Imelda Staunton Quotes

Sondheim writes the music and lyrics, and because he's so smart and goes so deep with his feelings, there's a lot to explore, get involved with and learn about.

The thing about Sondheim is that it does get very cerebral. You do need a faculty with words and a love for the lyrics to not just pull it off, but to have an appreciation for it.

I had no idea how difficult Sondheim's music would be. All through the rehearsals, I kept flubbing. There were so many tempo changes. I could never get through the opening number without any mistakes. One day, I went up to Hal Prince and offered to leave the show. He laughed it off. He said, 'Don't be silly. That's why we have tryouts.'

The music for 'The Last Five Years' is like running a 26-mile marathon, and singing Sondheim is like ballroom-dancing up Everest.

As a performer, once you've understood the genre of musical theatre, you can tire very quickly of the two-dimensional stuff. With Sondheim, it's always a challenge. It's difficult and exhilarating and he's so good on the complexities of relationships and on things going wrong.

I enjoy singing but I lack the proper training to make it as a solo artist. Instead, I feel I've found my niche with acting.

Opera is a very stimulating place to work, and I believe it offers the most intense theatrical experience possible.

I was always a big fan of 'Pippin' and 'Godspell,' even before I heard 'Meadowlark.'

I think 'West Side Story' is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, musicals ever put onscreen - or stage, for that matter. I, frankly, like Zeffirelli's 'Romeo and Juliet' very much, too. I grew up with that... I loved it. I loved the score; I loved the acting.

We're entertainers. We're theatrical.

Sondheim is New York.

To play opera, to play Wagner, it's a great joy.

I had been warned by other directors that opera is hell. The singers don't want to do what you want.

If you are going to take me a to a musical, you'd better give me three songs that I'm gonna like. Nobody goes to the opera for the recitative. They go for the aria.

When I got into college, I got into operatic vocalists, like Leontyne Price.

I was doing musical theatre 'til I was, like, 17, and then I started realising I could use my voice in a more, like, current way.

I've been singing Rodgers and Hammerstein all my life.

I did three musicals in high school.

I have a degree in vocal performance, I'm a classically trained singer, and I studied musical theatre.

I've performed Schoenberg's 'Pierrot lunaire' many times.

It's great when it all comes together in a great musical like 'Sweeney Todd,' when Stephen Sondheim writes songs from heaven, the book is good and the staging is good. But it's very rare when that happens.

Musically, I'm a huge fan of Stephen Sondheim, and I love, love 'Sweeney Todd.'

There are no electric guitars. 'Hunchback' has arias; it's operatic.

I love working in theater because it's such a challenge to have the audience right there in front of you. If you mess up, you have to figure it out and keep going. There's no take two! I do hope to return to the stage someday. I really love to sing.

Essentially I'm a melody person in a rhythm age, and that's what Broadway is really about, the songs.