John Lahr Quotes

I miss Broadway, what little there is on Broadway now.

The idea that the Tony committee and the New York theater community as a whole have embraced 'Billy Elliot' is very, very exciting.

I've always wanted to do theater in Chicago. Chicago is a big theater town-and, in some ways, I think this city is savvier and smarter than New York. Sometimes, I think it's a little too chic to go to theater in New York these days.

L.A. is not a town that supports a lot of theater. Most of the shows don't get through a week or two and then, the audience kind of disappears.

At this point the theater America is in such a precarious place.

The Broadway audiences are very vocal and seem very engaged. For certain shows, especially with a show like 'The Heiress,' the audience's reactions sound like 'The Jerry Springer Show' sometimes. That seems to be a very New York thing. Oh, there's also the entrance round of applause here, which we don't get too much in London.

But I can't wait to watch the Tonys this Sunday. I'm really glad Broadway is doing so well this year, especially with its straight plays. It's been a wonderful year.

New York City is a big city but a small city when it comes to theater.

A play is a hard thing, particularly in L.A. It's less expensive than in New York, but there's also less of a commitment to people doing plays than in New York. So it's a strange battle.

When I first walked into 54 Below, I had this kind of deja vu experience and tried to imagine what this was like back in the day when I would come here at night after doing 'A Chorus Line.'

I wasn't especially a Broadway type. I liked film acting better. I didn't want to stay up late. I wasn't a smoker, a drinker, or a drug-taker. So that kind of Broadway life - not that that's what they do. But they do stay up late and hang out at Joe Allen's until 2 in the morning, and that just wasn't for me.

I love stage actors. The pool of world class actors that have done theater [is big], there's a higher opportunity of grabbing somebody from that pool.

They're a very strange lot actors, very strange people.

The theater community at large, I have to say, has just been so warm and so welcoming, and that's not something I'm as used to.

I am a Broadway theatre guy... so it was kind of my goal this year to come out to LA for pilot season and expand my horizons

I love theater, I would love to do a play, but it's hard to beat.

What I love about the theater is the work ethic. I grew up with it.

In the theater lying is looked upon as an occupational disease.

Theater in Chicago will always be my first love.

On the whole, British actors star in theater, and I think there's something quite grounding about that.

The theater is a place that doesn't always but can reward hard work and tenacity, unlike television.

Paris is the playwright's delight. New York is the home of directors. London, however, is the actor's city, the only one in the world. In London, actors are given their head.

I like being around actors. Imagine not liking actors.

I really enjoy doing theater, but doing theater in Seattle is like dropping a brick in a bottomless well. It's gratifying, but it's almost like doing radio. It's ephemeral.

I've been in this business 25 years. I've been eking out a living doing Broadway, off-Broadway... I've seen the unemployment line a lot.