Tonight, tonight, won't be just any night. Tonight there will be no morning star.
Stephen SondheimRead
Musical comedies aren't written, they are rewritten.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Musical comedies require multiple drafts and revisions before they achieve their final form.
Stephen Sondheim highlights the iterative nature of creating musical comedies, emphasizing that they often undergo extensive rewrites to hone their storytelling, dialogue, and music. This process reflects the idea that great art is rarely created in a single attempt and that revision is essential for quality and depth.
Themes
MusicalsRewritingArtCreativityTheater
In practice
Example use cases
During a workshop on musical theater, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of feedback and revision.
More from Stephen Sondheim
All quotes βAfter the Rodgers and Hammerstein revolution, songs became part of the story, as opposed to just entertainments in between comedy scenes.
Stephen SondheimRead
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!
Stephen SondheimRead
Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.
Stephen SondheimRead
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.
Stephen SondheimRead
Swing your razor wide! Sweeney, hold it to the skies!
Stephen SondheimRead
Similar quotes
In my limited experience, shows are like children. You can teach them manners and dress them in little sailor suits, but in the end, they're going to be who they're going to be.
Tina FeyRead
Basically everything I've done in art, I was in possession of when I was 20 years old. I use a waste retrieval method of working. I'll go back and use something that disgusted me 15 years ago but that I had enough sense to think about. Some artists change dramatically. I see my work more like history being written.
Edward RuschaRead
The first thing you have to consider when writing a novel is your story, and then your story - and then your story!
Ford Madox FordRead
The best artist has that thought alone Which is contained within the marble shell; The sculptor's hand can only break the spell To free the figures slumbering in the stone.
MichelangeloRead
I do not think writers ought ever to sit down and think they must write about some cause, or theme, or something. If they write about their own experiences, something true is going to emerge.
Doris LessingRead
The problem with too beautiful a view is that it's alright for the mulling stage. But for the writing stage, you want to be somewhere without a view, especially if it is very different from what you're writing.
Vikram SethRead