Steve Vai Quotes

I'm not really a big musical fan. I enjoyed 'West Side Story' when it came out, but it gets a bit tired in the end.

I actually love 'West Side Story.' I think it's an amazing film to watch.

Oh yes, I've been approached to do all sorts of nonsense. How about a remake of 'West Side Story?'

'West Side Story' is one of the greatest theatrical experiences I've had.

Leonard Bernstein was probably the most significant formative influence on me - he was such an encompassing musician. I spent my teenage years absorbing him, and my other interests stemmed off of that. Bernstein led me to Sondheim and to Gershwin, and Sondheim led me to listening to Joni Mitchell.

'West Side Story' I used to watch all the time - I don't know why. Well, I do - it's a great movie. I love the music in it. I love the actors.

West Side Story was terribly important because of the style of the dancing and the gangs of New York.

I think the thing's that perhaps sad really is that younger people haven't come in and I think it must have been absolutely fantastic to have worked in the 50's when you had all of the great Broadway composers and when West Side Story didn't win the Tony Award.

It's kind of wild and wonderful that 'West Side Story' continues to have a life after all these years. And when you see young people who are really engrossed by this film, that's so beautiful.

I don't regret 'West Side Story' one bit. It was an incredible movie full of young people with amazing rapport.

We got to see Sondheim shows, 'Phantom of the Opera,' 'Cats' and all sorts of stuff. When you're 10 or 11 years old, it's just magnificent. The story-telling, the music - it lifts you out of your seat.

I grew up loving musicals. My mom had records of original cast recordings, and one of them was 'She Loves Me.' I wore that thing out singing along to Barbara Cook when I was eight years old.

Sondheim has been a part of my musical collective since I was eight. I was a dramatic little kid.

The first time I encountered Stephen Sondheim was like everyone else: through snatches of old songs people performed in drama school, through 'Send in the Clowns,' which everyone knew. I wasn't aware at the time that he was the writing force behind 'West Side Story' and 'Gypsy.'

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.

I didn't know a single musical soundtrack, really, growing up. Nobody listened to musicals. That wasn't a thing I did.

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

I felt Michael Jackson was inspired a little bit more from the elegance of a Fred Astaire. Michael loved Sammy Davis, Jr. and James Brown and Judy Garland and Fred Astaire. But he wasn't any of those people. To be inspired is one thing, but he made it all his own.

The other kids wanted to play Destiny's Child, but I wanted Anita O'Day.

If you look at 'West Side Story,' a lot of those numbers are actually pretty cutty, but the cuts are always musically motivated.

I'm an obsessive musical theatre person, so some of the most formative albums for me were, you know, the 'Phantom Of The Opera' soundtrack or 'Into The Woods.'

I think the inception of my interest in arts was when I was around 9 or 10 and I started dancing. I was really convinced that I was going to go to New York and be onstage in 'A Chorus Line.'

I wanted to work with Michael Mayer because I'd seen 'Thoroughly Modern Millie' six times.

I kind of grew up on musicals, specifically, for whatever reason. They're something that really attracted me as a child.