Tonight, tonight, won't be just any night. Tonight there will be no morning star.
Stephen SondheimRead
Musicals are plays, but the last collaborator is your audience, so you've got to wait 'til the last collaborator comes in before you can complete the collaboration.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Musicals involve collaboration not just among creators, but also with the audience, whose reactions complete the experience.
Stephen Sondheim emphasizes the essential role of the audience in the creation of musicals. While playwrights and composers collaborate during the production process, the final element that makes the work complete is the audience's engagement and response, suggesting that their involvement is just as important as the creators' contributions.
Themes
MusicalsAudienceCollaborationTheaterArt
In practice
Example use cases
In a theater discussion, this quote can be used to highlight the interactive nature of performance art.
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All quotes βAfter the Rodgers and Hammerstein revolution, songs became part of the story, as opposed to just entertainments in between comedy scenes.
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Musical comedies aren't written, they are rewritten.
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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!
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Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.
Stephen SondheimRead
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.
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