Tonight, tonight, won't be just any night. Tonight there will be no morning star.
Stephen SondheimRead
I'm interested in the theater because I'm interested in communication with audiences. Otherwise I would be in concert music.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of audience engagement in theater as opposed to the more solitary nature of concert music.
Stephen Sondheim highlights his passion for theater as a medium for communication, suggesting that the interaction with an audience is a fundamental aspect of this art form. He contrasts this with concert music, which often lacks direct engagement, implying that the vibrancy and immediacy of live performances make theater uniquely compelling for him.
In practice
Using this quote during a discussion on the role of theater in society.
Tonight, tonight, won't be just any night. Tonight there will be no morning star.
After the Rodgers and Hammerstein revolution, songs became part of the story, as opposed to just entertainments in between comedy scenes.
Musical comedies aren't written, they are rewritten.
Let Pirelli's / Miracle Elixir / Activate your roots, sir... Keep it off your boots, sir- / Eats right through. Yes, get Pirelli's! / Use a bottle of it! / Ladies seem to love it... Flies do, too!
Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.
Careful the spell you cast, not just on children. Sometimes the spell may last Past what you can see And turn against you... Careful the tale you tell. That is the spell.
If I've done my work well, I vanish completely from the scene. I believe it is invasive of the work when you know too much about the writer.
Songs don't have to be about going out on Saturday night and having a good rink-up and driving home and crashing cars. A lot of what I've done is about alienation... about where you fit in society.
Art is not a democracy. People don't get to vote on how it ends.
I think producers are more interested in backing concepts than directors and writers. I don't think that's the right way of making a decision about whether you're going to back a film or not.
I also had a brother who was like me a musician and a composer. A man of great talent, far more gifted than I. He died very young... he killed himself in the prime of his life.
It is the mission of art to remind man from time to time that he is human, and the time is ripe, just now, today, for such a reminder.
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