Here, we’ve compiled a list of the best Musical Theater Quotes from famous authors such as Diana DeGarmo, Kirstin Maldonado, Joshua Henry, Zachary Levi, Cassie Ventura. Let’s look at these pieces of wisdom. We definitely have something to learn from them!
1
I didn’t necessarily set out to be in musical theater, but that’s where my path has taken me, and I’ve been loving and enjoying it ever since.
2
Even before Pentatonix, I always thought that I would be out here in New York doing Broadway and doing musical theater. That was what gave me the passion for music in the first place, so it’s been really, really, cool.
3
I avoided the party scene at the University of Miami. I came in to study musical theater, and I felt so behind. I literally knew nothing.
4
My whole background, my whole life was just lots and lots of theater, a lot of that being musical theater.
5
I did musical theater, and I did dancing for what it was at the performing arts high school that I went to. I went to a school where I was there on a scholarship. So I think when you’re on a scholarship, you always work a tad harder, or you want to work a tad harder than the next person.
6
Sondheim is the Shakespeare of the musical theater world.
7
I used to watch a lot of musicals as a kid. Musical movies, not so much musical theater.
8
I have intentionally not pursued musical theater.
9
Musical theater is often seen as a lesser form of acting, although I don’t see it that way.
10
My background is musical theater. I have a BFA from the University of Florida.
11
‘Cabaret’ was one of the first pieces of musical theater I saw that showed the possibilities of what musical theater can do.
12
At one time musical theater, particularly in the ’40s and ’50s, was a big source of pop songs. That’s how musical theater started, really – it was just a way of linking several pop songs for the stage.
13
My first love was singing. It was the first thing that really felt like it was a part of me. It’s just in my blood. And acting came sort of out of singing because I did a lot of musical theater.
14
I am a big fan of musical theater.
15
I was a musical theater major at the University of Arizona. And I primarily trained with Marsha Bagwell. It was a classical program, so we did Chekov and Moliere and a lot of Shakespeare.
16
I started out really into musical theater. So you can imagine I was super popular. I wasn’t awkward looking at all.
17
I announced at the dinner table when I was 11 that I wanted to be a ballet dancer. But my goal changed to musical theater after the choreographer Robert Joffrey saw me perform while I was on scholarship at the San Francisco Ballet School.
18
I would love to do stuff on camera. That’s what I want to do. It took me a really long time to feel confident as an actor. I think, also, because there’s a weird stigma about musical theater where we treat the men who do musical theater differently than we treat the women in musical theater.
19
I was there when the quote-unquote golden age of musical theater was flourishing. I met everybody who worked in theater or was famous in theater from the ’40s on.
20
I’ve got quite a low voice, so it’s not your typical musical theater voice, but I do love musicals; they’re a very different experience.
21
I grew up doing musical theater. I went to a school for musical theater, so that was always what I wanted to do growing up.
22
I was in musical theater when I first started, so there was always both acting and singing. But as far as getting a record deal, that took time. The majority of that time, I was acting.
23
I was really sporty and loved singing. I started off doing musical theater. I left university to go to drama school. So I was a bit of a black sheep.
24
I want to make ‘Broadway’ a word that doesn’t have pejorative connotation. I don’t want ‘musical theater’ to be a dismissive term. I want it to be something that people can be proud of, that people can say, ‘Look at the possibilities.’
25
Look, I’m 40, I’m single, and I work in musical theater – you do the math!
26
At one point, I was hell-bent on being a Disney animator, and sort of got over that in college and wanted to do my own stuff. You know, towards the end of college I had actually planned to go to the Boston Conservatory of Music for musical theater.
27
Musical theater is an American genre. It started really, in America, as a combination of jazz and operetta; most of the great musical theater writers in the golden era are American. I think that to do a musical is a very American thing to me.
28
My mom is an elementary school music teacher, a pianist, and a singer, and my dad plays guitar – he’s a huge Bruce Springsteen fan. My mom does musical theater, too. All of those influences were around.
29
I went to Elon University and studied musical theater. I usually did two musicals a year, but I also did a couple of plays. That was sort of always where I felt the most relaxation.
30
I got successful awfully quick, and I wanted it… But I do think there is responsibility to move the musical theater form forward. I think you always have to be aware of the work that came before and build on that.
31
I love theater. That’s what I did in Mexico City. I did a lot of musical theater, and it’s where my heart is.
32
I knew I wanted to pursue a career in the theater the minute I graduated from college having not pursued it! So I went back to school and got a degree in music and began working in musical theater.
