Tonight, tonight, won't be just any night. Tonight there will be no morning star.
Stephen SondheimRead
I'm interested in the theater because I'm interested in communication with audiences. Otherwise I would be in concert music.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of audience engagement in theater as opposed to the more solitary nature of concert music.
Stephen Sondheim highlights his passion for theater as a medium for communication, suggesting that the interaction with an audience is a fundamental aspect of this art form. He contrasts this with concert music, which often lacks direct engagement, implying that the vibrancy and immediacy of live performances make theater uniquely compelling for him.
In practice
Using this quote during a discussion on the role of theater in society.
Tonight, tonight, won't be just any night. Tonight there will be no morning star.
After the Rodgers and Hammerstein revolution, songs became part of the story, as opposed to just entertainments in between comedy scenes.
Musical comedies aren't written, they are rewritten.
Let Pirelli's / Miracle Elixir / Activate your roots, sir... Keep it off your boots, sir- / Eats right through. Yes, get Pirelli's! / Use a bottle of it! / Ladies seem to love it... Flies do, too!
Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.
Careful the spell you cast, not just on children. Sometimes the spell may last Past what you can see And turn against you... Careful the tale you tell. That is the spell.
Once you recognize that all documentaries are performance, it's not a matter of 'if' they should be performance. They are performance, and they are performance precisely where people are playing themselves.
In fiction you're not often writing about the typical; you are interested in outliers, the points of interest. Part of it comes from feeling I was the only Asian or person of colour... another part comes from my personality: I'm an introvert, and my usual survival mode in a large group is to stand by a wall and watch everybody.
The drama is complete poetry. The ode and the epic contain it only in germ; it contains both of them in a state of high development, and epitomizes both.
The bright dawn flooded the room, and swept the fantastic shadows into dusky corners, where they lay shuddering.
Poetry is not a civilizer, rather the reverse, for great poetry appeals to the most primitive instincts.
History shows us that in times of people feeling like they are in need of some sort of rebellion or protests, the artists rise because the poetry we create about pain and its relationship to culture in the world begins to soothe and heal people who are feeling confused or afraid.
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