Show Preparation Quotes

I think generally playing live is a crap idea. So much of stage work is the presentation of personality, and I've never been interested in that.

At the beginning of each week at 'Saturday Night Live,' we have a full cast meeting where Lorne Michaels introduces the upcoming host.

Singers aren't supposed to have dairy before a show, but we all know I'm a rule breaker.

Nothing is real until you walk out on stage.

I really love live performing!

I was always against starting the show with new material because the fans don't know it. They just look at you, and it's not explosive.

I've never gotten over what they call stagefright. I go through it every show. I'm pretty concerned, I'm pretty much thinking about the show. I never get completely comfortable with it, and I don't let the people around me get comfortable with it, in that I remind them that it's a new crowd out there, it's a new audience, and they haven't seen us before. So it's got to be like the first time we go on.

When I was in high school, I was a bad singer. I mean, all my early acting was musical theater, and my first ever show was 'Jesus Christ Superstar.' Everyone's familiar with it. I played priest number 3 and sang so out of tune that it's not even funny.

Every night, I don't care if I'm doing interviews that day or photo shoots that day, what's most important is that I'm making sure I'm right and tight for the show. These people all come out to see me, so I have to perform and make sure that they never forget it.

Yeah, I think we have to. If we want our shows to be - if we want the quality of the shows to be good, and we want the energy to be high, and if we want to be in good enough physical shape to do them, and not exhaust ourselves on the road, and not get stale, we have to pace.

I was so naive in radio technique that I knew nothing about timing. I would write pages on Honus Wagner and then get only half through by the time the show ended. I eventually learned, but there was nobody there to school me.

I was fascinated with the writing process and seeing the evolution of a sketch and how it would change up to the minute before it went on the air.

I've done three Broadway shows; once the curtain goes up, that's it. I mean, you prepare and you rehearse like crazy, but after opening night, the director's not there anymore, you know. He gives you notes during previews after each performance, but opening night, you're on your own.

Every performance has provided a learning experience, and as we go, we keep fine-tuning the shows. If we decide to do a tour, we rehearse until we perfect. One thing that I do prior to every show is that we huddle the band and pray. We thank more than we ask.

When I was doing half-hour shows, I loved it and was preparing myself for the hour shows. Then when I did the hour shows, I was preparing myself for the specials and features.

What the general public doesn't always understand is that wrestlers often only have hours to put things together, not days or weeks, except in certain cases.

I'm an entertainer. If people are paying good money for tickets they deserve the best show they can see. I don't get into lighting stuff on fire, but I do believe in going the extra mile.

Actually, I've done it the other way so many times where you rehearse the band and you do the whole thing with lights, the show and the crew - everything. Then you see what happens and you're already committed to dates. I'm just sort of putting out feelers this way.

We used to approach a small 400-person show like an arena show, as if I was a star and I was coming out on stage in front of screaming people and that I was to be larger than life.

I sign up whatever live shows I get simply because every gig is a chance to reach out directly to the audience. When it comes to gigs, I try mixing personal picks with what the audience demands.

Sure, I miss some things about the stage. The thing I like is the immediacy. But then I complain, 'I gotta do the same part for six months.'

If you now have 20 previews, you will regard 19 of them as super-rehearsals, which is fine, except you are being watched by thousands. I remember suggesting on more than one show over the years, 'Let's not have any previews.' But no one agreed with me. If you could do that, however, it would be a great gimmick - no previews, just opening night.

My schedule usually keeps me busy. However, I love performing on stage and I try my best to take time out for live performances.

It doesn't do to eat too much before a performance.

The chance to work on Broadway choreography as opposed to having to deliver Broadway choreography can be two distinct things.