33
I’ve been doing musical theater since I was a kid. And look for a CD from me in the future. I want to write all the songs!
34
We thought it would be great to see if you could put pop music back into musical theater.
35
Because I was a dancer, I started going to auditions for musical theater, which forced me to sing.
36
I was trained classically in violin and voice, which led to musical theater. Then I left the music scene to chase acting, which is when ‘Neighbours’ came along. It was a fantastic playground for actors, and the cast around me taught me a lot.
37
I went to a performing arts school, and we studied musical theater, jazz vocal performance, and they kind of start you out on those things because they feel like it is a good foundation, and it was.
38
When I first moved to New York, all I did was musical theater. That’s what I studied at Carnegie Mellon University.
39
Because I am the biggest musical theater nerd, I worship Sondheim.
40
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.
41
I thought I was going to be in musical theater all the way, from beginning to end, and then it started not to feel right after my first year at conservatory.
42
I’ve always been interested in music. In high school, I did a lot of musical theater, and I loved it.
43
In college, I actually majored in Musical Theater. I was pursuing a BFA in Musical Theater.
44
I mean, I came from musical theater.
45
I started off in musical theater, yeah. It was one of my first jobs; it was in Spring Awakening in London, which was amazing.
46
If there is a Busta Rhymes of musical theater, it probably is Mandy Patinkin.
47
I did a lot of musical theater when I was younger, and I really hope to get back there someday. I miss singing a lot. I listen to Broadway show tunes in my car and sing along to them.
48
I didn’t know I was going to go into musical theater necessarily. It was never planned. I just kind of fell into it because I knew I wanted to act, and yet I had this opera training… I knew I had a voice.
49
If I had to put in order what I love to do the most, it would be musical theater, movies, and then television.
50
I teach musical theater three days a week at the school that my wife and I graduated from.
51
I do create songs and play the guitar. But my focus is definitely on acting. I think, if there’s going to be singing involved in my career, it would probably be in musical theater.
52
I always wanted to do musical theater. That was where I saw my life going since I was a musical theater major in college before I went to Pentatonix.
53
I love hip-hop; I love Sleigh Bells. I also love classical music and musical theater.
54
When I got to high school, I was going to do sports, but I got kicked off the volleyball team because I kept missing it for musical theater.
55
I believe there’s no reason why we couldn’t be entering a new age of musical theater if we continue to nurture young talent, take risks, and give them a playing field.
56
Although my other ambition was to be a musical theater star (and I would attend college on a voice scholarship), writing was never far from my mind.
57
I’ve always sung. I was really into musical theater when I was growing up. As a kid, I listened to Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone, actually, on cassette tapes.
58
I love rock and opera, and I love musical theater, and I don’t want to lose any of that.
59
I think there are rock stars within every subgenre, and for people who are obsessed with musical theater Sutton Foster and Audra MacDonald are like Beyonce to them. I’m sure the a cappella world has their own version of that, and that exists in every geeky subculture.
60
But you know, I’m not 25 anymore, and I have always said musical theater in particular is a young person’s game. It requires energy, mentally and physically, to do it.
61
I never wanted to be a wrestler, I wanted to get into musical theater. I always wanted to be on Broadway.
62
I have a lot of respect for the musical theater plays.
63
I’m trying to bring a new generation into the musical theater and to create a new audience.
64
I would love to be in musical theater and be on Broadway. If someone were to offer me a position to do something like that, I wouldnt pass it down. Im a huge fan of musicals and I really want to do that.
65
I trained classically for 11 years and then studied musical theater at AMDA New York. My dad is a singer-songwriter, so I followed in his footsteps.
66
I definitely wasn’t cool in high school. I really wasn’t. I did belong to many of the clubs and was in leadership on yearbook and did the musical theater route, so I had friends in all areas. But I certainly did not know what to wear, did not know how to do my hair, all those things.
67
I don’t think theater is dying, and musicals are a great American art form. We’ve got apple pie, jazz and musical theater.
68
I think of the Roundabout as my musical theater family here in New York City.
69
Broadway has changed tremendously from the early days when the shows were referred to as musical comedies. Musical Theater is now a more expanded art form. Back then, singer/actors were not the norm. From the 60’s to now, it is necessary to do it all to be a consummate Broadway performer.
70
I’ve never had any feeling of disconnection between the classical theater, or the contemporary theater, or musical theater, or the thing that we call opera.
71
Thinking back on it, I’ve been in this business since I was 3, and I grew up in musical theater, so I was raised and surrounded by gay men and gay women. I was hardly around anyone straight.
