Musicals are, by nature, theatrical, meaning poetic, meaning having to move the audience's imagination and create a suspension of disbelief, by which I mean there's no fourth wall. -Stephen Sondheim Imagination
One difference between poetry and lyrics is that lyrics sort of fade into the background. They fade on the page and live on the stage when set to music. -Stephen Sondheim Poetry
One of the hardest things about writing lyrics is to make the lyrics sit on the music in such a way that you're not aware there was a writer there. -Stephen Sondheim Music
I'm very opinionated about movie musicals when they're adapted from live shows. You'll sit still for a three-minute song in a theater. But in movies, a glance from someone's eyes will tell you the whole story in a few seconds. -Stephen Sondheim Movies
