#be

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

— Stephen Sondheim

#best #cast #generally #grew #original

I fell into lyric writing because of music. I backed into it. ↗

— Stephen Sondheim

#because #fell #i #into #lyric

I firmly believe lyrics have to breathe and give the audience's ear a chance to understand what's going on. Particularly in the theater, where you have costume, story, acting, orchestra. ↗

— Stephen Sondheim

#audience #believe #breathe #chance #costume

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

#been #buttons #gadget #gadgets #had

I would have been a geologist. ↗

— Stephen Sondheim

#geologist #i #would

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

#drowned #generally #get #language #lyric

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

#before #collaboration #collaborator #comes #complete

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

#cast #money #more #much #nowadays

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

#back #because #convention #enjoy #generally

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

#between #difference #fade #into #live