Andrew Keenan-Bolger Quotes

There are no taking days off. There are no distractions. If I had that, I physically wouldn't be capable of going onstage and performing live theater. It's extremely demanding. I have to be in ballet class every day.

To stay a great singer or guitar player, you've got to do it 24/7. That's what I do.

If I do a piece in my living room, if I practice it - and I have the tapes to prove this - it's not going to be as good as doing the same piece in front of an audience.

I think the most challenging part of being a performer is just making sure that people know that when you get up there every night, it's unique and that you care.

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

Singing is an arduous business and it needs sacrifices.

Performance-wise, you really need to be down in the trenches; you need to do the hard work, for a lot of reasons: To build yourself as a performer, to get a sense of the audience, to work hard and to wonder, 'Do I really want to do this?'

My act is always a work in progress. I pray I have a bad day before a show.

Maybe people have no idea how much work is behind a picture. It can seem very effortless, but there is a lot of work. It's exactly like doing ballet. It's hours and hours, but when you go onstage, it's just the pleasure of dancing.

Acting is great. You spend your whole life trying to get it right.

I think, as a performer, the biggest challenge is that you want to do a good job, pushing yourself. You want to go the extra mile every time.

Because I am of a generation and slightly old-fashioned, my bottom line belief is what you do is you rehearse and you work and you own it. Of course, you hone it during the first few performances but once you have it honed, not that you must ever assume it is perfect, part of the craft is being able to repeat that.

I just wanted to perform all day, every day.

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.

Whether you're on TV or on the stage, you have to work hard to stay fresh, real, and full of energy. You can't settle back. You always have to stay on your toes.

All I want to do is be onstage. A performer needs to perform.

You can have a knack for dancing, but you still have to practice till your feet are bleeding to be worthy of being in front of an audience.

You don't know how much artists go through to make it look so easy. It's all in the practice.

Singing didn't really come naturally to me, I don't think. I had to really work at it. I just kept singing. I never was really worried about it, though, because I was writing songs, and that was the most important thing to me.

I wouldn't say that I was a born performer, because I work very hard at it.

I am not an 'instant' actor... to really do anything, I've got to try it five or six or a dozen times.

The best shows I play, I almost don't even remember off the stage.

When you do a song new live on stage, it's kind of a bit weird until it gets worn in, you know, like oiled up a bit. It's still a little bit stiff until you really thrashed at it for a few weeks.

If you can play well in the studio, you can play well on stage.

There are some musicians who are talented and see themselves as some kind of natural geniuses or something because of a certain amount of natural ability. But that is often rarely the case over the long term.