theater quotes

“I'm not running away. I'm just not the kind of person who gets a kick out of watching an automobile crash, particularly when it's my automobile! It's gonna be the worst catastrophe Broadway has ever seen. They're gonna forget their lines, the set will fall down. None of us will get out of New York alive; they've got big pictures of us in the...” (continue)(continue reading)
Sir Michael Caine - Lloyd Fellowes

“Why would you want to stay at home and watch a little box? Because it's convenient? Because you don't have to get dressed up, because you could just sit there? I mean, how can you call that entertainment, alone in your living room? Where's the other people? Where's the audience? Where's the magic? I'll tell you, in a place like this, the magic...” (continue)(continue reading)

Martin Landau - Harry Trimble

“- Bonnie Nelson: Wow! It's like a church.
- Hans: In many ways it is a church. So at least it will not frighten you, but inspire you.
- Bonnie Nelson: Thanks.”

Ivey Lloyd - Bonnie Nelson
John Huntington - Hans

In a few months, it'll be up in lights on Broadway: "Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World".
Robert Armstrong - Carl Denham

“Opera Tonight. The damnation of Faust. Man sells his soul to the devil. All ends in tears, these arrangements usually do.”
Sir Michael Gambon - Eddie Temple

“- Felix Woods: Just keep an eye on her man. 'Cause some of those theatre guys, they have a reputation of being kinda...
- Dennis Wallace: Gay?
- Felix Woods: See, that's what they want you to think.”
Colin Hanks - Felix Woods
Sisqó - Dennis Wallace

That's why we call it The Majestic. Any man, woman, child could buy their ticket, walk right in. Here they'd be, here we'd be. "Yes sir, yes ma'am. Enjoy the show". And in they'd come entering a palace, like in a dream, like in heaven. Maybe you had worries and problems out there, but once you came through those doors, they didn't matter anymore.

Martin Landau - Harry Trimble

“- Viola De Lesseps: I would not have thought it: there is something better than a play!
- Will Shakespeare: There is.
- Viola De Lesseps: Even your play.
- Will Shakespeare: Hmm?
- Viola De Lesseps: And that was only my first try.”

Gwyneth Paltrow - Viola De Lesseps
Joseph Fiennes - Will Shakespeare

“- Sarah Goode: Just please tell me what this play doesn't express.
- Myrtle Gordon: Hope.”
Joan Blondell - Sarah Goode
Gena Rowlands - Myrtle Gordon

“- Richard Collier: Arthur, you know, in the Hall of History there's a photograph, a young woman. There's no nameplate.
- Arthur Biehl: Yes, that's Elise McKenna. She was a famous actress in her day. Starred in a play in the hotel theater.
- Richard Collier: I'm sorry. Did you say there was a theater here?
- Arthur Biehl: Yes. Down by the lake.
-...” (continue)(continue reading)
Christopher Reeve - Richard Collier
Bill Erwin - Arthur Biehl

“During the show I had someone burn newspapers and send it through the vents in the theatre. And well, they freaked out, and 'course the fire Marshall came over and they shut us down for a couple of days.”
Christopher Guest - Corky St. Clair

“- Dylan: Would you allow me the pleasure of taking you to the theatre on Saturday night?
- Georgie: Do you ask all your secretaries to go to the theatre with you on their first date?
- Dylan: Actually, it's something of a tradition. Yes, I do.
- Georgie: Oh. Well, who am I to deprive an American of what little tradition he can get?”
Dan Futterman - Dylan
Kate Beckinsale - Georgie

“- Waitress: How was the opera tonight, sir?
- Erik Destler: An inspiration.”
Robert Englund - Erik, The Phantom

“- Kermit: Ms. Bitterman, you can take the Muppet Theatre, but you'll never take the theatre in our hearts!
- Rachel Bitterman: That's good, because I don't want the theatre in your hearts; I want the theatre that exists in reality!”
Steve Whitmire - Kermit
Joan Cusack - Rachel Bitterman

"Battle with the Centaurs", to be sung by an Athenian eunuch to the harp. We'll none of that.

David Strathairn - Theseus

“- Mina: It makes me so happy to be at the Opera! I love this palace of art and beauty!
- Harker: Johnathan: Oh yes my dear, the Opera is astonishing! The music is frothed with love, hate, sensuality and unbridled passion!... All the things in my life I've managed to suppress so far.”
Amy Yasbeck - Mina Murray
Steven Weber - Harker

“- Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau: Why would you possibly want to be in a play when you could be in a film?
- Greta Schroeder: An audience gives me life. This... thing only takes it from me.”
John Malkovich - Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau
Catherine McCormack - Greta Schröder

“Just because the whole thing is crazy doesn't mean it won't make it on Broadway!”

Art Carney - Bernard Crawford

“You all talk as though the world owed you a living. Maybe if you tried to do something for the theatre, the theatre would do something for you.”

Katharine Hepburn - Terry Randall

“- Queen Elizabeth: Playwrights teach us nothing about love. They make it pretty, they make it comical, or they make it lust, but they cannot make it true.
- Viola De Lesseps: Oh, but they can!”
Dame Judi Dench - Queen Elizabeth
Gwyneth Paltrow - Viola De Lesseps

“My sister and I had an act that couldn't flop. My sister and I were headed straight for the top. My sister and I earned a thou a week at least, but my sister is now unfortunately deceased. I know it's sad, of course, but a fact is still a fact. And now all that remains is the remains of a perfect double act.”
Catherine Zeta-Jones - Velma Kelly

“People's reactions to opera the first time they see it is very dramatic; they either love it or they hate it. If they love it, they will always love it. If they don't, they may learn to appreciate it, but it will never become part of their soul.”
Richard Tiffany Gere - Edward Lewis

“It's the theater. I love it - even the cheap melodrama.”
Angelina Jolie - Julia Russell

“- Sidney Bruhl: Why make it anywhere? Why make it?
- Clifford Anderson: Because it's there, Sidney!
- Sidney Bruhl: That's mountains, not plays! Plays are not there until some asshole writes them!”
Sir Michael Caine - Sidney Bruhl
Christopher Reeve - Clifford Anderson

I am in "Cats". Now and forever. The way I see it, I was too young for Chorus Line, and too "happy" for Les Mis. I never did get that show. It's about a guy who steals a loaf of bread and then suffers for the rest of his life. For toast! Get over it.
Bryan Batt - Darius