Wayne Newton Quotes

What sometimes annoys me about the arts is increasingly that we have to put real people on screen or stage.

I always said that I wouldn't use a teleprompter, and if I start to sing real flat, I'll hang it up.

I'd love to do well on a big weekend with people watching and cheering, of course. But it's not fair to create an expectation level before I know what is realistic. I want to finish as well as possible. Is that top 20? Top 15? Top 25? You just have to play it by ear.

I think self-criticism is sort of a given when you're an actor. It's also about being curious and not being flippant. Anyone who accepts being in this noble profession is automatically self-critical.

There's a pressure regardless of that to do a good show.

Every night, you fight for that standing ovation at the end of the night. And if you do something wrong, the domino effect is chaotic. And you must not allow yourself to make mistakes whatsoever. So in that case, theater, it's fascinating because of the discipline that you need.

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

I'm my own worst critic. I could tell the critics a thing or two about my shows.

The conductor has the advantage of not seeing the audience.

Every time an artiste goes on stage, he thinks 'I hope today goes well and I hope I give my best.' That is important - that little bit of nervousness or tension is what makes you perform better.

If it's a 50-seat theater, I am neurotic about whether I'm doing an honest performance. Sometimes I walk away happy enough with it. You know, it can always be better, but sometimes I'll walk away distraught, feeling like I missed the pulse of the character that evening.

I'm never happy about anything, playing-wise. I always think there's things I messed up on, things I should've done differently that could've, A, made us win, or B, made the win easier.

Sometimes you don't play well or you don't score, and in those times, the pressure comes from all around you as well as from yourself.

Unless I can do myself justice and play well, I'm not going to play.

If there's competition in training, then the training is intense, and then you have the pressure of a weekend that if you don't put in good performances, then your place is maybe up for grabs.

Personally, I take it really seriously and it bothers me when I don't play well.

My restlessness leaves my mind racing as I try to wind down at the end of mandatory recovery day. It keeps me tossing after poor performances. And if I played well, well... playing well makes me itch to play better; there is always room for improvement.

Many times after a game, I get the feeling that I have not done enough, I should have done better, of course there is room for improvement.

A concert is my experimentation time. I practice playing something several different ways, but in a concert, inevitably I get more ideas onstage, in that combination of focus and adrenaline, than I could ever get in the practice room.

I am notoriously hard on myself in terms of working on new material and while I am critical of my performance on the Led Zeppelin material, I am way more critical of my own stuff. I'm pretty hard on myself.

I feel like sometimes I get even more goofy onstage than I am offstage. I'm not trying to make the music less than what it is. Even if it's hard for me and I have to think about a lot of details, it's none of the audience's business. I don't want them to feel that I'm having a hard time.

I think I thrive under the spotlight; I live for a big moment.

Letting goals in doesn't look great to myself.

I'm just really interested, when a band plays and they think they sucked from a band perspective.

Getting onstage and trying out all of my material and what works well with audiences and what doesn't, what works well in different atmospheres, has been the best training.