72
Dance has been a driving force in my life for 25 years. From music videos and hip hop, to jazz and musical theater, to ballet and classic modern dance, I have had extensive exposure to a variety of techniques that inspire my own electric style.
73
When I wanted to audition for a dinner-theater junior troupe in my hometown, I needed to have a piece of musical theater music to sing. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to use. My mom and dad suggested that I sing ‘Edelweiss’ because I knew it from the music box.
74
I went through a few phases of finding myself: I dabbled in musical theater, chess club, dance troupe, splatter-painting, school mascot (go Wildcats), babysitter, photojournalist, drill team girl, emo kid – and not one of them defined me, but every single one will always play a part in who I am.
75
I was probably singing before I could talk. Musical theater is my passion. If I could afford it, I would just do dinner theater and live a simple life.
76
I know about lots of things that have nothing to do with being Asian, that you would never guess from looking at me. I know all about musical theater. I could go on ‘Jeopardy!’ and knock off the whole Broadway show tunes category. Also the whole Bible stories category.
77
I love singing! I grew up in musical theater.
78
Naivete is the real reason I applied to Juilliard. I wanted to study drama and not musical theater because I have a hard time dancing. I only applied there.
79
I have been taking voice and singing lessons since age 10 and originally got into it because I was really interested in musical theater. After writing my first couple of songs and performing at age 14, I knew that I really wanted to be a singer.
80
I started acting when I was 10, doing musical theater. I was a brunette at that time. I was always cast in all the exotic parts.
81
I double majored in English education and theater with a musical theater minor. Teaching is the only thing that makes me as happy as performing.
82
Singing is more of a hobby than really something I want to do for a career. But I love musical theater, so I’m hoping I can go back to it and do a role on Broadway for a few weeks. That would be a dream come true. My dream role would be Roxie in ‘Chicago.’
83
‘Hamilton’ is a game-changer for the musical theater genre. It’s moved the art form forward so much and redefined so many things about what we do in theater, so it’s pretty hard to oversell it.
84
I enjoyed acting growing up; I did musical theater. I had a secret desire to be a television and movie actress, but it wasn’t something I admitted to myself that I wanted to do, I guess.
85
I’ve always been really artistic. I went to an all-girls’ private Catholic school, and one of their biggest things was musical theater. I became obsessed with that.
86
Even when I was studying musical theater in college, after I would have theory at 8 in the morning and be on crew for productions until 11 at night, from 12 A.M. to 3 A.M. I was hanging out with jazz musicians.
87
My brain knows how to learn musical theater dancing, but learning hip-hop? It was so hard for my body to understand how to move in that way.
88
If an American audience is given a serious musical theater piece that is well produced, dramatically gripping and wonderfully acted, they’ll respond to it.
89
I wore goofy hats to school and did musical theater. Most people thought I was a dork. But if you have a sense of humor about it, no one can bring you down.
90
I’ve auditioned for musicals a lot, but I think my voice didn’t really match what they were looking for. I went to school for musical theater for a year and dropped out. Legit musicals are not quite my forte.
91
I’m a musical theater aficionado, a.k.a. loser.
92
As an actor, you generally don’t get to choose what projects you are part of, so I’ve been very fortunate that ‘The Book of Mormon’ was something I got to be part of. I don’t want to be lofty, but it was groundbreaking, in many ways, for musical theater, so that was really thrilling to be part of.
93
I was really into punk rock but also into musical theater.
94
What’s missing in the musical theater is producers willing to nurture new work, raise the money and put it on.
95
I’d love to tackle a classic Shakespeare play or take on Nora Helmer in ‘A Doll’s House.’ Musical theater, it’s the classics like Rodgers and Hammerstein and Cole Porter’s ‘Kiss Me Kate.’ I’m much more a Julie Andrews-type soprano than an Idina Menzel.
96
I’m a weird dichotomy of nerd, sports fan, and musical theater, so I’d love to do a superhero musical on Broadway. But all the good superheroes are claimed.
97
I wanted to entertain and make people laugh. I think it really hit in third grade, but once I was in high school, I joined chamber choir. I wanted to do musical theater, too, but they had rehearsals at the same time. That was a bit of ‘Sophie’s Choice.’
98
I grew up doing musical theater.
99
I was a musical theater kid in high school.
100
I was in New York and was pursuing musical theater, and it didn’t feel right. I felt I was forcing myself to do things and be things that I wasn’t, all the time. I wasn’t listening to what I wanted to do. I was listening to what I thought I should do.
101
I’d taken, like, maybe some African dance classes a couple of times, but I wasn’t a musical theater person at all.