenes.

Stephen Sondheim

A close-up on screen can say all a song can.

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

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

Stephen Sondheim

The more restrictions you have, the easier anything is to write.

Stephen Sondheim

The worst thing you can do is censor yourself as the pencil hits the paper. You must not edit until you get it all on paper. If you can put everything down, stream-of-consciousness, you'll do yourself a service.

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

Author Bio

  • NameStephen Sondheim
  • DescriptionAmerican composer and lyricist
  • AliasesStephen Joshua Sondheim
  • BornMarch 22, 1930
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionComposer; Dramaturge; Songwriter
  • AwardsLaurence Olivier Award; Pulitzer Prize For Drama; National Medal Of Arts; Grammy Trustees Award; Praemium Imperiale