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.
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.
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 same time it’s got to be a song.
I was raised to be charming, not sincere.
I really don’t want to write a score until the whole show is cast and staged.
I read to see myself in other people’s lives.
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!
You move just a finger, say the slightest word, something’s bound to linger-be heard.
Teaching is a sacred profession. And art is a form of teaching.
To wish and wait From day to day Will never keep The wolves away.
There’s something inimical about the camera and song.
Writing is a form of mischief.
Over a period of time it’s been driven home to me that I’m not going to be the most popular writer in the world, so I’m always happy when anything in any way is accepted.
Am I not sensitive, clever, well-mannered, considerate, passionate, charming, as kind as I’m handsome and heir to a throne?
If you told me to write a love song tonight, I’d have a lot of trouble. But if you tell me to write a love song about a girl with a red dress who goes into a bar and is on her fifth martini and is falling off her chair, that’s a lot easier, and it makes me free to say anything I want.
The truth is that I don’t like rehearsals. I get embarrassed hearing my own work. I assume that the cast is embarrassed to sing the stuff.
So many good songs get written fast, because you know exactly what has to work.
My personal life and my artistic life do not interfere with each other.
No one has ever known me as clearly as you. No one has ever shown me that love allows everything. Not pretty or safe or easy but something I never knew. Love within reason, that isn’t love and I learned that from you.
Generally, the best recording is the original cast, because that’s the way the piece grew: integrally, with them.