Michael Crawford Quotes

It's like a prize fighter. He knows he has a fight coming up, so he gets in the gym and trains. So when I have a show coming up, I practice yodeling.

I'm like a prize fighter. When I'm not on stage, every action that I take has to be focused on my next performance.

I practice every day, I warm up before I play.

There's nowhere to hide in the theatre. You can't be the one in rehearsal who doesn't know their lines.

You just can't walk into a venue, sit behind your drums, and expect to play a great show. It'll never happen.

Club or national training is the same. We play as we train.

I have been dancing for a really long time, but when I get on stage, I forget all about that!

When I put on a performance I always work so hard, so I have conditioning for 10, 15 rounds.

I think that no number of rehearsals can guarantee the outcome of a live show.

I was performing in front of mirrors forever. Just jumping around my room at, like, three in the morning when everybody else was sleeping. So when it came time, I was so ready.

You can train to be ready for the nerves, and we simulate it all the time, but it's never the same when it actually matters.

We had to do a lot of rehearsals to get it so that it was playable. What it did was make you practice. That's good for any musician to have that kind of pressure. It brings things out of you that might not come out if you don't have to reach for something all the time.

I leave for the show at least an hour ahead, and I do some vocal warm-ups, and that's pretty much it.

I love to prepare if it's something that requires training. But I don't like to prepare the psychology too much.

If I don't practice the way I should, then I won't play the way that I know I can.

I love rehearsing, but a lot of directors don't, and some actors don't.

All the things you can do to prepare for a role that free you, in the moment, are great. You have this muscle memory for things. You don't have to act it as much, once you've done it enough.

I was terrified of being on stage, and I had to work very hard at a craft to get past that.

I love getting ready to do a scene, and thinking about it, and talking about it. But the rest of the time, I'm so nervous and obsessed. I'm just tearing my hair out in the trailer. The whole time I'm really tense.

So much of performing is a mind game. You're memorizing thousands of notes, and if you start thinking about it in the wrong way, everything can blow up in your face.

When I rehearse, it ends up doing more harm than good. I think I work a little bit better when it's right off the bat. Mostly, I try to wrap my head around a role as much as I can without rehearsing and then kind of make it as fresh as possible on the day.

I've realised over the years I play my best when I have time to prepare for each tournament as best as possible.

I don't like a lot of rehearsing.

I get to the theatre in plenty of time; I prepare my shoes in advance; I eat and drink the right things at the right time. The rest you have to leave to luck!

If I don't practice one day, I know it; two days, the critics know it; three days, the public knows it.